Art Wynwood, Superfine Fill the Need For Art Fair Fix in February

Los-Angeles based street artist RISK’s mural, painted on the side of a boat, welcomes visitors to Art Wynwood. The art fair’s preview day is Thursday, Feb. 16, then opens to the public Friday, Feb. 17 through Sunday, Feb. 19  in downtown Miami. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

Art Wynwood is treating visitors to a nautical surprise. The art fair has commissioned a unique mural from Los Angeles-based street artist RISK, which has been painted on a boat.

The artwork is an intentional tie-in to the weekend’s other big event, the Miami International Boat Show. The massive marketplace for yachts, sailboats, and all variety of oceangoing craft is happening across six locations on President’s Day weekend, one of which just happens to be on Herald Plaza in midtown, across the street from a tent full of art.

Back for its first edition since 2020 (preview day is Thursday, Feb. 16, then it opens to the public Friday, Feb 17 through Sunday, Feb. 19, Art Wynwood may no longer be located in the once-artsy neighborhood that gives it its name, but its strategic location on the bay means a boat show attendee can easily shop for art as soon as they’re done buying their latest boat. That’s the plan, according to Art Wynwood Director Julian Navarro.

“The idea is to try to build a collectors base,” he says. “It’s a really good show in terms of energy.”

There’s also corporate synergy going on between the two events. In 2019, Art Wynwood and its sister fairs, which include the Miami Art Week fairs Context, Aqua, and Art Miami, as well as Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary, were acquired by Informa, a London-based company that owns the boat show. The aim is to turn President’s Day weekend into a smaller, more intimate accompaniment to the more international, glamorous, and significantly busier Miami Art Week.

They’re being helped along in their efforts by a smattering of unaffiliated art events taking place the same weekend. Superfine, the smaller art fair which formerly took place in December, is camping out at Ice Palace Studios in downtown, while the artist’s book-focused Tropic Bound will set up shop in the Design District.

Navarro says the weekend will be especially nice for local art lovers fatigued by the intensity of the week surrounding Art Basel Miami Beach.

“We wanted to offer local collectors another opportunity to acquire art in Miami,” he says. “It’s a great opportunity for the city to go back into the market.”

While the fair is smaller doesn’t mean the art on display isn’t as high-caliber as Art Basel. Cernuda Arte, the venerable Coral Gables gallery focusing on the masters of Cuban Art, will be showing eleven works by Wifredo Lam, two of which have museum shows as part of their provenance.

“It’s a moment here in Miami where we receive many visitors,” says gallerist Ramon Cernuda, “and it’s a great opportunity to develop that other grouping of cultural and leisure activities that would support the participation of an international public.”

Of course, the fair isn’t just about blue-chip paintings. Alongside RISK’s piece at the entrance, the artist will be showing several “virtual reality graffiti prints,” which can be activated by using a smartphone.

Hyperrealist works by Attilio Cianni and Peter Demetz will be the focus at Liquid Art System’s booth, while London-based HOFA Gallery will show cutting-edge kinetic and interactive art.

It seems clear that while some may come for the boats, they’ll stay for the art.

WHAT: Art Wynwood and Superfine Art Fair

 WHEN:  Art Wynwood: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 17 to 18, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19; Superfine: 4 to 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17, noon to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 18 and 19

 WHERE:  Art Wynwood: The Art Wynwood Pavilion, One Herald Plaza (Biscayne Bay & 14th St.), Miami; Superfine: Ice Palace Studios, 1400 N Miami Ave., Miami

 COST:  Art Wynwood: One-day general admission is $36.50 per person; a multi-day pass is $65 per person; Superfine: One-day general admission is $30 per person; multi-day pass is $40 per person.

 INFORMATION:  Art Wynwood: artwynwood.com ;Superfine: superfine.world

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Tropic Bound: Miami’s Newest Art Fair Is All About Books

Tropic Bound, Miami’s first international biennial artists’ book fair, is at Paradise Plaza in Miami’s Design District from Thursday, Feb. 16 through Sunday, Feb. 19. Above, a book from Tom Virgin of Miami’s Extra Virgin Press. (Photo courtesy of Tropic Bound Artists’ Book Fair) 

There are art books. You may have some lining your shelves right now, from museum show catalogs, unplanned purchases from a bookstore sale cart or random used collectors’ items.

Then there are artists’ books. It’s an important distinction. Rather than documenting the work of a certain artist, an artist’s book is a work of art all on its own.

“It’s intended as an art object, not necessarily a book that is explaining art,” explains Ingrid Schindall of IS Projects, a local printmaking studio in Little River. “Sometimes the books will have words in them, sometimes they won’t, sometimes they’ll take a traditional book form that you would expect a book to take, and sometimes they’ll be totally strangely shaped, or open in a weird way, or maybe they won’t even open at all.”

From canonical modern artists like Paul Matisse to midcentury pranksters like Guy Debord and Asger Jorn, plenty of artists have turned to the book as a means of expression. Now, Miami is about to get a page or two full of book art with Tropic Bound, the first art fair dedicated to the artists’ book.

The fair kicks off on Thursday, Feb. 16 with a “Welcome Day,” featuring symposiums, shuttle tours and a welcome party, and then the fair begins in earnest on Friday, Feb. 17 and runs through Sunday, Feb. 19. The multi-day event, at Paradise Plaza in the Design District, is free and open to the public, but a ticket is required for entrance.

Tropic Bound is the brainchild of three women involved in the arts in South Florida: Cristina Favretto, head of special collections at the University of Miami Libraries, Sarah Michelle Rupert of the Girls Club Collection in Fort Lauderdale, and Schindall of IS Projects.

All three had been acquainted from various arts events, including similar artists’ book fairs across the country, but one day in 2019 they all came to the same realization: Why doesn’t Miami host a fair of its own?

“There are book fairs and there are art fairs, but at a certain point, the people that are primarily book artists started saying, ‘We should have one of our own,’” says Favretto.

The group applied for and received a Knight Arts Challenge Grant to help put the fair on, juggling the preparations with their own full-time jobs and families. Though the pandemic caused the original debut date of 2022 to be pushed back a year, the trio says the pause gave them more time to plan and prepare.

Schindall compares it to Beyoncé pushing back her now-famous Coachella headlining show after becoming pregnant with twins.

“I’m kind of hoping we can hit that note,” she jokes. “(It) gave us a lot more time to cook and stew and figure out, exactly how does this dream look?”

When they finally got up and running, the response was even greater than they could have imagined. “We received way more applications than what we could house in our first year,” Schindall says. Eighty-five percent of the fair’s exhibitors are from outside of Florida, with some from outside of the United States. Publishers and vendors from Latin American countries including Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile, as well as the United Kingdom and even Egypt, will set up shop.

Local love is also on display. Thursday’s shuttle tours will showcase some of Miami’s most inspiring literary spaces.

