The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutCRA-R-04-0003 SubmittalIMPACT - BASEL AN URBAN ARTS ENCOUNTER DECEMBER 3rd 2004 MIART Foundation An Urban Arts Event ■ An Art Festival with emphasis on Art Education and Miami as the Art Capital of the Americas C t oncep A Celebration of the MPAC (Performing Arts Center Neighborhood) as an Attraction Pole for the Arts Where the Neighborhood Itself is a Work of Art ■ Focusing on World -Class, Cutting -Edge Art ▪ Objective Creating an Identity: MPAC as the Head of the Arts Corridor in Miami MPAC - vvynwooa - Design uistrict Promoting this Up -and -Coming Area in General Cultural & Educational Institutions, Residential Real Estate, Business, Entertainment ■ Establishing the Visibility of a New Important Cultural Venue The MIART Foundation / FIU Context A Listed Event of Art Basel -Miami Beach The Most Prestigious International Art Fair The Week When Miami Becomes the Center of the International Art World Ta rgets • Target Audience The Visual Arts Constituency The Art Public At -Large, Artists, Collectors, Dealers, Critics, Students ■ Anybody that Enjoys a Good Party Extend the Reach of Good Art Bring them to the Neighborhood • Targeted Sponsors ▪ Consumer Brands: Spirits, Apparel ... Ni Financial Institutions: Both Consumer and High -End Focused • International Brands: Link to Our International Participants • MPAC Developers: Business & Real Estate Supporters: OMNI Advisory Board Florida International University • Target Date: December 2, 3 or 4, 2004 The Proposition ▪ Value Proposition A Major Urban Art Encounter at the Highest Point in the Season, A One -Night Distinct, Multi Disciplinary Event, Anchored by Top -End Star Artists, Exhibiting Cutting Edge World Class Art, Including Showings by the Local Student Body (FIU, DASH, MIUAD, New World) ■ Addressing a Wide Range of Ages and Constituencies in the Context of the Art Basel Week that has put Miami in the Front Pages as a One of the Leading Art Markets in the World. ■ Featuring the "New" In -Area of the City, with the Easiest Access, in the Heart of Down Town. Area Plan .1YS kYJE ilk w o Festival Area / Street Events Warehouse #3 Warehouse #2 The DASH Student's Fence Installation VIP Parking Installation & Performance Sites Warehouse #1: MIART & Stiftung Starke Performing Arts Center Miami Space Time Project (Alex Steneck) • MIART Foundation - at Warehouse #1 16Or Major Artist Exhibition (Running through December) ■ Shows by 4 to 6 Top International Artist (Running Through December) At the Court: Video Art Projections (Special Event) • Herzberg & Damien - at Warehouse #3 Kaarina Kaikkonen Installation (Running through Art Basel-MB) s. Various Exhibitions (Running through Art Basel-MB) • FIU, DASH, MIART Foundation - at Warehouse #2 Tina Spiro: "Paint -the -Town", The MPAC Installation (Running through Art Basel-MB) Tina Spiro: Deconstructing Pei (Running through Art Basel-MB) • i-iu i-acuity / Student exhibition • DASH Student exhibition Events 2 Installation Sites Curated Sculpture Show (Special Event) Urban Interventions ■ Digital Art at MPAC Video Interventions on the Area Buildings (Special Event) ■ The Fence on 13th N An Art Project by Selected DASH Students (Special Event) - Intrepid Real Estate The Second Launching of the Pawn Shop Club (One -Night Event) ■ Street Events By Invitation (Special Events) ■ Food Festival (Miami Art's Cafe) The Performing Arts Center MP The Team Artistic Direction: Ms. Tina Spiro FIU Liaison: Dr. Carol Damian Treasurer: Dorothy Long Art Basel Liaison: Stefanie Reed • Direction: Production: David Hopper Lighting & Staging: Fernando Calzadilla Site Planning & Preparation: Eran Spiro Public Relations: Printed Media: Urbana Magazine (Special edition with cover) TV: Pending Advertising: ellUEIlly The Neighborhood as a Work of Art Staging by: Fernando Calzadilla The Neighborhood as a Work of Art Paint the Town: A Large Scale Urban Intervention by: Tina Spiro Funded by: The Community Re -Development Agency (CRA), and the Miami Dade Empowerment Trust. Implementing Agency The Down Town Miami Partnership Budget 1. Police (11 officers), Private Security (7) 1,200 2. Art Events Production Team 10,000 3. Artistic Director 5,000 4. Site Planner/Preparation Supervisor 5,000 5. Production and Staging Manager (Street events) 5,000 6. Lot and street clean-up/Maintenance 5,000 7. Shuttles/Transportation from Convention Center 3,000 8. Fire 800 9. Street closure permit 100 10. Solid Waste Removal 750 11. Public Relations 12,000 12. Grant to PAC for Banner & Lighting 15,000 13. Street and facade lighting, sweeper, Electrical Distribution 5,000 14. Projectors, materials, Banners, Sound 7,000 15. Event Insurance 2,000 16. Sanitation (toilets) 1,500 17. Contingency 7,000 18. Utilities 1,000 19. TOTAL $86,350 the Omni Advisory Board (Fred Joseph, President) :Aq pepoddns 0 O n' �. O r. C c� 3 CD O. 0 - es 0 0 Interested Public