MANIFEST 2026

Description

MANIFEST 2026: Reflecting on Collaboration
fstop504 is excited to announce our third annual group exhibition, MANIFEST. This year’s juried exhibition will be part of PhotoNOLA Festival at The Contemporary Art Center.
This year's exhibition will include mediums beyond photography, in recognition of the community members who contribute to our programming at Lapin's Workshop. Eligible works of art include: photography, immersive installation, sculpture, video installation, painting, and mixed media. 
This year's theme is “collaboration.” This could mean:
Work that was created in collaboration with another artist or person Art made from skills you learned at an fstop504 or Lapin’s Workshop eventA photo you took at an fstop504 event or with someone you met at oneCollaboration in a more abstract way: finding inspiration from a muse, another artist, nature, the environment, or society
In your application, we will ask a few questions. You should respond to at least one: 
What does collaboration mean to you?If this piece was made with someone else, how did this collaboration come to be?Talk about a workshop or photo event you went to and how it influenced this piece. 
Eligibility:
Open to anyone who has attended at least one fstop504 or Lapin’s Workshop event. If you haven’t been to one, you have all of October to attend one! If you are currently no longer living in New Orleans, you can still submit if you can arrange the shipment or delivery of your work. 
Submission fee: $35. If cost is a barrier to entry, email info@fstop504.com to request a partial or full fee waiver. Fees help cover installation materials, marketing, and other exhibition costs, and keep this volunteer-run organization going so that we can continue to host other free and low-cost events.
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 5, during PhotoNOLA Festival and ADNO First Saturday, at The Contemporary Arts Center. A photoshoot will coincide with the opening event.
Submissions Due: October 30 before midnight
Jury Results: Nov 6
Exhibition Opening: December 5-January 14, 2027
Jurors:
Matthew Weldon Showman - Ferrara Showman Gallery
Matthew Weldon Showman is the gallery director and co-owner of FERRARA SHOWMAN GALLERY New Orleans and President of the Arts District New Orleans. He serves as a founding board member of fstop504 Collective, assists with exhibitions and educational programming at the Reynolds Ryan Art Gallery at the Isidore Newman School, organizes quarterly incubator sessions for all sects of arts professional with community partners Antenna and Culturalyst, and maintains an independent curatorial and art consultancy practice.
Showman received a BA in the History of Art & Architecture and Anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2011. His professional background is born in museums and independent curation, having been honored with the Milton Fine Curator of Art fellowship and positions across several other departments at the Andy Warhol Museum. He also contributed to special projects at institutions in Pittsburgh including: the Carnegie Museum of Art, Frick Fine Arts Library, Society for Contemporary Craft, and the Westmoreland Museum of American Art (Greensburg, PA), as well as abroad at the Tate Modern and Dulwich Picture Gallery in London and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. 
Showman’s extensive knowledge of contemporary art has helped position his gallery as one of the premier galleries in the South. With steadfast and boundless dedication to artist development, curatorial research, community engagement, and educational programming, Matthew has surpassed the industry expectation of a gallery’s solely commercial function. His leadership in the Arts District New Orleans has illuminated the city as an international destination for Contemporary Art, simultaneously exporting it through the expansion of the gallery’s art fair participation and international presence. 
Brian Piper - New Orleans Museum of Art 
Brian Piper is the Freeman Family Curator of Photographs, Prints, and Drawings at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA). At NOMA, his exhibition credits include Called to the Camera: Black American Studio Photographers, Picture Man: Portraits by Polo Silk, Show & Tell:  A History of Photo and Text, and Confluence: The Tina Freeman Collection of Photographs. His current research and writing interests include the history of African American picture magazines, self-portraiture, and the everyday lives of photographs. He holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from the College of William & Mary in Virginia.
Raelle Myrick-Hodges - The Contemporary Arts Center 
Raelle Myrick-Hodges joined the Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans as executive director in November 2025. She’d served as the CAC’s performing arts curator for three years about a decade ago and had since created “He Has the Prettiest Handwriting,” a theatrical and visual-arts performance piece, and served as founder and executive director of Philadelphia’s Azuka Theater Collective.

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