For the 10th edition of Art Basel Miami Beach, the show will collaborate with the Bass Museum of Art on the Art Public sector, which will transform Collins Park with a record number of public art works. Featuring sculptures and performances by renowned artists and emerging talents, the sector will open to the public with a specially curated program of performances by Theaster Gates and the Black Monks of Mississippi, Sanford Biggers and Moon Medicine, and Alalâo presenting Ronald Duarte.
Curated for the first time by Christine Y. Kim, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Co-founder of the Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND), this year’s Art Public reflects a shift toward expanded conceptual, performative and temporal works. Focused on a strongly defined but varied exhibition area, the grouping of 24 artworks responds to reflections on the art practices of previous decade, leaning toward Los Angeles and the West Coast.
Art Public will open on November 30 with a selected program of performances. The Art Public Opening Night will feature Theaster Gates and the Black Monks of Mississippi, who will respond in song and verse to the works of Art Public in an art-historical and monastic manner. The evening will also include an evocative experimental performance by Sanford Biggers and Moon Medicine combining images of punk, funk, film noir, sci-fi, with traditional Samoan dance, Buddhism and original video content and music. The Alalâo collective, founded in January 2011 by Marcio Botner and Ernesto Neto of A Gentil Carioca and the artist Marcus Wagner, will present ‘Nimbo Oxalà’ by Brazilian artist Ronald Duarte and will bring the Carioca spirit of Rio de Janeiro to Miami Beach. The additional performances as part of Art Public – ‘Transformer Display of Community Information and Activation’ by Andrea Bowers and Olga Koumoundouros, ‘Iemanjá’ by Jen DeNike, and ‘Levitating the Fair (The Flying Merchant Ship)’ by Glenn Kaino – will open on Wednesday and continue throughout the duration of the fair. These performances will be complimented by works in a variety of media, ranging in date from Bruce Conner’s ‘LOOKING FOR MUSHROOMS’ (1959-1965) to the present.
List of Art Public artworks:
Darren Bader: my aunt’s car / Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York
Nina Beier: The Demonstrators, 2011 / Standard (Oslo), Oslo
Chakaia Booker: Holla, 2008 / Marlborough Gallery, New York
Andrea Bowers & Olga Koumoundouros: Transformer Display of Community Information and Activation, 2011 / Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles
Bruce Conner: LOOKING FOR MUSHROOMS, 1959-1965 / Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles
Kate Costello: Untitled, 2011 / Wallspace, New York
Jen DeNike: Iemanjá, 2011 / Mendes Wood, São Paulo
Gardar Eide Einarsson: Untitled (Apparatus), 2011 / Team Gallery, New York
Rachel Feinstein: Gargantua, 2011 / Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York
Theaster Gates: Stand-Ins for a Period of Wreckage, 2011 / Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago
Antony Gormley: Strain, 2011 / Sean Kelly, New York
Damien Hirst: Sensation, 2003 / L&M Arts, New York
Thomas Houseago: Rattlesnake Figure, 2011 / L&M Arts, New York
Zhang Huan: 49 Days No. 1, 2011 / Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
Richard Hughes: If I was where I would be, here I would be not, 2011 / Anton Kern Gallery, New York
Robert Indiana: ART, 1972-2001 / Galerie Gmurzynska, Zurich
Glenn Kaino: Levitating the Fair (The Flying Merchant Ship), 2011 / Marlborough Gallery, New York
Anish Kapoor: Black Stones, Human Bones, 1993 / L&M Arts, New York
Robert Melee: It Sitting, 2008 / Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York
Anthony Pearson: Untitled (Transmission), 2011 / David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles
George Rickey: Two Lines Oblique Gyratory II, 1989 / Marlborough Gallery, New York
Eva Rothschild: Living Spring, 2011 / Stuart Shave/Modern Art, London
Eduardo Sarabia: Snake Skin Boots with Snake Head. White Quarry Stone 21st Century. Northern Mexico, 2011 / Proyectos Monclova, Mexico City
Banks Violette: Not yet titled, 2011 / Team Gallery, New York
Art Public is free and open to the public from Dec 1 – 4, 2011, 24 hours.
Art Public Opening Night: November 30, 2011, 8pm – 10pm, Collins Park
More information and a description of each project is available at artbasel.com/public.