Sponsors: 9je3 sPV Ruaeiw dio3 w0 ueopeuad fgieej pidaa4u Miami Realty Acquisitions leaf 3RseFew eooads) auize6ew euegin (wane ay; Jo; uompe Promised Private Sponsorship: a y 'Q co — �a 0 st)m —. pp 3 . co O IV 0 0 3. a 121VININO uogepunoa 1?JVIIAI z 0 o O 3 cc ,.. O c 3 a c� 3 < c o. % ' Q xi co CD O O. su < c. O 0 ord -0 cD 3 0. co L = O rr 0 M (.0 CD ' O `< cD co 3: tD ✓ + : siosuods oIignd pajsaaatui eJe3 s1V iweiw dio3 }.nO ueouewd /tiiee i pide4u fiiieeN 3!;sereI 3 dnoID Wen a;enrJd 43uA1 eioeds) euizefie j euegan (Waite a4; Joj uoi;ipe Promised Private Sponsorship: )10 y c tO • PP co < cD m a 603 (D n t700Z 4pe08 lase8 l31id W 1 uofupurlod 121d1 W • • OMNIART AN URBAN ARTS ENCOUNTER DECEMBER 3rd 2004 MIART Foundation An Art Festival with emphasis on Art Education and Miami as the Art Capital of the Americas ■ Concept A Celebration of the OMNI area as an Attraction Pole for the Arts ■ Where the Neighborhood Itself is a Work of Art ■ Focusing on World -Class, Cutting -Edge Art ■ Objective Creating an Identity: OMNI area as part of Miami's Cultural Corridor ■ OMNI - Wynwood - Design District ■ Promoting this Up -and -Coming Area in General ■ Cultural & Educational Institutions, Residential Real Estate, Business, Entertainment ■ Establishing the Visibility of a New Important Cultural Venue • The MIART Foundation / FIU s Context A Pending Listed Event of Art Basel -Miami Beach The Most Prestigious International Art Fair The Week When Miami Becomes the Center of the International Art World Ta rgets Target Audience The Visual Arts Constituency The Art Public At -Large, Artists, Collectors, Dealers, Critics, Students Anybody that Enjoys a Good Party Extend the Reach of Good Art Bring them to the Neighborhood Targeted Sponsors • Consumer Brands: Spirits, Apparel ... Financial Institutions: Both Consumer and High -End Focused • International Brands: Link to Our International Participants • OMNI Developers: Business & Real Estate Supporters: • OMNI Advisory Board • Florida International University Target Date: December 2, 3 or 4, 2004 The Proposition Value Proposition A Major Urban Art Encounter at the Highest Point in the Season, A One -Night Distinct, Multi Disciplinary Event, Anchored by Top -End Star Artists, Exhibiting Cutting Edge World Class Art, Including Showings by the Local Student Body (FIU, DASH, MIUAD, New World) Addressing a Wide Range of Ages and Constituencies in the Context of the Art Basel Week that has put Miami in the Front Pages as a One of the Leading Art Markets in the World. Featuring the "New" In -Area of the City, with the Easiest Access, in the Heart of Down Town. Area Plan to Nf V,AMI CT �♦ E T iIaCAYML •LVO —1 I r i = :iri. Li 6 16(fir41111! Festival Area / Street Events Warehouse #3 Warehouse #2 The DASH Student's Fence Installation Pawn Shop Club VIP Parking * Installation & Performance Sites Warehouse #1: MIART & Stiftung Starke — Performing Arts Center ;me Project (Alex Steneck)111 1 Events 1 ■ MIART Foundation - at Warehouse #1 Major Artist Exhibition (Running through December) Shows by 4 to 6 Top International Artists (Running Through December) At the Court: Video Art Projections (Special Event) Herzberg & Damien - at Warehouse #3 Kaarina Kaikkonen Installation (Running through Art Basel-MB) • Various Exhibitions (Running through Art Basel-MB) ■ FIU, DASH, MIART Foundation - at Warehouse #2 ■ Tina Spiro: "Paint -the -Town", The OMNI Installation (Running through Art Basel-MB) Tina Spiro: Deconstructing Pei (Running through Art Basel-MB) ■ FIU Faculty / Student exhibition ■ DASH Student exhibition ▪ Installation Sites Curated Sculpture Show (Special Event) Urban Interventions ■ Digital Art at OMNI Area • Video Interventions on the Area Buildings (Special Event) The Fence on 13th • An Art Project by Selected DASH Students New World School of the Arts, M I UAD (Special Event) Intrepid Real Estate ,I The Second Launching of the Pawn Shop Club (One -Night Event) • Street Events ■ By Invitation (Special Events) Food Festival (Miami ■ Artistic Direction: Ms. Tina Spiro FIU Liaison: Dr. Carol Damian Treasurer: Dorothy Long • Art Basel Liaison: Stefanie Reed ■ Direction: • Production: David Hopper • Lighting & Staging: Fernando Calzadilla ■ Site Planning & Preparation: Eran Spiro ■ Public Relations: • Printed Media: Urbana Magazine (Special edition with cover) TV: Pending Advertising: Pending The Neighborhood as a Work of Art Staging by: Fernando Calzadilla The Neighborhood as a Work of Art Installations by: Kaarina Kaikkonen The Neighborhood as a Work of Art Paint the Town: A Large Scale Urban Intervention by: Tina Spiro Funded by: The Community Re -Development Agency (CRA), and the Miami Dade Empowerment Trust. Implementing Agency The Down Town Miami Partnership 1. Police (11 officers), Private Security (7) 1,200 2. Art Events Production Team 10,000 3. Artistic Director 5,000 4. Site Planner/Preparation Supervisor 5,000 