A Little Haiti-Little River tour will stop at print shops including IS Projects, Extra Virgin Press, Emerson Dorsch Gallery, and Dalé Zine shop, while a Coral Gables trek will include a visit with Mitch Kaplan, owner of Books & Books and co-founder of the Miami Book Fair International, and a look at the UM Special Collections hosted by Favretto.

All this will be conducted from a home base in the Design District’s Paradise Plaza event space, which the organizers say was chosen to show off Miami.

“We always saw this as an opportunity to do our hometown proud,” Rupert says. “We knew we didn’t want a tent. We wanted to really ground Tropic Bound as a Miami-based fair.”

Beyond that, however, book art can be seen as a community that extends past fairs and typical art world glamor. Tom Virgin, owner of Extra Virgin Press, and a book and print artist himself, is excited about the prospect of making even more connections at the fair.

“It’s a community of people that still use traditions that are still very effective,” he says of his fellow printmakers. “To have Ingrid and Christina and Sarah bring these people to Miami is such an incredible opportunity . . .it’s kind of like a gig fest of gig fests.”

That sense of connection and tangibility is part of the appeal for Favretto, too.

“People like going to bookstores and browsing, people like galleries and museums. Well, here is an event where you can actually touch the art, you can interact with it, you can meet the artists, have conversations,” she says. “I can’t tell you the number of people I’ve met at these fairs that have become friends. That doesn’t usually happen at a lot of art fairs.”

Schindall shares the sentiment. “The nice thing about having a collection with artists’ books is that a book is, by definition, interactive; it’s activated by the viewer/reader, and so having them in your collection means that the experience of viewing them, by yourself or with another person, is an interactive experience. It engages and it brings you in to have a conversation about what’s happening there.”

WHAT: Tropic Bound

 WHEN: Shuttle tours depart from Paradise Plaza at 10 a.m. and return at 2 p.m., symposium, 4 to 6 p.m., free welcome party, 6 to 8 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 16; fair hours are noon to 6 p.m., Friday, Feb. 17, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 18, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19

 WHERE: Paradise Plaza, Miami Design District, 151 NE 41st St., Miami

 COST: Free. Fair ticket required for entrance. Shuttle tours ($50 with a $4.67 fee), symposium ($10 with a $2.24 fee, exhibitors and students admitted free).

 INFORMATION: tropicboundfair.org

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Traveling Exhibition Adds Miami’s Black History On Its Stop Here

A diorama dedicated to African-American military servicemen is part of “Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow” at HistoryMiami Museum, which also includes stories of Black Miami, through Sunday, Feb. 12. (Photo Courtesy of HistoryMiami Museum)

A traveling exhibit holds keys to unlock the doors of Black Miami’s past.

Organized by the New-York Historical Society, “Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow,” has been criss-crossing the country, but Anita François, HistoryMiami Museum’s assistant curator, says that its Miami stop addresses the city’s turbulent past.

“It’s important for us to reflect upon the characteristics of Jim Crow in a city that is so often disassociated with the American South,” says François.

“When people think about Miami, they think about the glitz and the glamor and that (segregation and) extrajudicial violence didn’t happen here. But we’ve had hangings. We’ve had arson. We’ve had assaults. We’ve had terror. We’ve had the presence of the Klu Klux Klan and it’s important to know this part of Miami’s history as well.”

“Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow” is on view through Sunday, Feb. 12 at HistoryMiami Museum.

The timeline focuses on the end of the Civil War through World War I and includes artifacts concerning the civil rights struggle of African-Americans.

Lily Wong, associate curator and manager of History Exhibits at the New-York Historical Society, says that the exhibit, which originally debuted more than three years ago, continues to retain a captive audience.

“In 2018, it felt resonant and relevant to conversations that were happening around citizenship, democracy, equality, and freedom, and those continue to be really relevant conversations today. I think that’s part of why it has (traveled) to so many places. It’s an important chapter in our history to reflect on and understand how we got to where we are today.”

The artifacts showcased in the show are one of a kind, says Wong.

“(There are) items from our own collection, but also loans from the National Museum of African American History and Culture and other institutions who have generously lent us their items.”

They include a portrait of Dred Scott, a World War I toy soldier diorama of the Harlem Hellfighters, slave shackles worn by Mary Horn, a 17-year-old held captive post-slavery, and activist Ida B. Wells’ pamphlet entitled “Southern Horrors,” which references 728 lynchings within an eight-year period.

François points to Miami’s role in fighting for civil rights, something she says is often overlooked.

“Not many people know that Miami’s civil rights movement began a decade earlier than anywhere else in the south. The mid-1940s is when the first ‘wade-in’ took place at Haulover Beach and continued on with the sit-ins in 1959.”

VIDEO: Thelma Gibson: Stories of Resistance from Black Miami, HistoryMiami Museum.

As part of the exhibit, attendees will hear firsthand accounts of those who fought against racial injustice in Miami. Stories of Resistance from Black Miami, an oral history project, includes interviews from local activists including Thelma Gibson, Lonnie Lawrence, and Betty Ferguson.

“We are introducing leaders from the community who were involved in both past and contemporary racial justice movements,” says François. “I feel blessed as an institution that we were able to speak with so many of these inspiring individuals. Individuals that have been so pivotal in the racial justice movement efforts from past to present.”

Lawrence adds that the importance of the exhibit cannot be overstated, particularly for Miami’s youth.

“I think it’s important that our younger generation understands the things that happened and what their parents and forefathers went through in order to provide them the opportunities they have today. A lot of this would not be in place if it hadn’t been for the struggles of yesteryear,” Lawrence says.

He believes that many have not completely grasped the enormity of the situation.  “They have a snapshot view but they don’t have a clear understanding of what it was really like,” he said. “You had the symbol of justice in this community, the Dade County Courthouse, . . . and you couldn’t even go into the bathroom or the water fountain. You had to drink from a fountain that was outside on the side of the building or go to the bathroom that was outside, downstairs in the basement area. And that was the Department of Justice,” he exclaims.

François hopes that the exhibit can offer a better understanding of race relations.

“. . . Sometimes we think about American history as a straightforward upward trajectory of progress and it hasn’t been that way. We have long struggled between equality and inequality.”

Lawrence says there has been progress but there are improvements to be made.

“We’ve come a long way but we still have work to do.”

WHAT: “Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow”

WHERE: HistoryMiami Museum, 101 W Flagler St, Miami

WHEN:   Through Sunday, Feb. 12. Museum hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday and Tuesday.

COST:  Exhibition included with museum admission: $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students with ID, $6 for children 6-12, free admission for museum members and children under the age of 6.

