Craig Robbins
What would Miami’s Design District be without Craig Robins? Possibly nothing. Robins helped persuade Art Basel to plant itself in Miami when they were scouting on American shores, and then ushered in Design Miami/ at first in the then-derelict Design District, which now, under his direction, is the year-round cultural focal point of Miami between the design ateliers and the art institutions, like the ICA Miami.
Elizabeth Margulies
Art advisor Elizabeth Margulies believes in the artists she buys for her clients. So much so that she collects the same names herself, the “artists whose practices and techniques I admire,” she says. Lucky for those already in or heading to Miami, now she’s put her ultra-contemporary acquisitions on display—at the Warehouse in Wynwood. This is the first time the private institution run by Martin Margulies (her father)’s foundation is exhibiting another collection. Included in the exhibition are Barry McGee, Lauren Quin, Gary Simmons, Emily Mae Smith, and Kennedy Yanko. Margulies recently returned to Florida after living up north in New York where her career in art advising and cultural consulting led her to broker licensing deals of artworks to Showtime, and public art activations of David Salle, Kenny Scarf, and Rob Pruitt, to name a few. Miami, around ABMB, she says, “it’s always about seeing the art and gaining new perspectives.” We’ve seen Miami explode as a cultural destination because of art and design, and with the 20th anniversary of ABMB, how can art and design transform a city? I think Miami has always been a cultural destination—that’s why Basel chose Miami for its US outpost. ABMB has become a social event in Miami and a week full of parties that bring people to the city from all over the world. This ultimately has positively affected tourism in Miami over the last 10 years or so, and will hopefully continue to encourage people’s interest in the arts. What’s the future of the arts/design in Miami? As Miami continues to thrive as a city, I’m hoping that more and more art-focused endeavors will continue to pop up. Miami has a solid group of private collectors who have exhibition spaces that are open to the public, such as Margulies, Rubell, De La Cruz, etc. I hope they will inspire a new generation of collectors to do the same. These collections include works by mostly blue-chip and established artists, and my exhibition showcases work by mostly emerging and mid-career artists. I’m grateful for the opportunity to show these works within the space of a major private collection, and to be able to give artists that type of exposure. What challenges does Miami face in terms of the arts? I wish there was more local media coverage of visual arts organizations, artists, and exhibitions in Miami. Some cities are hubs for art/design but not the market. What makes Miami ripe for both? Miami has become an incredibly desirable place to live for many reasons, with high-net-worth individuals relocating from other states and driving up the market. There are lots of financial incentives and benefits to living in Florida, and people need art for their homes.
Nina Johnson
We’ve seen Miami explode as a cultural destination because of art, and with the 20th anniversary of ABMB, how art and design can transform a city? Miami is a city with a rich history that is often overlooked to suit the various interests of newcomers. Art and design can help realign the focus of development. The history of art in Miami dates back well before the arrival of ABMB; for example, we have one of the first percent-for-art programs in the country. Think of Art Deco, the arrival of the car motel, and the massive engineering projects that shaped the everglades—those are all designs! Particularly when we talk about ‘design’ the influence on a city is enormous. The arrival of Art Basel 20 years ago is a momentous occurrence in a city that dates back well over a hundred years. What’s the future of the arts/design in Miami? Miami is uniquely positioned to face 21st-century challenges which are increasingly relevant the world over; climate change, income disparity, and the influx of immigrant populations; I hope that when we talk about art and design, we aren’t just talking about the contemporary art market as it exists during ABMB, rather a lasting impact in terms of how it influences the conversations surrounding these discussions. What challenges does Miami face in terms of the arts? Miami has become an enormously expensive city in which to live with very little infrastructure in terms of artist support. We need more legislation and government support for our artist populations: this means considering artist-friendly development when we talk about zoning, municipal bond support to help our institutions be sustainable, and programs that help fund, not only innovative ideas but things like health care, child care and retirement for artists. Some cities are hubs for art/design but not the market. What makes Miami ripe for both? I am grateful to have seen so many wonderful institutions (both private and public) thrive here over the past twenty years; ICA, PAMM, The Bass, etc. Many of our institutions are supported by individual donors who want to see world-class curatorial endeavors in their backyard, as well as more institutionalized philanthropy, like the Knight Foundation which supports the arts as a vehicle for engaging the public. In terms of the private market and commercial endeavors, the increasingly digital and globalized art market has allowed for those of us operating outside of traditional hubs like London, New York, etc., to build audiences who support our programs, not only in December but throughout the year.
