This is the last week to see EN MAS’: Carnival and Performance Art of the Caribbean, a multimedia exhibition on display since early March at the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center (CAC).

Co-organized by the CAC and Independent Curators International (CIC) and curated by Claire Tancons (writer, researcher, and curator) and Krista Thompson (author and Associate Professor of Art History at Northwestern University), the exhibit traces the work of nine different artists that engaged in and/or critiqued various commissioned Carnival performances during the 2014 season.

These performances took place in nine cities across six different countries: from Port of Spain to Brooklyn, Kingston to New Orleans, and beyond.

EN MAS’ takes an in-depth, critical look at the relationships between masquerade, social criticism, diaspora, and transnationalism, examining performance practice as it occurs in the streets among “the many” (hence the title of the exhibit, where “mas” is also slang for Carnival), rather than on stage or in a gallery.

The physical materials and revelry-reconstructions on display at the CAC incorporate not only the official Carnival events but also the parallel “semi-private rituals at the margin of the festival celebrations” that take place among friends, family, and neighbors.

One of the project’s aims is to move away from considering contemporary festival practices primarily as by-products of 19th century European avant-garde traditions. The exhibit also attempts to contextualize them within the genealogy of slavery-era independence movements and subsequent large-scale population migrations.

The various creations of the nine artists that EN MAS’ traces (John Beadle, Christophe Chassol, Charles Campbell, Nicolás Dumit Estévez, Marlon Griffith, Hew Locke, Lorraine O’Grady, Ebony G. Patterson, and Cauleen Smith) are complemented by works from some of the best filmmakers and photographers working in the Caribbean region.

Accompanying the exhibit is an illustrated collection of scholarly essays and monographic texts written by art historians and cultural critics (including the curators), and a website that offers additional insight into each artist’s work.

Following its time in New Oreleans, the exhibit will tour internationally.

The CAC is located at 900 Camp Street. General admission is $10.