INFORMATION: 305-375-1492 or historymiami.org

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Photographer Tony Chirinos contemplates life and death in ‘The Precipice’ at UM

Tony Chirinos’s exhibit “The Precipice” at the University of Miami Art Gallery features photographs of surgical tools, like this Yankauer Suction Tube, suspended against bright-colored backgrounds. (Photo courtesy of Tony Chirinos)

Tony Chirinos is accustomed to seeing and capturing things that would shock the average person. For years, working as a medical photographer for Miami-area hospitals, he shot photos of surgeries and autopsies, developing an oeuvre that meditates on the frailty of life and the finality of death. But he recalls a time when one viewer’s response to his work shocked him.

“I had a group show in New York,” Chirino recalls, “and I had this lady come up to me, a tiny, petite, elder lady, and tell me that my pictures were the most horrific pictures she had ever seen. And when I started looking at her, she had a number tattooed on her arm.”

The woman was a Holocaust survivor, and Chirinos’ photos reminded her of the concentration camp crematoriums that she had narrowly avoided.

The artist, now a professor at Miami-Dade College, Kendall, says it’s never his intention to offend anyone, but that the content of his photos sometimes elicits extreme reactions. In the case of the elderly woman, he says he was saddened by her experience but grateful that his work provoked such an emotional response.

“I’m a documentary-style photographer. I don’t move anything, I don’t touch anything, I photograph what I see in my own style,” he says. “My main goal is to show images to people and not give answers, so that they look at a photograph and there’s more questions to be asked, (rather) than just give the complete answer of what it is.”

This is exactly what Chirinos planned for his upcoming solo exhibition, “The Precipice,” at the University of Miami Gallery in the Wynwood Building. Based on his eponymous first photography book, published by Portland, Oregon-based boutique photo book publisher Gnomic, “The Precipice” also replicates the book’s three-part structure, placing photos from each chapter on the gallery’s three walls.

Each takes a different subject as their focus, from the monochromatic depictions of mortality in “Farewell” to the somewhat fetishistic photos of surgical tools suspended against bright-colored backgrounds titled “The Beauty of the Uncommon Tool,” after a Walker Evans photo project, “Beauties of the Common Tool,” originally published in 1955.

“They’re tools that were used in surgery photographed in a beautiful, ethnographic way. So I take (the tools) out of their context and have people think about them. ‘What is that going to be used for? What part of the body is it used for? Why is it so beautiful? Why am I attracted to something that is so horrific? Why am I looking at it like it’s candy to the eye?” explains Chirinos.

Chirinos found his vocation after he lost a scholarship to what was then Miami-Dade Community College, ironically where he now teaches. Not wanting to shame his parents, immigrants who had escaped Cuba via Venezuela, he concealed the setback and found a summer job as an assistant to the photographer at Miami Children’s Hospital. He quickly earned a promotion two months later, becoming the hospital’s official photographer when his supervisor quit. There was one major problem, however: He didn’t know anything about cameras.

“I found this organization called the Biological Photography Association,” he recalls. “And so, I reached out to them, told them what my predicament was, and they really helped me.”

The association gave him instructions on everything from photographing surgeries to which lenses to use. Although most of his work involved taking educational photos of medical procedures for teaching doctors, he also took portraits and family photos for staff, ribbon-cutting ceremonies, and anything else the hospital needed. He supplemented his pay with freelance work and his own projects in order to make ends meet.

The most interesting assignments, he says, involved surgeries and autopsies. These, Chirinos recalls, he took very seriously, especially when he returned to school at FIU, where professors encouraged him to think of his work as more than a job.

“You have to respect the HIPAA law,” he says. “What could I do to protect the patient and not lose my job? So, I spoke to administration and public relations, and basically they gave me the green light, they just said ‘just make sure no identification is shown.’”

Intensely aware of the privacy risks his work could pose, Chirinos became adept at photographing around the patient. He would snap shots of surgical tools, of lights, of sheets draped in various positions and of doctors huddled around the table. Many of his shots are photographed in dramatic, clinical black-and-white, imbuing them with all the power and severity that comes with going under the knife. They’re perhaps more provocative for what they don’t show, and this could explain the intense reactions.

“I love making the viewer create their own horror in their head,” he admits.

Following the UM Gallery exhibition, “The Precipice” will travel to Brooklyn’s Transmitter gallery in April. The show marks Chirinos’ New York gallery debut and a peak of interest in his work, which he attributes to the COVID-19 pandemic. The photographer says he struggled to find an avenue for publishing and showing his work before the pandemic, but considers that the event made some reassess their own relationship to death. And certainly, in a sense, Chirinos’ photos provide a certain memento mori.

“We don’t know what ephemeral relationships and feelings anybody’s gonna get when they look at these pictures. The only thing that I’m trying to do is (tell people) that you have to look at your own mortality,” Chirinos says. “If there’s one thing we’re all gonna do, it’s that we’re all gonna die.”

WHAT: Tony Chirinos: “The Precipice”

WHEN: Friday, Feb. 1 through Friday, Feb. 24. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Opening reception 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11.

WHERE: University of Miami Art Gallery in the Wynwood Building, 2750 NW 3rd Ave., Miami.

COST: Free

INFORMATION: 305-284-3161 or art.as.miami.edu

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Big Things Happening Inside Small Space at South Miami’s [NAME]

Enrique Castro-Cid’s “Blue Nude (1979)”, acrylic on canvas with “Untitled,” an ink, pencil, on graph paper from the same year, are part of the exhibition “Protocol Pressure” at [NAME]. (Photo courtesy of [NAME])

An exhibition space in South Miami isn’t one that’s regularly on the radar. However, there are big things going on at [NAME], yet the smallish brick-and-mortar storefront belies the depth of artistic intelligence happening on the inside.

Possibly more familiar to locals than [NAME] is its neighbor in the Southwest 40th Street shopping plaza – the consignment second-hand store Miami Twice, a play on “Miami Vice,” a destination that’s an icon for its vintage clothes and handbags, which has been in the same spot since the mid-1980s.

Although [NAME] has existed since 2008, it moved into its public space just after COVID in February of 2022. [NAME] Publications got its start when Gean Merino was awarded a grant from the Knight Foundation to begin a press creating books dedicated to and by artists.

The artists’ press, [NAME] Publications, remains one of the staples of the hybrid non-profit, whose mission, with its exhibitions, its archives, and its books is to support and present underrepresented or marginalized or often untold histories of artists, particularly from the Americas.

There’s no better reason to discover all of [NAME] than its current exhibition, “Protocol Pressure,” now in its final week. It closes on Saturday, Jan. 21 with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. with a talk by collaborator, collector and close friend of El-Cid’s, Frank E. Acosta.

Paging through Enrique Castro-Cid’s notebooks of computations amid ephemera carefully curated throughout the space transports you into the Chilean-born artist’s mind. Into a different world. A time not too long ago but that registers nostalgic. Call it BCAD or Before CAD.

The various notes and scribbles, handwritten letters, and photos amassed at [NAME] make you question almost everything.