5. Production and Staging Manager (Street events) 5,000 6. Lot and street clean-up/Maintenance 5,000 7. Shuttles/Transportation from Convention Center 3,000 8. Fire 800 9. Street closure permit 100 10. Solid Waste Removal 750 11. Public Relations 12,000 12. Street and facade lighting, sweeper, Electrical Distribution 5,000 13. Projectors, materials, Banners, Sound 7,000 14. Event Insurance 2,000 15. Sanitation (toilets) 1,500 16. Contingency 7,000 17. Utilities 1,000 18. TOTAL $71,350 [Budget Pending Art Basel Listing The Event] IMPACT - BASEL AN URBAN ARTS ENCOUNTER DECEMBER 3rd 2004 MIART Foundation f2 /D#Ui-1-008s3b The Proposition Value Proposition ▪ A Major Urban Art Encounter at the Highest Point in the Season, A One -Night Distinct, Multi Disciplinary Event, Anchored by Top -End Star Artists, Exhibiting Cutting Edge World Class Art, Including Showings by the Local Student Body (FIU, DASH, MIUAD, New World) ■ Addressing a Wide Range of Ages and Constituencies in the Context of the Art Basel Week that has put Miami in the Front Pages as a One of the Leading Art Markets in the World. ■ Featuring the "New" In -Area of the City, with the Easiest Access, in the Heart of Down Town. CiEJ Tr � 15'T-n 1 rr NIAMS AY ti a : Erg fi�g x A E'TTTr % 1 I ♦ _• 1 Iit 1 N{ IA` it VEIII V rit 1 _. N! Y.A♦11 CT �` -TT � M 2 � , r17~ .c A 1. _ . ;I 1 I_ 1r rr yrl iy ; E [ 1 • $CArut •avo Festival Area / Street Events Warehouse #3 Warehouse #2 The DASH Student's Fence Installation Pawn Shop Club VIP Parking ' ' Installation & Performance Sites Warehouse #1: MIART & Stiftung Starke Performing Arts Center Miami Space Time Project (Alex Steneck) Events 1 MIART Foundation - at Warehouse #1 Major Artist Exhibition (Running through December) Shows by 4 to 6 Top International Artist (Running Through December) At the Court: Video Art Projections (Special Event) Herzberg & Damien - at Warehouse #3 ■ Kaarina Kaikkonen Installation (Running through Art Basel-MB) ■ Various Exhibitions (Running through Art Basel-MB) FIU, DASH, MIART Foundation - at Warehouse #2 ▪ Tina Spiro: "Paint -the -Town", The MPAC Installation (Running through Art Basel-MB) Tina Spiro: Deconstructing Pei (Running through Art Basel-MB) ■ FIU Faculty / Student exhibition ■ DASH Student exhibition I Events 2 Installation Sites Curated Sculpture Show (Special Event) Urban Interventions Digital Art at MPAC ■ Video Interventions on the Area Buildings (Special Event) ■ The Fence on 13th ■ An Art Project by Selected DASH Students (Special Event) ■ Intrepid Real Estate it The Second Launching of the Pawn Shop Club (One -Night Event) Street Events By Invitation (Special Events) Food Festival (Miami Art's Cafe) The Team Artistic Direction: Ms. Tina Spiro FIU Liaison: Dr. Carol Damian Treasurer: Dorothy Long Art Basel Liaison: Stefanie Reed Direction: Production: David Hopper ■ Lighting & Staging: Fernando Calzadilla ■ Site Planning & Preparation: Eran Spiro • Public Relations: * Printed Media: Urbana Magazine (Special edition with cover) • TV: Pending Advertising: Pending Staging by: Fernando Calzadilla Paint the Town: A Large Scale Urban Intervention by: Tina Spiro Funded by: The Community Re -Development Agency (CRA), and the Miami Dade Empowerment Trust. Implementing Agency The Down Town Miami Partnership Budget 1. Police (11 officers), Private Security (7) 1,200 2. Art Events Production Team 10,000 3. Artistic Director 5,000 4. Site Planner/Preparation Supervisor 5,000 5. Production and Staging Manager (Street events) 5,000 6. Lot and street clean-up/Maintenance 5,000 7. Shuttles/Transportation from Convention Center 3,000 8. Fire 800 9. Street closure permit ... 100 10. Solid Waste Removal 750 11. Public Relations ... 12,000 12. Grant to PAC for Banner & Lighting 15,000 13. Street and facade lighting, sweeper, Electrical Distribution 5,000 14. Projectors, materials, Banners, Sound 7,000 15. Event Insurance ... 2,000 16. Sanitation (toilets) 1,500 17. Contingency 7,000 18. Utilities 1,000 19. TOTAL $86,350 Targets Target Audience The Visual Arts Constituency The Art Public At -Large, Artists, Collectors, Dealers, Critics, Students Anybody that Enjoys a Good Party Extend the Reach of Good Art ■ Bring them to the Neighborhood ■ Targeted Sponsors ■ Consumer Brands: Spirits, Apparel ... ■ Financial Institutions: Both Consumer and High -End Focused ■ International Brands: Link to Our International Participants ■ MPAC Developers: Business & Real Estate Supporters: ■ OM N I Advisory Board ■ Florida International University Target Date: December 2, 3 or 4, 2004 An Urban Arts Event An Art Festival with emphasis on Art Education and Miami as the Art Capital of the Americas Concept A Celebration of the MPAC (Performing Arts Center Neighborhood) as an Attraction Pole for the Arts Where the Neighborhood Itself is a Work of Art Focusing on World -Class, Cutting -Edge Art Objective • Creating an Identity: MPAC as the Head