JAMNOLA, the Marigny’s amazing maze of art installations, is moving to a new, much larger location. If all goes as planned, the pop museum, now at 2832 Royal St., will take up residence at the former Alois J. Binder bakery at 940 Frenchmen St., by December 2024.
According to JAMNOLA co-founder Jonny Liss, there are two main reasons for the relocation. First, after three years of operation, the 5,400-square-foot attraction needed more space to accommodate a growing number of visitors, he said.
Plus, Liss said, he’d always hoped to buy a property to house the collection of exhibits permanently, instead of renting a location as he does now.
So, when he learned that the 13,000-square-foot building at the edge of the Frenchmen Street entertainment strip was available, he jumped at the opportunity to buy it. Liss said he paid $2 million for the property. With the necessary renovation, and installation of new art environments, the cost of the project should be roughly $5 million.
Most of the features from the old industrial bakery, which hasn’t been occupied for four years, have been removed, leaving behind an echoing cavern. But a few artifacts, such as a row of glass-fronted refrigerators, ceiling-mounted flour funnels, a walk-in cooler, and racks stacked with baking trays, may be recycled into future exhibits, Liss said as he led a tour of the structure last week.
In addition to 25 new immersive art installations, Liss plans a restaurant for the side of the property facing North Rampart Street, an outdoor party deck on the roof, and mezzanines overlooking the large two-story warehouse section of the building, which will be filled with large-scale artworks. Liss said he’s arranged for some contracted off-street parking in a nearby lot.
The stark interior of the former Alois J. Binder bakery at 940 Frenchmen Street, will be converted into a cluster of walk-through art installations when the property is converted into the JAMNOLA immersive museum.
That the original JAMNOLA survived its first few years is a small miracle.
The attraction wasn’t meant to be an art gallery or conventional museum, it was designed as stroll-through series of floor-to-ceiling art environments — imagine a Halloween haunted house, without the frights. The concept was similar to the famous Meow Wolf immersive art space in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but with a Crescent City flavor.
Liss is a marketing executive, formerly of Los Angeles. He and and co-founder Chad Smith invested $750,000 in the original project and planned to open in spring 2020, just in time for the annual French Quarter Festival. But the fest and the opening of JAMNOLA were put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic.
If JAMNOLA was ever going to open, the hands-on displays that were originally planned had to be redesigned for touchless, COVID-19 safety.
Larger-than-life foam busts of New Orleans musicians by artist Skye Erie greet visitors at JAMNOLA in New Orleans, Friday, July 17, 2020. The exhibit features the work of 20 artists in 12 rooms and will be open to the public August 1.
When the reimagined attraction finally opened in August 2020, the pandemic had reduced tourist traffic to a trickle, and the summer doldrums stifled local trade. Happily, people found the place, and enjoyed the socially distanced experience. Liss said that 200,000 people have come through the attraction since it opened.
The original JAMNOLA will remain available until a month before the new location, dubbed JAMNOLA 2.0, opens, Liss said.
Meanwhile, Practis Architects, Collin Ferguson of Where Y'Art Works, and a team of designers including Black Indian masker Gina Montana, master art fabricator Brennan Steele, painter Farris Armand, costume maker Julianne Lagniappe and lighting and sound expert Nolan Beaver are at work designing the new location and coming spectacles. Cat Todd of Where Y'Art is developing the concept for the exhibition that will include works by roughly 50 more artists.
Construction is expected to begin in December.