He sucks you into his obsession with the rules of making paintings. Why must it be? Here, in his own hand, is Castro-Cid’s mind trying to maneuver a way out, an escape from the boxed-in Cartesian or Euclidean geometry, the way in which depth of space needed to be depicted. “Space as an act of reflection is absolute, yet, as a phenomenon presents many forms and gradations,” according to the artist.

Paintings. Rectangular canvases with no consideration of space within the canvas relative to space? He examines different possibilities. It shows up as infinite numbers, calculations, and mathematics, as he explores what would happen to the figures and to the space of painting if art and technology co-exist.

In one acrylic on canvas, Castro-Cid doesn’t mask his process. In the 1986 “Biscayne Afternoon,” the grid is partially showing, the painting put off center with the grid above and to the right. In the 1979 “Blue Nude,” the grid is obscured, faintly noticeable. A closer look at the canvas and the edges are bowing. Castro-Cid had put pressure on the canvas itself. Was he leaning into the calculations he had been fixated on? “There’s a lonely relationship between a viewer and an orthodox painting,” Castro-Cid is quoted as saying.

“Protocol Pressure” at [NAME] is the first of two exhibitions planned to explore the life and work of Castro-Cid. The current show is centered on what the artist created in Miami from the late 1970s through the 1980s when he was focused on experimenting with computer-aided software (CAD).

Born in Santiago, Chile, in 1937, he moved to New York in 1961. It didn’t take him long to become part of the Manhattan social set. He married Harper’s Bazaar magazine cover model, Sylvia Palacios Whitman, who also performed in avant-garde art venues. Following his split from Sylvia, he wed art patron Christophe de Menil in 1971. His relationship with the daughter of Dominique and John de Menil, whose Menil Collection in Houston is one of the most important privately assembled collections of modern and contemporary art, lasted three years.

In 1980, he arrived in Miami where he found the leisurely pace a place for him to dig deep into his art vis-a-vis technology mindset. Then, on a trip to Santiago in 1992, he died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 54.

The way in which, [NAME] curator and co-director, came upon Castro-Cid’s work is one of those meant-to-be stories. She tells me she visited a friend’s home in 2014-15 and hung on the wall was a drawing – ink, pencil on graph paper. It caught her eye.  ” ‘I’m sorry, what is this?” she asked, already fascinated. The friend told her whose work it was and then divulged: “And, I also have this box of notes.”

Yes, the work that fascinated her so much is part of “Protocol Pressure,” so you can see the 1979 “Untitled” for yourself.

Zuluaga says that the current display of Castro-Cid’s personal musings, carefully curated on a table at [NAME] is only a small selection of the full trove of documents in their archives.

It became yet another addition to other ephemera that compelled [NAME] co-directors Merino and Zuluaga to mine more and more material. A Knight Arts Challenge Grant in 2021 propelled what’s now called Migrant Archives. Along with the Castro-Cid material, they had been gathering and researching ephemeral practices of 1980s Cuba.

And in the summer of 2022, they co-curated an exhibition as part of documenta 15 in Kassel, Germany, called “To the Bitter End: Civic Practices in Cuba at the Beginning of the 21st Century,” which included bulletins, zines, articles, and other documents from Cuba in the 2000s.

It’s only the tip of the iceberg. Along with what they’ve already amassed, they will be searching, salvaging, and compiling cultural materials from artists, especially those who, as Zuluaga says, have been exiled and are living in the South Florida community. She calls some of the pieces “orphaned objects” citing that, in many cases, they are materials that can’t go home.  Most likely the infrastructure from where they were born isn’t politically stable and the archives could be lost forever if not rescued.

Migrant Archives will be a public open archive – an online platform that anyone can access and that will preserve all kinds of history. Currently, the [NAME] co-directors are immersed in the work of graphic designer Havana-born Félix Beltrán and Cuban public graphics. In the 1970s, Beltrán was the main designer of propaganda for the Communist Party of Cuba during the Cuban Revolution.

Zuluaga says simply: “The core of the mission remains the same, it’s how we get it out.”

[NAME], with its shelves of artists’ books from the publication side, and its current “Protocol Pressure” creates a space to be explored. No doubt, it will leave an impression.

WHAT: “Protocol Pressure”, the works, research, and archival materials of Enrique Castro-Cid

WHEN: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.Wednesday through Saturday. A closing reception is set for 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 21 with Frank E. Acosta, Castro-Cid’s collaborator and close friend, who will discuss the artist’s life and work in a talkback.

 WHERE: [NAME], 6572 SW 40th Street, Miami.

 COST: Free

 INFORMATION: namepublications.org

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‘The Gaze Africana’ Showcases Work By 21 International Black Artists

Jamaican artist Kimani Beckford’s “Study from the Birth of Venus” is one of the works on exhibit as part of AfriKin’s “The Gaze Africana” at the Scott Galvin Community Center. (Photo courtesy of AfriKin Art)

Its name is a fusion of two words, Africa and kinship. For Black History Month 2023, AfriKin is presenting “The Gaze Africana,” an art exhibit showcasing the work of artists inspired by the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., the African American icon and civil rights movement leader.

Presented in collaboration with the North Miami Community Redevelopment Agency (NMCRA), the exhibition is on display through Wednesday, Feb. 28,  at the Scott Galvin Community Center.

For three years, AfriKin has been offering annual art exhibitions during Black History Month and Art Basel Miami Beach/Miami Art Week, as signature events of the AfriKin series, according to Alfonso D’Niscio Brooks, AfriKin’s founder and chief executive officer.

The non-profit foundation has been promoting Black Art for over 15 years in Miami, he says.

In the exhibit, “The Gaze Africana,” the term “gaze” is used to describe the way in which African artists are exploring their identity through a contemporary African fine art lens, explains Brooks. It also refers, he continues, to the way in which African artists are looking at their own culture, heritage, and history through their own unique perspective.

“The Gaze Africana” is a way for African artists to challenge the dominant narrative of the African experience. “Through their artwork, African artists are able to present a different perspective on African culture and history that is often overlooked or ignored,” says Brooks.

This concept has been explored in a variety of ways, from the use of traditional African symbols to the use of bright colors and vibrant patterns, along with the use of modern technology and materials.

“The exhibit also serves as a platform for discussing the issues of racial injustice and inequality that continue to plague our society today,” says Brooks.

The exhibit aims to celebrate the beauty of Black culture and the Black world. And what better occasion than Black History Month to do so?

“Celebrating Black art during Black History Month is important because it recognizes the contributions of African and African Diaspora artists and their unique perspectives. It is a way to honor their diversity, creativity, and resilience,” according to Brooks. “It is also an opportunity to learn more about the history and culture of people of African origin, as well as to gain insight into our struggles and triumphs.”

Guest artist George Camille from Seychelles still feels there are a lot of obstacles for Black artists to overcome.

