moca miami: muy caliente!

MOCA Miami (above and below) The outside of the museum has a giant fountain with art by local artists. I could spark some debate by pointing out that local artists are a focus in the museum but I wouldn't want to do that would I? Although Florida artists are included they also are mixed with other national artists as well...the way a contemporary should run. The warehouse extension museum, which I will talk about below, was created because of the overflow of the museum's collection so they created an alternate space to show those works and have events. The exhibition up at MOCA - Metro Pictures "addresses social issues shared by large populations. Works address personal histories and illustrate relationships, as well as topics that explore political and philosophical perspectives on race, environment, and other social concerns." The works were curated by the director of the miami gallery Moore Space which has the part 1 of the exhibition.

This work lights up at night and becomes a focus of an outside installation.

Susan lee-chung - this artist has a studio in the Art Center in south beach (you can see more works in the previous post on the Art Center)

Now on to the contemporary extension of MOCA - The Goldman Warehouse. This place was great! It was so funny traveling to the museum because it is about a 30 minute bus ride from the other MOCA and in what locals call a "rough area." I was advised to travel by cab when attending the warehouse and other galleries about 5 blocks south of that but I decided that since I was from detroit I could handle myself! It is funny when you mention you are from detroit then people seem to think of you as a little bit tougher. Anyway, this space was great! It was in the middle of a desolate warehouse and fashion district where most galleries, including MOCA, almost were hidden among all the concrete buildings. The difference from the NY chelsea district is that these spaces from the outside had no windows and had gates on the doors - very unsuspecting! There was a guard that buzzed you into the museum and also most other galleries had buzzers to enter. You could almost spot a gallery by the cars outside: lexus...mercedes...hummer...just to name a few!

MOCA Goldman could be a great model for MOCAD. I spoke with the director for some time and she pointed out that the museum included many Flordia artists and liked to involve the community by hosting events. The lastest event was a big "party" where a collector and an artist/art enthusiast got paired up and had drinks at the museum and then traveled back to the collector's house for more drinks and food. Very cool! The museum also was built only on public donation - no grants or state funding! I think that if anyone affiliated with MOCAD should definetely check out the miami warehouse for a model to how a contemporary should run.

Robert Chambers - This was one of my favorite works while in miami. The director explained that this piece by a Miami artist who has made quite a name for himself is a playful sculpture of two bikes "making love". The shared front tire was on a timer that spun the wheel about every  few minutes and made a grinding, peddaling noise.

This installation by Natalia Benedetti is of her recent skydive. The video plays on looping tracks and is in a dark room with very loud airplane noises. Great experience but it brings up a funny point of no matter what you put in a museum or gallery is always considered art. I just finished the book The Critque Handbook (excellant read - highly recommended) and it talks about how art is viewed in different places. If this skydive video was just playing on the discovery channel would you still consider it art?