Zoe Lukov & Abby Pucker
Both Zoe Lukov and Abby Pucker have been in cultural production long enough to understand how art can impact social habits. So for the first exhibition of their newly founded Art in Common non-profit, debuting in Miami, the co-curators decided to confront the existential and metaphysical. “Boil, Toil + Trouble” brings together 40 artists who through various practices engage the alchemy of water, the source of life and destruction (particularly for Miami). It opens on November 29 in Miami’s Design District, then travels to Los Angeles in February 2023, and Chicago in April 2023 (timed to the art fairs). The duo founded this creative enterprise to chart “new avenues of access to contemporary art nationwide that speak to the most pressing creative, sociopolitical, and spiritual issues of our time.” Pucker’s own background fuses the creative economy and civic engagement, sitting on the boards of Pioneer Works, The Marshall Project, and Ghetto Film School. She is also the founder of Chicago’s cultural engagement platform Gertie. Lukov is fresh off Faena, where she served as chief curator in Miami and Buenos Aires, and was a founding board member of Desert X. She now works full-time with Art in Common. Zoe Lukov We’ve seen Miami explode as a cultural destination because of art and design, and with the 20th anniversary of ABMB, how can art and design transform a city? ZL: Miami was my home for almost 7 years (until very recently), and during that time I witnessed the ways in which providing space for artists and creatives across disciplines can be transformative for all of us. ABMB has evolved into an incredibly powerful convening moment for artists, arts workers, and supporters from around the world, and it has really become a moment each year to shine a light on the work artists are doing in Miami all year round. In Art in Common’s inaugural exhibition “Boil, Toil + Trouble,” which opens during Miami Art Week in the Design District, we commissioned five new works from Miami artists which are placed in dialogue with canonical works by renowned artists who have been dealing with concepts of the sacred, magic, alchemy, and water for decades. Miami has historically provided space for artists to create across disciplines with little-to-no oversight from traditional gatekeepers. As such, the mix of rituals from across the Americas, art deco architecture, performance-based work, and embodied practices have thrived here since at least the early 80s. The relationship as well between Miami artists and the natural world—both its beauty and destruction—has created a unique visual lexicon and aesthetic vocabulary as well as provided a blueprint for artists to engage with issues of climate change. What challenges does Miami face in terms of the arts? ZL: I think one of the challenges Miami faces is that outsiders underestimate the city as an event-based place that is frivolous or somehow itinerant—but there is a wealth of ancient knowledge and practices from across the Americas, namely Haiti, Cuba and beyond that inform the contemporary art practices in the city as well as a rich history of contemporary art and creation. There are incredibly vibrant contemporary artists and cutting-edge galleries that are challenging and shifting the conversation beyond just Miami and it is short-sighted to miss the broader cultural movements globally that Miami is contributing to. Miami has always had and continues to have reverberations around the world. ABBY PUCKER How are you helping write the future of the arts/design in Miami? AP: I see the future of arts/design in Miami to be full of cross-disciplinary and sector collaboration, building on the models that have been cultivated over time by spaces like Miami Design District. At Art in Common, we are, in a lot of ways, working as intermediaries between funders and artists to give artists opportunities to produce new works or reinstall works in a way that provides creative freedom that is not commercially driven. We are allowing the work to stand on its own and to engage in expansive multigenerational artistic dialogues conceived by Zoe through the curation of exhibitions like Boil, Toil + Trouble. As a not-for-profit, Art in Common works across sectors to engage public and private support systems to create exhibitions and other forms of art encounters that are free and accessible to all. I believe this type of collaborative model is essential in order to continue to build a thriving creative economy not just in Miami but in the country as a whole. Some cities are hubs for art/design but not the market. What makes Miami ripe for both? AP: I think the success of the art and design scene cannot be separated from the larger economic forces in a city. Miami is home to many of the largest national arts funders, whether foundations or individuals. While they are funding nationally, these entities have strong ties to Miami and are helping to bolster the ecosystem locally. These organizations, especially the Knight Foundation, in my opinion, have done something very strategic. They have used philanthropic capital to catalyze arts and cultural projects that become larger civic projects that then in turn garner attention and support from highly visible sources of support, leading to increased local engagement and job creation in the creative ecosystem. This all leads to a better ability to attract and retain young, diverse, high-quality talent to the city, supporting the creation of a group of new potential collectors in addition to the existing collectors and funders. This support, including the building of visual art and art-adjacent organizations, is essential to creating an economy that allows artists to exist and thrive in a city.