“Black artists have gained tremendous recognition and visibility over the last few decades, but there are still a lot of challenges . . . Black History Month presents the world with a constant reminder of the role and importance that Black creators continue to play in the development of art on a global platform,” says Camille.

“Celebrating Black Art during Black History Month is important because it promotes Black history, but even more importantly, it is fundamental to its construction,” adds Ines-Noor Chaqroun from Morocco.

AfriKin’s exhibitions feature a range of internationally acclaimed, emerging or mid-career artists. They are from various parts of the world, including Africa, the United States, the Caribbean, Haiti, Latin America, Europe, and the Indian Ocean.

Exhibiting artists in addition to Camilee and Chaqroun are Doba Afolabi (Nigeria),  Philippe Dodard (Haiti), Angèle Essamba Etoundi (Cameroon, Netherlands), Joaquin Gonzalez (Spain), Bayunga Kalieuka (Congo), Ricardo Lion Molina (Cuba), Ras Mosera (Sint Maarten), Musa Swallah (Ghana), Carlos Salas (Colombia). Jamaican artists Camille Chedda, John Campbell, Katrina Coombs, Kimani Beckford, Greg Bailey, Yrneh Gabon, Oneika Russell; United States artists include Aisha Tandiwe Bell, Niki Lopez and Amore Kreative.

“One of our goals with AfriKin is to be a conduit that connects Continental Africa and the diaspora. So, at all our exhibitions we do our best to present a good balance of artistry that highlights this amalgamation,” explains Brooks.

Participating for the first time in an AfriKin Art exhibition, Camille recognizes that “being part of the Afrikin art exhibition will allow me as an artist living and working on an isolated island off the African coast to gain access to a wider audience as well as be part of a bigger art community that has a common agenda.”

Camille has three large acrylic paintings on canvas in the show including “The Company of Strangers,” which was selected for the recent Dakar Biennale in Senegal.

Returning to AfriKin is Yrneh Gabon, a Jamaican artist and activist. He believes that AfriKin, acting on its social and cultural responsibilities, is how to engage people from Africa and its diaspora. “It is necessary that we re-educate, and I am a firm believer in re-education when it comes to history and culture, “ he says.

The Caribbean artist says that one month is not enough to celebrate Black History Month. “But anytime and reason to celebrate is worth celebrating. Gabon will showcase his new body of work inspired from a conversation with curator and educator Dr. Babacar Mbow on Ghanaian writer Ayi Kwei Armah’s book “The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born.”

In addition, several programs will accompany “The Gaze Africana,” including contemporary dance, jazz, and African spiritual music performances, panel discussions, spoken word, film screenings, and business networking. All events are free to public, but RSVP is requested.

“AfriKin utilizes cultural programming to highlight the importance of art and culture in the reshaping of communities. (The) activations and programming are focused on the development of cultural industry, advancement through strategic partnerships and kinship across ethnic lines,” Brooks adds.

WHAT: “The Gaze Africana” by AfriKin Art

WHERE: Scott Galvin Community Center, 1600 NE 126th St, North Miami, FL 33181

WHEN:  Noon to 6 p.m. daily through Feb. 28.

COST: Free, but RSVP requested.

INFORMATION: 305-895-9840 or afrikin.art

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At Locust Projects, final Design District exhibitions push boundaries, emphasize community

Ronny Quevedo, “ule ole allez,” in the main gallery of Locust Projects’ Design District space through Saturday, Feb. 4. (Photo courtesy of Zachary Balber)

Walking into Locust Projects’ final exhibit at their soon-to-be-vacated current location in the Design District, you might think you have the wrong address. The floors are covered in scuff marks and bright-colored tape. It looks like some kind of indoor soccer field – and that’s exactly the point. For his work “ule ole allez,” Ecuadorian-born artist Ronny Quevedo invited Miami’s local futsal (a hard-court, indoor version of soccer) leagues to come into the space and play with an ink-infused ball.

“So you’ll see on the walls the marks from their shoes, but also the marks from the ball hitting the walls, hitting the floors,” says Lorie Mertes, director of Locust Projects. “Ronny really saw that as a collaborative, community drawing.”

Accompanied by small drawings based on soccer strategy charts, “ule ole allez” is Quevedo’s way of showing the creative potential hidden in sport and play. It may be coincidence, according to Mertes, that this mock-futsal court is taking over Locust’s main space during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

But it also feels like a purposeful rebuke of that massive, globalized, controversy-filled spectacle, setting the Beautiful Game back to where it belongs, the pitches and courts and improvised playing fields across the world where possible future Kylian Mbappés and Lionel Messis play and dream.

Community could be seen as a theme, not just in this round of shows but in the whole thread of Locust Projects’ existence. Since 1999, the nonprofit art space has allowed Miami’s artists a very unique blank slate. They give the entirety of their space over to an artist and let them do whatever they want, free of the commercial restraints of a gallery, the pressures of a museum show, or any constraints, really.

They’re even willing to let their artists destroy their building, as Loriel Beltran did in 2009 when he scraped the paint off the walls to make his “Labor Paintings,” or as a pre-fame Daniel Arsham did in 2015 when he dug a hole in the floor to fill with his fossilized sculptures of consumerist debris.

It’s that “culture of yes” as Mertes calls it that encouraged T. Elliot Mansa to build his “Room for the living/Room for the dead,” the second of two site-specific installations currently on view at Locust. Mansa’s piece attempts to reconcile a division common in African American homes between formal living rooms full of artifacts and heirlooms and family rooms where people actually gather. Shelves are adorned with family photos and books on Black history and art, and the blue wallpaper is covered with images of Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass.

The space is interactive, and visitors are invited to play cards at the folding table, read the books, or play the copy of John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” on the turntable.

“I love that spirit because that’s what I want the future space to be as well. We’ve never really had a cool hangout, sort of social space,” says Mertes.

Although the two site-specific works, as well as a guest-curated video exhibition called “Portals of Introspection” by Dimitry Saïd Chamy, Mikey Please, Duke Riley, and Paul Ward, and guest curated by Donnamarie Baptiste, will run through Feb. 4, the nonprofit has already christened its new location, an 8,000-square-foot space former industrial laundry facility in Little River.

In addition to larger exhibit space, Mertes says there will be storage space, fabrication facilities for artists on-site, and an outdoor courtyard, which can host live performances, as well as spaces meant for socializing. The culture of “yes,” however, isn’t going anywhere.

WHAT: Ronny Quevedo: “ule ole allez”;  T. Elliot Mansa: “Room for the living/Room for the dead”; Dimitry Saïd Chamy, Mikey Please, Duke Riley, and Paul Ward, guest curated by Donnamarie Baptiste, “Portals of Introspection.”

 WHEN: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.Wednesday through Saturday until Feb. 4.

