Remote, Digital + Outdoor Highlights from Miami Art Week 2020
Online exhibitions, windswept sculptures, immersive art and other inspirational installations
The first-ever Miami iteration of Art Basel opened in December 2002—injecting the sunny city with an international art crowd that would continue to grow for almost two decades. Though that particular fair moved online this month, for health and safety reasons pertaining to COVID-19, much of Miami Art Week continues in various states and stages. Say what you will about the parties and brand promotions, but the week’s substantial art access—anchored by Art Basel, Design Miami/, NADA, Scope, Volta (formerly Pulse) and Untitled—provides unfathomable inspiration. Sculptures rise. Artists collide and collaborate. Movements emerge. This year we aren’t in Miami, but we’ve spent a lot of time digging through the documents we would have used to plan our trip in an ordinary year—and these stood out to us.
Art Miami + CONTEXT Art Miami on Artsy
Running 2-20 December, the Art Miami and CONTEXT Art Miami art fairs will showcase their combined roster of 150+ international galleries on Artsy. The unified effort is comprised of an extraordinary range of contemporary artists—and one can spend hours scrolling through, if one so desires. Both fairs are beloved in-person and Artsy certainly keeps the spirit alive.
The Future Presented by Gagosian and Jeffrey Deitch
Previously staged in the Miami Design District’s historic, architecturally stunning Moore Building, Gagosian and Jeffrey Deitch’s joint presentation, The Future, is online this year. An annual favorite for the breadth, depth and diversity of work on display, this sixth installment does not disappoint. With captivating additions from the likes of Pae White, Sayre Gomez, Katharina Grosse and Cui Jie and mesmerizing older items from artists including Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman, Chris Burden and Derrick Adams, it’s masterful curation and worthy of a scroll.
FAENA ART presents “Dreaming with Lions” by Alexandre Arrechea
On the beach in front of the Faena Hotel, free for all to see, Miami-based Cuban artist Alexandre Arrechea‘s large-scale, site-specific monument, “Dreaming with Lions” honors the resilience of human spirit. The bright and brilliant 62-foot forum-style sculpture incorporates folded beach towels that unite into quotes from Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. It will be up for all of Miami Art Week.
ARTECHOUSE’s Aqueous
With Aqueous, digital art destination ARTECHOUSE continues its exploration of the 2020 Pantone Color of the Year, Classic Blue, this time through its relationship to water. This soothing two-floor immersive experience invokes everything from an oceanic horizon to the light patter of pain, in ways both sensorial and textural. Fortunately, it will run through 14 April 2021.
Maison Margiela Presents Artist Marco Brambilla’s “Nude Descending a Staircase No 3”
A riveting reinvention of Marcel Duchamp’s 1912 masterpiece, “Nude Descending a Staircase, No 2,” artist Marco Brambilla’s projected work weaves together animated figures cascading down invisible steps with an otherworldly piano score. Free to the public, the digital piece appears outside from 3-5 December, 7PM-10PM each evening, at 142 NE 41st Street.
Nina Johnson’s Three Solo Exhibitions
As we attempt to emphasize each year, to visit Miami and not set foot into a gallery based there is a disservice to yourself and the city. Nina Johnson‘s dynamic space impresses once again—this time with three solo exhibitions. From Rochelle Feinstein: Fredonia! to Woody De Othello: Coming to Light and Nathlie Provosty: Poison Dart, Johnson presents thought-provoking and visually arresting experiences on-site. Additionally, those interested can schedule an appointment to visit Emmett Moore’s The Boat House, an off-site sculpture and furniture exhibition by Johnson.
Pérez Art Museum Miami’s Allied with Power: African and African Diaspora Art from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection + MY BODY, MY RULES
One of our favorite Miami institutions, the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) hosts not one but two exceptional exhibitions of cultural importance and curatorial care. With Allied with Power: African and African Diaspora Art, 35 brilliant works by international artists—across practices and at various stages in their career—unite. It will run through 1 July 2021. The all-women group show MY BODY, MY RULES, which runs through 5 September 2021, features the work of 20 diverse artists, working within various mediums. Through empowerment, the masterful exhibit calls into question the mainstream portrayal of women.
The Real Surreal Salvador Dalí Exhibit
For the Real Surreal Salvador Dalí pop-up exhibit, Miami-based Marcel Katz Art partnered with Salvador Dalí expert Bertrand Epaud to showcase rare, treasured and iconic works by the Spanish surrealist. Hosted at The Confidante Miami Beach, the ticketed experience (which can be done online too), even includes Dalí’s 10-foot-tall, 1,000-pound sculpture “Saint George and The Dragon.” The surprising pop-up runs through 17 January 2021.
Hero image of Pae White’s “Nighthawker” (2020) courtesy of Gagosian and Jeffrey Deitch