of the Arts Corridor in Miami • MPAC - Wynwood - Design District ■ Promoting this Up -and -Coming Area in General • Cultural & Educational Institutions, Residential Real Estate, Business, Entertainment • Establishing the Visibility of a New Important Cultural Venue The MIART Foundation / FIU Context A Listed Event of Art Basel -Miami Beach The Most Prestigious International Art Fair - The Week When Miami Becomes the Center of the International Art World ' Every single day, I do at least one thing, no matter how small, that takes me closer to my goals.' - Lisa Lynne record titles have names like "Celestial Winds" and "Love & Peace" or that her record labels have names like New Earth and Lavender Sky. As a self-taught musician who started playing rock and roll in local bars, Lynne moved from guitar, electric bass, and man- dolin to Celtic harp. Ultimately, she devel- oped her Web site and mail order business, and by the time she had sold a half -million albums, she had a Windham Hill contract and a back catalog of recordings that is still valuable. With management tools such as poster - size calendars that allow her to track her work patterns over five-year periods, Lynne bases her career decisions on the stories her calendars tell her. With one glance, she gets a clear picture of what worked and didn't work in 1999 or 2001. Focused on results, she says "Every single day, I do at least one thing, no matter how small, that takes me closer to my goals." "My key word is 'today,"' she says. "What can I do today to move my business forward?" Her home -based business employs her mother and her sister, an office assistant, a contract booking agent, a live show assis- tant, and from time -to -time, photogra- phers, manufacturers and designers. Since her audience is pri- marily female, she tends to work with, and listen to, women who serve as almost an in-house focus group. She esti- mates that 90 percent of the material on her CDs is original work, although she occasional- ly produces a traditional Celtic or Renaissance piece. Her most recent recording, "Hopes and Dreams" reached #6 on the Artwork by Tina Spiro Billboard New Age Music charts and was #4 overall on the retail chart for hip and trendy Central New York. Lynne realizes she has the best of both worlds. She has a major label that promotes her work and ensures radio play, as well as her own small label, Lavender Sky Music. Marketed on her Web site and at live concerts, Lavender Sky Music benefits from the notoriety she receives from work posi- tioned on the charts between Metallica and rapper 50 Cent. By blending 70's rock with Celtic and Renaissance influences, Lynne manages to touch a lot of age groups and satisfy tastes major labels seldom target. She finds it significant that her new work, "Hopes and Dreams," is a compilation of lullabies she wrote for ailing patients at the City of Hope. "So many fine artists only get rejection, but they are just going down the same tired, beaten paths," Lynne says. "They have to find new paths." ON THE STREETS OF MIAMI Tina Spiro thinks — and paints — big. A protegee and student of famed sculp- tor David Smith and Spanish/lsraeli painter Mati Larwein, Spiro's fearless thought processes and comfort level with scope and depth are reflected in "The Shekkinah Scrolls." An 80-foot long multi -media work that took two and a half years to complete, with a tabernacle 36 feet in diameter, the "Scrolls" combine image and text scribed by women. Throughout the work, Spiro used the powers of the Hebrew alphabet as a device to narrate the Kabalistic story of the creation of the universe. Still, the "Shekkinah Scrolls" are modest in size (if not in scope) when compared with Spiro's current project. Her latest work covers a 39-square-block area of downtown Miami. Following com- pletion of all the complex phases involved in transforming a large chunk of Miami real estate, she may return to collecting and curating Caribbean art for the Fort Lauderdale Museum of An, the FW Mestre Collection in Miami, or for individual col- lectors in Dominica, Florida, and the Bahamas. Like most artists, Spiro generates most of her income not from the sale of monumen- tal artworks, but from art related activities she develops to support her more ambi- tious projects. Her luminous gallery paintings, many of which mirror the verdant, luscious Jamaican countryside where she made her home for several decades, are more modest in scale and price. These paintings, often dealing with the theme of "transcendence as an alternative to extinction," can be purchased at Westwood Gallery in New York City. An anist who has chosen to satisfy her passion rather than chase a conventional definition of success, Spiro has never con- sidered an alternative career. An and the various related arts businesses she created (collec- tor for collectors, gallery owner, educator) have provid- ed her with the life she wanted