 WHERE: Locust Projects, 3852 North Miami Ave., Miami.

 COST: Free

 INFORMATION: 305-576-8570 or locustprojects.org

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Paradox Museum in Wynwood is mind-blowing experience

Guests exploring the Tunnel Paradox, which allows participants to balance their bodies and experience perceived movement as they let go. Photo Courtesy of The Paradox Museum.

Described as a “mind-bending indoor venue,” the Paradox Museum certainly messes, in a good way, with our minds. Some could even say it is a bit, well, tricky. The museum, which opened in the midst of Miami Art Week, has over 70 “paradox-based interactive exhibits designed to fool the eyes and challenge the senses.”

Visitors who pay admission for the mind-bend at the for-profit house of illusions ($24 is the average for families who want to buy a four-pack on the weekend, otherwise weekend rates are $27 for adults, and $24 for a children’s ticket, weekdays are $1 less) get 60 to 90 minutes to explore the multiple rooms of illusions.

“Miami is known for its art and exhibitions. We wanted to bring a permanent museum to Miami that was optical, interactive and photographic,” explains Marc Gregory Tipton, the museum’s sales and marketing director.

While mainstream museums and art fairs usually prohibit visitors from touching the exhibits, Tipton says guests at Paradox Museum are encouraged to touch, feel and experience the exhibition.

“We encourage where possible for guests to interact with our paradox-based exhibits. In the museum, most of our exhibits are touchable and can be seen from different perspectives,” says Tipton.

A visit to the new Miami museum can feel like a magical experience, but it’s actually a very technological one. There are plenty of mirrors, lights, and angles, which are used to trick the mind. Scientific principles are involved in what constitutes “edutainment,” a portmanteau word made up of education and entertainment.

“Our exhibits,” says Tipton, “are all created around STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math). That’s creating the educational aspect along with the entertainment fun for all ages.”

The basis for the name and what’s at the core of the exhibits is a “paradox,” which is presenting something and its opposite at the same time.

Just some of the paradoxes for visitors to explore are the Tunnel Paradox, which allows participants to balance their bodies and experience perceived movement as they let go, the Paradox Challenge, which combines balloons and levitation, and the AMes room showing guests in giant size next to others in small size. In the Paradox Piano, guests tune in directly to a piano to create a unique melody and a personal piano concerto.

Since Paradox is an experiential museum, visitors are expected to fully immerse themselves in the moment and publicly share their experience on social media.

“We have select exhibits where guests will become part of the paradox illusion. Taking photos and videos will create an even more immersive experience,” promises Tipton.

Miami is the first United States city to have a Paradox Museum, according to Tipton. The other two are in Stockholm and Oslo, Sweden.

Tipton says Miami is just the beginning for the U.S.

“We are planning on opening new museums throughout the United States in the next two years,” Tipton says, adding that all the museums will have local culture built into them.

The Paradox Museum’s mission? To educate and amaze at the same time and to blow our mind. And yes, the mind is a terrible thing to leave unblown.

WHAT: The Paradox Museum

 WHERE: 2301 North Miami Ave.

WHEN: noon to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

COST:  $26, $23 (children 4 to 11 years old),  weekday; $27, $24 (children 4 to 11 years old), weekend. Also, four-pack tickets available from $92.

INFORMATION:  305-614-38 08 or paradoxmuseummiami.com

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Art of Black Miami showcases neighborhoods at this year’s art week

Philippe Dodard, Dimensional Flow, Art of Transformation exhibit, Opa-locka. (Photo courtesy of Art of Transformation and the artist)

While Art of Black Miami is a year-round showcase of visual arts and artists, it’s become an integral part of Miami Art Week.

Launched in 2014 by the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) as an ongoing platform for local artists,  Art of Black Miami’s art week offerings are plentiful and varied.

“We’re excited because there are a lot of things happening in this cultural space,” says Connie Kinnard, the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Senior Vice President, Multicultural Tourism & Development Department. “We powered this marketing program that highlights our art and . . . particularly those artists within the Black Diaspora.”

Kinnard pointed out that there are many sites to visit, including those that aren’t necessarily known for being an art destination.

“We want to encourage people that are coming in to visit to also get out and experience all of our neighborhoods,” said Kinnard. “Our destination is culturally diverse and we know that Black artists in the diaspora are a big part of Miami Dade. We want visitors to be aware of all of the talent that we have in our communities.”

Here’s a sample of some of the upcoming events and the neighborhoods spotlighted.

 

LIBERTY CITY

“Le Art Noir, Diversity in Color” will be hosting an evening of art, fashion and entertainment on Thursday, Dec. 1 at the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center.

“This is our second year and we are coming in bigger and better,” says spokesperson Randi B. Berger. “We have extended the amount of diverse artists that we have this year. We’ve also gone into a lot more of 3D and digital NFTs.”

The all-encompassing event will expand beyond traditional art mediums.

“We will be having cutting-edge fashion and a celebration of music. We’re doing a lot of pop culture and we’re doing issues that are very poignant. In today’s society, we’re giving a voice to those that typically could not be heard.”

WHAT: “Le Art Noir, Diversity in Color”

WHERE: African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, 6161 NW 22^nd Ave.

WHEN: Thursday, Dec. 1, 7 to 10 p.m.

COST: $75-$120

INFORMATION:  leartnoir.com

 

HISTORIC OVERTOWN

Hampton Art Lovers is hosting The Point Comfort Art Fair + Show at the Historic Ward Rooming House and Gardens in Overtown. Their goal is to not only promote local art, but to also provide a meeting space for conversation and music.

“We have a multi-dimensional fair where we have something called our Indaba Lounge Series  which is a series of our talks that we produce. We also have our nighttime events,” says Chris Norwood, co-founder of Hampton Art Lovers.

He hopes that visitors will stop by and see what’s in store.

“If you want to see black art, come to a historic black community,” said Norwood. “We are providing a place where African-Americans and anybody can come and experience black culture in a way that is digestible during the largest cultural event in North America.

Norwood said that their event is a great way to purchase authentic African-American art even if you’re on a tight budget.

“We sell art at every price point,” he says. “Everybody can leave there with something if they want. And that’s very important to us. ”

WHAT: The Point Comfort Art Fair + Show

WHEN: Various events through Sunday Dec. 4

WHERE: Historic Ward Rooming House, 249 N.W. 9^th St.

COST: Free

INFORMATION:  pointcomfortart.com 

 

OPA-LOCKA

The “Art of Transformation” is a two-block event in Opa-locka featuring a dance performance, film screening, panel discussion and three art exhibits.

Tumelo Mosaka said that the event stems from continuously engaging artists and the community.

“I’ve been doing an exhibition in Opa-locka almost every other year, looking at artists from the continent and the diaspora and bringing them here to create first-class exhibitions. And now this is  a larger manifestation of the interventions we’ve been doing.”

