Arsht Center, New World Symphony show off for Art Week

While Art Basel Miami Beach kicks off, local performing arts institutions and museums are presenting their own artistic showcases during Miami Art Week.

During the first week of December, which is known as Miami Art Week, cultural arts groups are back and picking up where they left off in 2019 – fueling Miami-Dade’s recognition as a global arts district.

New World Symphony and artist Paula Crown are offering an alternative to the crowds with an open-air installation EMANARE, on view on the 7,000-square-foot Wallcast at 500 17th St. in Miami Beach for two nights beginning Nov. 30.

Ms. Crown’s interactive participant-generated, AI-moderated artwork EMANARE offers everyone the chance to share a message of hope and positivity with a soundscape developed by the NWS Fellows Douglas Aliano, Amelia del Cano, Ben Fryxell, Zoë Merrill, Zachary Ragent, and Marcelina Suchocka.

On Dec. 4, The Adrienne Arsht Center will co-present a collaboration with the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and Lowe Art Museum for an immersive evening of music and art starting at 8 p.m. at the center’s Knight Concert Hall at 1300 Biscayne Blvd. “Pictures at an Exhibition,” will feature the Frost Symphony Orchestra conducted by world-renowned Maestro Gerard Schwartz.

The musical performance will consist of 10 movements inspired by specific artworks featured in a posthumous show by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, who visited more than 100 paintings and drawings by his close friend, architect and artist Viktor Hartmann, who died in 1873. The promenades will be paired with more than 50 projected images created by leading contemporary artists as well as original works from the Lowe Art Museum’s permanent collection.

“This collaboration highlights not only two of the jewels in the University of Miami’s arts crown, it is also a forceful reminder of the capacity of music and the painted image to ground us, to move us, and to bring us closer to ourselves and to one another,” said Jill Deupi, Beaux Arts director and chief curator at the Lowe.

The museum will also host artist Samuel Levi Jones in conversation with Oolite Arts’ CEO Dennis Scholl at 10 a.m. Dec. 4 at the University of Miami’s Lakeside Village Expo Hall at 1211 Dickinson Dr. in Coral Gables. Trained as a photographer and multidisciplinary artist, Mr. Jones deconstructs and manipulates books such as encyclopedias and textbooks, to critically explore systems of knowledge and power.

Just in time for Miami Art Week, HistoryMiami Museum’s “FloodZone,” a climate-inspired exhibition boasting a 47-piece collection is on display. Created and curated by Miami’s own Anastasia Samoylova, who is acclaimed for her bold stance on the notions of consumerism and environmentalism, but balanced in her non-sensationalistic approach to changing landscapes resulting from climate change.

People visiting the museum at 101 West Flagler St. will experience portraits of locals, flora, the concrete jungles that replace mangrove forests, wetlands, and farms, all embodied in lush greens, azure blues, and pastel pink colors, said Jorge Zamanillo, HistoryMiami’s executive director.
Samoylova’s photography is an evocative documentary project of the changing landscape, he said.

“What this busy community needs desperately is time to reflect on the changes happening around us. FloodZone gives us the space to pause and consider how current realities are impacting our South Florida community.”

The Mana Common is back with the inauguration of the Flagler Street Art Festival, Miami Mural Festival and NFT BZL conference for Miami Art Week.

The week-long programming aims to disrupt the high-class exclusivity associated with the fine art fairs that take place in Miami Beach by hosting events that are free and open-to-the-public, according to Moishe Mana, Mana Common’s CEO. The main objective is pushing to democratize the art world by installing masterpieces in the high-traffic, walkable Wynwood and Flagler District neighborhoods.

On Nov. 30, the NFT BZL conference aims to educate and inspire its audience on NFTs and their impact. Attendees will witness and engage with key collaborators and thought leaders discussing the transition from web 2.0 to web 3.0, how NFT’s are disrupting the art industry and how to invest in NFT’s. Speakers include Gary Vaynerchuck, Tim Draper, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Alex Mashinsky and YesJulz, Justin Blau. The day-long symposium starts at 8:30 a.m. at the FTX Arena, 601 Biscayne Blvd. in downtown Miami.

The Miami Mural Festival will be on display starting Nov. 29 in Wynwood. The event pushes the boundaries of street art with over 500,000 square feet of massive murals, which are set to reinvigorate the street art character of Wynwood in the face of the increasing luxury residential development.

Presented in partnership with Urban Impact Lab, the week-long Flagler Street Art Festival will be in the heart of downtown beginning Dec. 1, with a series of large-scale experiential digital art exhibitions on public display. Fifteen new murals commissioned by Mana Public Arts will be live painted, along with the debut of illuMia, an interactive nighttime visual experience to be projected on the façades of Flagler District buildings.

“We’re experiencing the renaissance of the Flagler District and concretization of Wynwood as Miami’s premier destination for nightlife and entertainment,” Mr. Mana said. “As our culture evolves and digital novelties emerge, so do new destinations. South Beach has become a thing of the past. This year, we’re making the art market more equitable through an inclusive and accessible program.”