to have in the places she want- ed to live. Perhaps the conventional definition of success should incorporate fewer stocks and bonds and more travel to exot- ic places, a beautiful home in the blue-green hills of Jamaica, and a painting in downtown Miami that covers 39 square blocks. , enterprising Women e iO 1 O4, Oo888 National News Miami Makeover Property developer Craig Robins and private collectors are redefining the city as a hot spot for art and design At a party last December in Miami's up-and-coming Wynwood art district, pink wire mesh flamingos nod- ded gracefully over five industrial -size soup pots. Strings of tiny white lights looped over the birds and around the pots like a glam dusting of rhinestones. The spectacle offered a delightful send-up of 1950s Florida lawn decor, with echoes of Jackie Gleason's June Taylor Dancers strutting long ago in Miami Beach. For artist Antoni Miralda, who had fashioned the birds, the creatures were symbols of a dish he likened to an alternative to chicken soup. His party was one of dozens of events that kept vis- itors to Art Basel Miami Beach dashing through Wynwood, the Design District, and the rapidly gentrifying Edgewater area overlooking Biscayne Bay, all neighborhoods near downtown Miami "Miami is a unique place, a laboratory where people can experiment," Miralda says, describing the city and its evolving art scene and vibrant mix of cultures. Today, the flamingos are tucked away in a cor- ner of the blue -and -teal Wynwood warehouse that houses Miralda's TransEAT/ Food Culture Craig Robins with Con Licencia, 1990, a painting by Cuban artist Jose Bedia. Museum, on North Miami Avenue, where the party was held. It houses over 10,000 objects and artifacts relating to food that Miralda, who divides his time between Miami and his na- tive Barcelona, and his wife, Montse Guillen, a professional chef, collect. Opened in 2002, the museum is a gem in this working-class, traditionally Puerto Rican neighborhood of bodegas, factories, and quaint 1920s wooden bungalows with coral rock chimneys and banana trees in backyards. Its presence is indicative of the big changes taking place in Miami during the past few years. The city —once known as a retirement paradise and more re- cently as an outpost for hedonistic vacationers —is emerging as an art capital. Wynwood is gaining a reputation for its gritty -chic cluster of private collections, galleries, artists' stu- dios, and gutsy alternative spaces like the pioneering Locust Projects and Dorsch Gallery, whose founders were Lured there by low -rent warehouses. Recently arrived galleries include Fredric Snitzer, Karpio Facchini, and Marina Kessler, located in a former clothing fac- tory that's home to studios for artists, a graphic designer, and a 58 SUMMER 2004/ARTNEWS filmmaker. There's also the innovative Rocket Projects gallery, where codirector Nina Arias hung hammocks for visitors to swing in as they watched a recent video exhibit. Anchoring the Wynwood art district are two outstanding pri- vate collections of contemporary art located in open -to -the - public warehouses: the Rubell Family Collection, on NW 29th Avenue, and the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, on NW 27th Street. Both warehouses, which opened in 1996 and 1999 respec- tively, are expanding. Marty Margulies made his fortune in real estate and began collecting in the 1970s, focusing on 20th- century sculpture, pho- tography, and postwar artists including Mark Rothko and Frank Stella. The Margulies ware- house will add 10,000 square feet to its current 35,000 square feet by the end of this year,, provid- ing sufficient space to showcase one of Mar- gulies's recent large- scale acquisitions, Do -Ho Suh's translucent pink nylon structure, 348 West 22nd St., Apt. A, New York NY 10011 (corre- dor), 2001. The Rubell Family Collection, which last year opened a Phaidon bookstore in its building, a former Drug Enforcement Agency depository for confiscated contraband, will increase the number of galleries to 30 from 18 and reconfigure them. Next door to the warehouse, Don Rubell, a retired gynecologist, and his wife, Mera, are building a private residence with a swimming pool and a garden as well as an exhibition space. "Right now you have these monstrous -spaces that you can't really put small drawings and photography in," explains Mark Coetzee, curator and director of the Rubell Family Collection, which now has more than 6,000 pieces. "We have a whole se- ries of photographs by Hellen van Meene and very early Keith Haring drawings, which need very subdued lighting." Adding to Wynwood's appeal to the art crowd is its location directly south of the better-known and more upscale Design District, with its showrooms for furniture designer Holly Hunt as well as galleries owned by Daniel Azoulay, Kevin Bruk, Barbara Gillman, and Bernice Steinbaum. And then there are the less commercial