The individual shows highlight different aspects of the African diaspora.

Mosaka, who is overseeing all of the exhibits, is also the curator for “This Here Place: Africa and the Global Diaspora.” which features six international artists from the Opa-locka Development Corporation collection.

The remaining two exhibits will be held nearby.

“We invited an organization that has worked with Haitian artists to bring their conversation into the mix in terms of thinking about how the Caribbean diaspora engages in the emotions about identity and representation,” said Mosaka. “They will be presenting an exhibition that’s trying to trace the artistic language of Haitian artists who have lived both in Haiti and in the diaspora in terms of thinking about what has been the vocabulary and the language of thinking about representation by Haitian artists. That exhibition is called “A Beautiful Human Love.”

“The other one called “AfriKin Art 2022: The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born.” is an exhibition that is looking primarily at emerging artists out of the diaspora and thinking about this moment of recognition, this moment of thinking about what the future holds:  Have we really arrived or are we still struggling?

“It’s a very interesting conversation that each exhibition brings and so we hope to continue bringing exciting things and putting Opa-locka on the map in terms of really offering the best that there is to offer with what we’ve got.”

 

WHAT: The Art of Transformation

WHEN: Various Events Through Sunday Dec. 4

WHERE: Ali Baba Ave., between Opa-locka Blvd. and Aladdin St.

COST:  Free

INFORMATION:  olcdc.org/artinopalocka 

 

LITTLE HAVANA

Bring the family out to a day of festivities at the 10^th Annual Umbrellas of Little Havana Art Festival. Held in partnership with the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind, the event will feature a variety of art displays along with an impressive array of hand-painted patio umbrellas by local artists.  This year visitors will have the opportunity to view 25 new designs.

WHAT: 10^th Annual Umbrellas of Little Havana Art Festival

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Dec. 2 to 4

WHERE: Futurama 1637 SW 8 St.

COST: Free

INFORMATION:  umbrellasoflittlehavana

According to Kinnard, the events provide the perfect opportunity to purchase art while supporting the arts community.

“We want visitors to come in and be aware of all of the talent that we have.

She said that everyone can participate.

“I think there are times where people look at art in itself and think it’s an elite situation but it is for anybody. There are no barriers.”

Artists in Residence in Everglades summit contemplates art, diversity and the environment

“Passages,” an immersive installation and soundscape, was created by Cornelius Tulloch and features the 2022 artists in residents in Everglades recipients. (Photo courtesy of AIRIE)

Amanda Williams uses color and her training in architecture to investigate issues related to race and the urban environment.

For her 2016 “Colo(red) Theory” series, the MacArthur Fellow and Chicago-based visual and installation artist painted eight buildings slated for demolition in the South Side of Chicago with colors named like Ultrasheen (hot blue tone), Newport 100s (soft blue tone), Crown Royal Bag (velvety purple) and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (bright red-orange).

Williams crafted colors that resonated with the Black community and the palette of the neighborhoods she grew up in.

When asked in 2020 to participate on the National Advisory Council for AIRIE (Artists in Residence in Everglades) to reimagine the 21-year-old, non-profit Everglades residency program, Williams saw an opportunity in South Florida’s urban environments and the river of grass to increase diversity among the artists who are involved in AIRIE’S month-long immersions.

“AIRIE is finding new ways to reconceive the natural,” says Williams. “There is an ability to help people understand that you can’t stay stuck in the injustice, and this is especially hard for communities where that injustice is barely being acknowledged at all.”

She will be a key speaker during the Friday, Dec. 2 AIRIE Art and Environment Summit alongside Adam Ganuza, the chief of staff for the president’s office at the Knight Foundation, Alexander Cunningham Cameron, Cooper Hewitt curator and Hintz Secretarial Scholar, Tatiana Mouarbes of the Open Society Foundation, and Reverend Houston Cypress representing the Love the Everglades Movement.

Williams investigates the idea of land ownership and the question of who gets to own what and why. “Where’s the delineation of who owns this, and how is this based on those kinds of documents and policies which have had physical outcomes on the environment?” questions Williams.

 When asked what role artists can play in defending environments such as the Everglades threatened by rising sea levels and global warming, Williams answers: “Yes, it (the Everglades) is probably going to go away, but how do we own the effort of making work that’s joyful right now and how does this empower us to act?”

She references Cornelius Tulloch, a Miami-based artist and 2022 AIRIE Fellow.

“For instance, Cornelius did this wonderful work of lighting at night that conveys the notion of the African Diaspora and people moving through this landscape (the Everglades).  It’s beautiful to look at but what it speaks to is extremely powerful,” says Williams referring to Tulloch’s immersive installation “Passages,” which forms the artistic focal point of the summit.

Tulloch, who grew up in South Florida, had only visited the Everglades once during a high school trip.  The AIRIE residency program allowed him to get to know the park and its rich history in a deeper way, he says.

The artist was especially inspired by the history of the Florida Highwaymen – a group of 26 mostly self-taught African-American painters who traveled the 95 corridor of Florida’s east coast during the Jim Crow period making a living from selling their paintings.

“These are hidden histories that we don’t think about all the time,” says Tulloch, “and these were artists who were not just thinking about ecology, but there is a lot of intersection of their narratives within the South Florida environment and a consciousness of the environment.”

Drawing inspiration from his Jamaican and African-American heritage, Tulloch’s work expresses how bodies exist between cultures, borders, and characteristics to create spatial impact.

His work has been exhibited widely including at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Miami Pulse Art Fair, and the Museo Nazionale Delle Arti Del XXI Secolo in Rome. In 2016, Tulloch was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and, in 2020, the artist received the Ellies Creator Award from Oolite Arts. And recently was named an Emerging Visionary Grantee by Instagram and the Brooklyn Museum as part of its 2022 BlackVisionaries program.

Tulloch co-created “Passages” with the eight other 2022 AIRIE Fellows, who are artists working in a diverse array of mediums from sound to song and poetry, including Arsimmer McCoy, Francisco Masó, Kunya Rowley, M. Carmen Lane, Ania Freer, Lola Flash, Justin Matousek, and Alexa Caravia. According to ARIE, 225 applications were submitted for the nine Fellows spots for 2022. AIRIE’s selected fellows, as is the norm, received a $4,000 grant for a one-month residency in Everglades National Park and were provided housing and a stipend for the length of the residency.

The summit represents AIRIE’s largest event to date and is its first Art and the Environment Summit.  “This is an opportunity to build a more inclusive community around the issue of environmental justice to convene leaders and highlight the stories and interpretations that artists like Cornelius are making with the Everglades,” according to Evette Alexander, AIRIE’s executive director.

Since 2021, almost 200 creatives from artists to writers to curators have been selected for AIRIE residencies.  “We curate our residency experience,” explains Alexander. “Artists go out with scientists, hydrologists and (experience) controlled burns, kayaking, slough slogs (wet hiking through the cypress domes). We really do immerse our artists in the landscape and their stores,” says Alexander.

