Historically, New Orleans has been regarded as a city deeply rooted in its past. For Prospect.6, Co-Artistic Directors Miranda Lash and Ebony G. Patterson posit New Orleans as a globally relevant point of departure for examining our collective future as it relates to climate change, legacies of colonialism, and definitions of belonging and home. What if New Orleans, a predominantly BIPOC city known for its cyclical celebrations, deeply impacted by hurricanes, receding coastlines, and histories of violence, was considered a harbinger for the world to come? This framework postulates New Orleans, along with other more climate-vulnerable regions in the world, as already living in the "future" that other places will experience. New Orleans is thereby approached as a gift to the rest of the world in its ability to offer lessons and examples for how to live in constant negotiation with the weather, grounded within a community that reflects the global majority, and in direct proximity to the effects and aftereffects of colonial economies. The vibrant publication includes documentation of the exhibition, venues, and public programming for Prospect.6: The Future Is Present, The Harbinger Is Home, an international art triennial based in New Orleans.

Featuring seven essays, three works of poetry, and various speculations on the future, the publication also includes images of artworks by all fifty one participating artists, including the forty three artists who created new work for the triennial.