venues Diaspora Vibe Gallery and Place - maker Gallery. A major promoter of the 18-square-block Design District is Fis !e ID # 04— 00&g f 2 a • National News I Craig Robins, a contemporary -art collector and president of Dacra Development, who has invested more than $50 million in 35 buildings in the area. His efforts are attracting attention, as out-of-town dealers and others eye this neighborhood. "A lot of us are talking about it," says New York dealer Jeffrey Deitch. During Art Basel Miami Beach, Deitch presented a show by Kehinde Wiley, "Hip Hop Baroque Chapel," in one of Robins's buildings. Ernesto Neto's hanging sculpture E o bicho! (It is the Animal!), 2001 (front), and "Family Tree," 2001, a series of photographs by Zhang Huan (back), at the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse. Robins, 41, is a regular at major art fairs and prominently dis- plays works from his collection —including those by artists such as Marlene Dumas and Chris Ofili—at his Miami office. But he isn't convinced that Miami is ready for Manhattan dealers. "You see a lot of these New York galleries open in Los An- geles, and sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't," says Robins. "Miami is being defined and defining itself to some de- gree by an interaction with the worlds of art, design, and archi- tecture," he adds. "South Beach is all about style and creativity, so this pedigree is coming into place." To encourage wider access to the Design District, Robins urged tenants to open their showrooms to the public as well as to the trade. He says Miami is the first place in the country where art and design are being integrated so intensely. "It happened in SoHo, but the design came after the art," explains Robins, who has close -cropped hair and was spotted in a black jacket painted by Kenny Scharf at a Miami Art Museum gala. In 2001 Robins joined with Key Biscayne collectors Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz to present contemporary art, including in- stallations by Jim Lambie and videos by Yang Fudong, in the Moore Space, a former furniture showroom on NE 2nd Avenue. Robins also donates retail space in the Design District for art exhibitions during Art Basel Miami Beach, in December, and Art Miami, in January. He has commissioned public murals by Jose Bedia and the art -and -architecture team of Rosario Mar- quardt and Roberto Behar. Wynwood has a more intimate atmosphere than the Design District. "Wynwood is not like a shopping mall," says Coetzee. "Diagonally across from the Rubell collection is a man called Miami Joe. He sells fresh fruit, and he knows I like bananas and papayas. You go to the corner store and laundry and everyone knows your name." That's why artist Cesar Trasobares bought a home and studio 60 SUMMER 2004/ARTNEWS in Wynwood last year. "When I'm, here, l feel like I'm in the Do- minican Republic," he says. "Around the corner from my house. where (go shopping for vegetables, you can find everything so cheap. It's a real neighborhood. It's not just walking into a clean studio to work —it's about making a home and living here" The increased activity in both Wynwood and the Design Dis- trict is creating a critical mass of visual -arts venues that locals say is unprecedented in Miami's history. "In the early days, there was nothing of this type of con- centration in one area. It's definitely exciting for the city." says Margulies. Dennis and Debra Scholl are other collectors helping to raise Wynwood's art profile. They ownfour buildings there. renting space to artists Gavin Perry and Beatriz Monteavaro and mount- ing exhibitions of their recently acquired large-scale works by Olafur Eliasson and Simon Starling. The Scholls call their building "World Class Boxing" because it was once used as a boxing arena. Dennis Scholl, who has also purchased a building with Miatni dealer Fredric Snitzer, is betting that the arca will be viable for both art and real estate. "I want artists to live and work here and have international careers, because that is the cornerstone of a vibrant visual -arts community," Scholl says. Wynwood, however, still has rough edges. And some artists say studio rents are already too high, as realtors promote "artist's loft -style" apartments, according to dealer Brook Dorsch. "1 think the biggest obstacle is the perception of safety." Snitzer says about the area. This might change, however, when the Cesar Pelli-designed Performing Arts Center on Biscayne Boulevard, a short drive from Wynwood and the Design Dis- trict, opens in 2006. Snitzer tested the waters for Wynwood last year by present- ing a large-scale installation by Hernan Bas in one of Scholl's Antoni Miralda's mixed -media installation Collection in Context, 2003, at the artist's TransEAT/Food Culture Museum. warehouses. But one afternoon on his way to show Bas's work. Snitzer witnessed a drug deal in a car parked on the