ALEX PRAGER EXHIBITS AT THE MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS

A new photography exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA) explores how contemporary media artists have depicted wealth over the last ten years. Organized by MIA curator of photography and new media David E. Little, Embarrassment of Riches upends the usual attention given to images of poverty in publications and museums; instead analyzing the cultural impact of wealth. Following a decade of unprecedented historical flows and fluctuations of wealth on a global scale, this exhibition is not a celebration of affluence and consumerism but an examination of the transformative effects of prosperity.

The exhibition, which runs from September 17, 2010 - January 2, 2011, includes more than 40 photographs and a selection of video works by international artists such as Tina Barney, Luc Delahaye, Jacqueline Hassink, Sze Tsung Leong, Martin Parr, Robert Poladori, Alex Prager, Cindy Sherman, Alec Soth, and Eve Sussman, among others.

"These artists have captured the different ways that wealth manifests itself visually, from individuals who demonstrate their money publicly through fashion and social rituals to governments who transform cities through new architecture," Little said. "But as this exhibition will show, these works do not just document, they also comment on these societies and engage our own perceptions through compelling imagery as well as humor."