WHAT: AIRIE (Artist in Residence in Everglades) Art Installation and Summit

WHERE: The Carter Project, 3333 NW 6th Ave., Miami 

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Friday, Dec. 2.  The art installation,“Passages,” is on view to the public from noon to 4 p.m. at the Carter Project through Sunday, Dec. 4. 

COST:  The event and installation are free.  A separate RSVP and $10 donation is required for the 12:30 p.m. lunch.

INFORMATION: airie.org/summit

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12 artists, 12 Miami Beach hotels for 3rd and largest edition of ‘No Vacancy, Miami Beach’

“Carcass,” Beatriz Chachamovits, hand-built ceramic installation, Esme Miami Beach, 1438 Washington Ave., is part of the third edition of “No Vacancy, Miami Beach,” on public display through Thursday, Dec. 8. (Photo courtesy of City of Miami Beach and the artist)

Known as some of the most art-centric hotels in the country and, in fact, the world, visitors and locals to Miami Beach will discover that, at any given time of the year, the hotels of Miami Beach excel in displays of original works of art.

Going another step further in their status as destinations for art, the City of Miami Beach and the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Center (MBVCA) are, for the third year, partnering with hotels for “No Vacancy, Miami Beach,” a collection of site-specific works by 12 local artists paired with 12 of the most storied hotels on Miami Beach.

The third edition of “No Vacancy, Miami Beach,” on view from Thursday, Nov. 17 through Thursday, Dec. 8, is the largest since the juried art competition’s first edition in 2020, according to the organizers from the City of Miami Beach Art in Public Places Committee, Cultural Arts Council (CAC) and MBVCA.

“It’s an opportunity for the hotels,” says Deborah Plutzik-Briggs, vice president, arts at The Betsy Hotel, South Beach, (1400 Ocean Drive). The hotel was paired with Hollywood, Fla., artist Sri Prabha for the installation “Cosmic Occupancy,” which will have a selection of three separate video projections on The Betsy’s Orb.

According to the artist, video projections on and around The Orb are meant to create a dynamic and contemplative space to reflect upon an individual’s place in the universe. The Orb, a spectacle in itself, is a work of public art, connecting the Betsy Hotel and the Carlton Hotel across an alleyway (14^th Place and Ocean Court).

“The projections onto The Orb and into the alley illuminate the entire outdoor space. It enables The Betsy to bring the arts outside and invites the community to come inside to see what else is going on,” says Briggs.

Artists were selected from a call for submission and selected by representatives from the City of Miami Beach Art in Public Places Committee, Cultural Arts Council (CAC) and the MBVCA. Artists received $10,000 to facilitate the creation of the artwork and are paired with the hotel location which would show the work.

The works on view also give the public a chance to voice their opinion and vote for their favorite. The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau is awarding $10,000 to one of the artists for its Public Prize and anyone can cast their vote beginning Nov. 17 at mbartsandculture.org.

An additional $25,000 Juried Prize will be awarded to a “No Vacancy, Miami Beach” artist and selected by a jury of local art professionals. Winners will be announced on Dec. 8, 2022.

“This is our third go around with “No Vacancy” and what’s been great is the (selection committee’s) ability to match us with artists that understand who we are — not every artist fits in every hotel space. Every hotel is different just like every artist is different. Hotels have a soul, and they have an aesthetic and sensibility that I believe can amplify an artist’s work,” says Briggs.

At the Faena Hotel Miami Beach (3201 Collins Ave.), the work is “Patria y Vida” by Antonia Wright and Ruben Millares, a large light sculpture using 18 metal barricades with LED lights bound together and arranged in a chaotic formation. The artists describe the site-specific installation as a celebration of people’s right to peacefully protest. The barricades are part of a series by the pair where they ponder the familiar barricade focusing on it as a symbol of resistance.

“For us within “No Vacancy,” it is important to collaborate with the City of Miami Beach. They are doing beautiful programs and supporting artists, which is very much in line with what the mission of Faena Art is,” says Nicole Comotti, executive director of Faena Art.  Comotti comments on how vital it is that work by local artists be seen and funded in programs such as “No Vacancy, Miami Beach” especially during Miami Art Week.

Comotti says “No Vacancy, Miami Beach” brings a “tone of unexpectedness and access” to visitors.

“Rather than just renting a hotel room, you’re learning about and being exposed to artists in the local community, and you’re being given access to something that you wouldn’t necessarily have,” says Comotti. “The hotel is not only a place for you to come and stay, but is a place for you to enjoy, to educate yourself in art and culture and entertainment. It is also a place that supports the community.”

See the works of art created by local artists at these hotels, free and open to the public.

Avalon Hotel (700 Ocean Drive): “In Your Eyes, I Come Alive,” Jessy Nite, outdoor site-specific typography installation.

Betsy Hotel (1400 Ocean Drive): “Cosmic Occupancy,” Sri Prabha, video projections.

Cadillac Hotel and Beach Club (3925 Collins Avenue): “Liguus,” Brookhart Jonquil, site-specific sculpture.

Catalina Hotel and Beach Club (1732 Collins Avenue): “Maxi-Building on the Baroque, Charo Oquet, site-specific sculptural installation.

Esme Miami Beach (1438 Washington Avenue): “Carcass,” Beatriz Chachamovits, hand-built ceramic installation.

Faena Hotel Miami Beach (3201 Collins Avenue): “Patria y Vida,” Antonia Wright and Ruben Millares, large scale light sculpture.

Fontainebleau (4441 Collins Avenue): “HYPER!,” Bas Fisher Invitational (BFI) presents Esben Weile Kjaer, Copenhagen, sculpture, performance piece.

Hotel Croydon (3720 Collins Avenue): “Sea Show,” Claudio Marcotulli, multi-media light and video installation.

The International Inn on the Bay (2301 Normandy Drive): “Angle of Vanishing Stability (AVS),” Justin Long, site specific installation using an upturned sailboat suspended 10 feet in the air.

Loews Miami Beach Hotel (1601 Collins Avenue): “Reflections of Florida Wild,” Magnus Sodamin, outdoor vinyl mural.

Riviera Suites South Beach (318 20th Street): “Submersion in Blue,” Maritza Caneca, multimedia installation.

Royal Palm South Beach (1545 Collins Avenue): “Treading Water,” Michelle Weinberg, drawings, carbon paper between folded sheets of mulberry paper.

WHAT: “No Vacancy, Miami Beach”

WHERE: 12 hotels throughout the City of Miami Beach

WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 17 through Thursday, Dec. 8.

COST: Free

INFORMATION: mbartsandculture.org. Cast a vote for the Public Prize winner at mbartsandculture.org beginning Nov. 17.