street. Miami -based artist Tina Spiro is adding to Miami's new art energy. Last year she and her husband, architect and urban planner Eran Spiro, started the "Paint the Town Project." So far they've painted 21 of 112 ramshackle buildings near the arts center in muted rainbow shades. "It's like having a big canvas, but one that's funky and not too contrived," Tina Spiro says. "When you think Miami, you think big." —Elisa Turner GROUND WORK COLOR SCHEME Tina and Eran Spiro plan to add a little color to the Miami Arts District and they have the backing of Empowerment Trust, Inc. (p.18) a ■ North Bay Village Mayor Attacked P051 AID SO IT GOES SCOW Yes, you probably should be wary of steak for a while. (p.10) BEACH EDITION A.C. THE YEAR IN REVIEW So what was the most memorable moment in local government for 2003? (p.8) EDITORIAL FTAA HEARINGS The hearings on police conduct during the FTAA summit begin. Will they amount to much? (p.43) ONLINE AT WWW.MIAMISUNPOST.COM �, l� I b tP 04- 008e 7-• .,.• , , By Hgletl.F,11B. : : . , • ;... Contiibi.ltin§ Writer .• " , ' ' ' , hhIgriowdDyihtiOiiiiii , , • . . .. , 4 ,, .:.: - , • ,',•2;.y;.il. •4 : ,....",, .,,, i".-. .,. : ''.. ,;4.,..;'1:,4:1'.',.4%..4.4.:.,. , • Paint the:Town •"It's; %riot , like''anythingl A formerly of blighted area Miami is getting! more I ve reen before, and its„ .than a new•,coatof„paint;,;itis being transfornied'into.a meant to be subtly cool, `'et ' fascinating art installation and visual landmark .,• look,slightly surreal and notf; Artist and urban planner team: Tina and Eran‘spiro' , .too intentional; • said Spiro ; have devised the "Palntxtl a Town" project to; use a The buildings are moreor coorrdmated color palette on buildings in `the burgeoning .less intended to._•be painted Omni and Arts :'and Entertainment area 'to the. west of out ,as blocks of color, with the anew Performing Ante Center (PAC)T•on Biscayne • little`' contrasting"trim", giv- Boulevard Their goals are'also to; bring energy to the, Ong the area a cinematic,, neighborhood and spur re irivestment'by'attractingatten quality and allowing it. to" tion'with color in prepare'fo"r the opening,,of the PAC:becomela large scale urban, Funded„by grantsfr`om';the Empowerment Trust, Inc ; 'artwork ;whether .walking.; and ;the Miami Community; Re%development Agency, ;the through it, seeing it fromnthe program grants property owners°:65 percent'of the costs expressway, or looking down. :of painting;',their ;buildings m'.the coordinated color from,the air. fArts funding is bein'g.;-requested, to assist: scherrie for--�the'area:;;;:;?��; Artist Tina Spiro explained that ;herai;nspiration.fnr with :,`,painting' the :roofs: of t ""Paint the+Town,' derives frontfrant her 'move'.to'Miami in �999• I was totally impressed by;.the.Nsense''of color emanating from -the city, and. its, incrediblea'rchitectural lighting In formulating the•palette for :the project, Spiro aimed' • to assimilate local existing color patterns; avoiding any resemblance; to South Beach pastels and Coral Gables's • Mediterranean."She visualized it as:a play on the area's. own:.distinctive, sophisticated yet funky and artistic Therproposal also included provisions for Street furniture such as banners signage, benches,. awnings, landscaping 1..and lighting: The: result is a toned -down palette that, radiates out- wards fromythe Performing Arts Center; becoming grad- e ually more intense as, it reaches the perimeters. of .the area, NE l7th Street onthe..north afid the railroad tracks t. on the west. = • . . The colors on the buildings, mainly large, boxy Ware- : = houses, range from a lilac-y sky blue to . intense plum, ' a deep teal green, golden yellow ochre, pale. dusty rose a played off against putty and pale yellow. Tomato red; rust , and ochre_ show. up: in unexpected places, and the area close to:the cemetery is intended to be the most intense. b'uildings•'so;that :they become a _ ndmarkfeature ;for• ,':with crystal globe caps Guatemalan `mahogany shows up incornmg'flights. a';: in:moldings,,4pa nels and trim:; and,of'course•'in custom At present, the..colorful project is' midway:through mahogany. cabinets in the 75o=square,foot•kitchen. phase 1 of,a3 square'blocks, Witk projections for,Phase- II Altogether` there: are four. Greco-Roman. design build- and;l,11 fora total of,39. square blocks ings ;=' th'e .main house, cabana and two double story At Home :in the''Fast-Lane .. •guardho.uses, each with two,efficiency apartments / ser- vants'With aname like Villa Ferrari you can ,be sure this.quarters,-.for a total:.of ii'bedroorn`s and 13.full brand new Miami'Beach house is up to speed = to. the bathrooms plus four half -baths.': Add.in labalconies; tune of.