Tesfaye Urgessa
It’s a big week for Tesfaye Urgessa, whose classical-infused paintings have found their way to the permanent collection of the Uffizi. Now the in-demand Ethiopian who lives in Germany is the featured spotlight for Saatchi Yates’ third itinerant gallery pop-up in Miami’s Design District. The exhibition is of new paintings, and coincides with the year-long solo showing of Urgessa at the Rubell Museum, opening Monday night when the Art Basel VIPs arrive. When and Where November 22, 2022 – December 20, 2022Saatchi Yates35 NE 40th St November 28, 2022 – November 12, 2023Rubell Museum1100 NW 23 St
Andrea Marie Breiling
Night Gallery’s name alone suggests a sense of the supernatural—so when LA’s buzziest gallery comes to Miami, is it really a leap that they take up residence in Villa Paula, the only property remaining of the Cuban government in the city that’s also legendarily haunted? Villa Paula’s rumored to have the specter of its namesake spooking its halls, just where Andrea Marie Breiling’s dynamic spray-paint canvases, in a new show “Ribbons,” will be on view from November 28 until December 4. As Night Gallery’s Davida Nemeroff explains, “Both Andrea and I have been dealing with loss and grief recently. When she showed me her new “Ribbons” work, I had this intense response to the ribboning effect as if the paintings were echoing people we’ve lost, spirits that continue to inspire us. So, in many ways, the rich history of Villa Paula is the perfect context to unveil the ghostly strokes of Andrea’s apparitional paintings.” When and Where November 28, 2022 – December 4, 2022Villa Paula5811 North Miami Ave
Germane Barnes
Perhaps Miami’s self-professed “best-kept secret” is no more with the tribute paid to Carnival by architect and designer Germane Barnes that now lines the central axis of the Design District as its latest annual commission. Barnes isn’t an artist, but he’s shaping how communities of color live in Miami through his work as Assistant Professor and the Director of the Community Housing & Identity Lab at the University of Miami School of Architecture and his own architecture firm Studio Barnes. His installation “Rock | Roll” infuses the vibrancy and sounds of the Afro-Diasporic festival traditions. When and Where Mid-November onwardMiami Design District140 NE 39th St
Alicja Kwade
We’ve admired the monumental Alicja Kwade’s practice for years, so when news arrived that the cerebral Polish-German sculptor/space-intervener would be commissioned by ARCA, the world’s purveyor of luxury building stone, we’ll admit, sell out crossed our minds. How wrong! Kwade’s Pretty Pity, a saccharine snipe at Miami/the world’s confrontation of the climate crisis, takes form in manipulated, billion-year-old marble into melting ice cream scoops. Also considering sugar and its relationship to the gateway to the Caribbean, no read seems sweet now. When and Where ARCA Wynwood260 NW 27th St
JUDY CHICAGO + NADYA TOLOKONNIKOVA
“How do we claim our world, humanity and planet,” asks Judy Chicago, in a tight-lipped project soon to be revealed on December 1st at the ICA Miami. Chicago has found a spiritual sister in Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova, and the two tireless feminist liberators have, under the auspices of DMINTI, collaborated in a premiere participatory art project, “What if Women Ruled the World” that soon will involve anyone who wants to join in. When and Where December 1st, 20226:30 pmICA Miami61 NE 41st St
Art In Common
“Boil, Toil + Trouble” A partnership in cultural production, Abby Pucker and Zoe Lukov, who just founded Art in Common, continue their multi-leg exhibition model, first debuted last year in Miami, with a new exhibition of 30+ artists to mouthpiece the alchemy of water through art. The exhibition, “Boil, Toil + Trouble,” staged in unusual found spaces (for Miami, it’s a 7,500 sq. ft. in the Design District) positions artists as seers across culture, with a particular emphasis on artists who meddle with magic or embrace the role of witch, from Marina Abramovic, Ana Mendieta, and Wangechi Mutu. When and Where November 29–December 11, 202239 NE 39th St