$14.9 million three parches and, patios,, two working, fireplaces;' and These megabucks will.'buy you an �8,000square;.foot • covered garage space ;for eight cars and,: you get 'house (a/c)'pad, ontiiny•PaimfIsland (waterfront; of course) with waiting for a celebrity, society,,host' or any`buyper;who a 450 feet.dock onBiscayne Bay; just minutes from South likes luxury and space. Vilia Ferrari 'is listed. with lan Beach via the McArthur Causeway.: Mclnn at Majestic Properties„ The: entrance:through a massiveporte cochere,leads Majestic Move toile front steps of unpolished marble beneath' "a bas ',Majestic Properties is,opening,its.second•Miami Beach relief medallion -modeled on Michelangelo's David. The, office in The Lincoln at :i682. Jefferson Ave.:Miiami Beach main porch is guarded by large.white marble lions.in front • in February. The 5,000 square foot flagship,; office On the of the Roman -surround on the huge steel and "glass,cus- ground floor of the brand-newoffice building will;be'able tom front.doors. , • • Inside 'the, main'.house, the WOW. factor -continues with rare imported marble., and columns `galore, ornate customized railings and ,French; hand.carved, newel posts -to serve'walk-in..traffic from nearby Lincoln Road. It will house Majesties top -agents: who will focus mainly on res- idential properties in Miami Dade The Majestic • Collection is -at the Miami office on Biscayne ,Boulevard. cOntinued.on pg.ip KAARINA KAIKKONEN Striving For about a decade now, Kaarina Kaikkonen has been known for her works made out of men's shirts, jackets and clothing. The works are installations, often in large format, in which the individual articles of clothing, while still being totally recognisable, are treated as material for constructing a larger shape or image, a larger shape into which the individual elements merge or disappear. The shapes that Kaikkonen employs are powerfully symbolic: a sea, a landscape, a ship or boat, a wing. The language used in the works' titles is likewise emotionally charged, often with biblical or religious associations: Ja valkeus pakenee (And the Light Escapes), Polvesta polveen (From Generation to Generation), Nun kuin muuttolintusen tie (Like a Bird of Passage). Striving, kilvoittelu, is a word that Kaikkonen herself uses to describe her work - a word that also has religious undertones. Striving, like the visual language of Kaikkonen's works, involves an attempt to achieve something, for example, the good. And it is also a word that involves a loss or absence of something in the present moment. Something that has to be endured. This can imply humility, self-denial, self-renunciation or self-effacement in the present moment - if so, it is out of necessity - something we could read into the works' austerity and lack of colour. The colour scale is in shades of white, grey -blue, black. Nevertheless, one of the most prominent features of the works, their illusionism, is anything but restrained. The landscapes and the seas, even if they can seem gloomy or desolate, generally overwhelm with their very size, but also through the painterly effects out of which they are constructed: the colour scale that gets gradually lighter towards the horizon and is dissolved, or in which old clothes are transformed into an image of a sunrise. A long rope made of shirts and jackets has slowly changed colour from black to white, but only a slight shade at a time, step by step. Or a shimmering, variably red -and -black upturned wing - made out of ties. The clothes that have been used as material can be read as pointing in two different directions: as symbols of human beings they either seem to strive jointly towards something, a goal of such an order of magnitude that it can only be intimated in the works, or then also so that the distinct individuals here merge into the larger whole to such an extent that they lose all significance other than that of being its components. But the shirts and jackets can be read not solely as neutral elements, but also more definitely as specifically a man's clothes. 'Man' has indeed often had to stand for the human being, but in these works there is a specific person to whom the articles of clothing can be seen as belonging. As Kaikkonen also freely admits, the original reason she chose to start working on men's clothes as a material is: her father, who died when she was ten years old. It is easy to see this as the origin of the melancholy and sense of loss - of the striving that Kaikkonen herself has spoken of - that is present in her works. To see the way the empty shirts and jackets are like questions, something that has to be placed in a context, and to understand why they are transformed into images of a crossing of the border to the unattainable. Nina Bjorkman Art Critic 1 • r Up: MOUTHS OPEN Finnish Gallery for Paper Art, 19' Down: MY OUTLINE Fiskars Art Center, 1997, Finial, le OW QL-0mP0,a p: TOWARDS LIGHT Anttolanhovi, 2003, Finland, man s juckel; (p(i„h l:r.•,i Guim n) Down: ASPIRATION Turku Art Pr1ncn•uni, 2001. Finland, mivi lucI<_t (phut, lu+•,i lrainen 1999, Finland, men "s jackets (t::;,-i.