Above: “The Inverse” by Laura Lima. Photo by Fredrik Nilsen Studio.
For the latest entry into the pantheon of arts institutions in South Florida, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami has made quite a splash in its short, almost two-year existence. In its temporary home in the Design District–the permanent museum is scheduled to open in 2017–the ICA has delivered some firsts that have enhanced the art scene here.
For instance, earlier in 2016 ICA presented the first solo survey in the United States of the influential conceptual artist John Miller. From the site-specific labyrinth Miller created in the atrium, to sculptures, photography and video with implicit social commentary from the 1980s onward, “I Stand, I Fall” was one of the most interesting exhibits of the year.
Now, several more firsts are on display, all with funding from Knight Foundation. In June, Laura Lima entangled the ground-floor atrium, along with the support beams rising across three floors of the Moore Building, with black-and-blue nylon rope. The braided rope starts out thick, draped across the room, and becomes increasingly thinner as it snakes its way down the beams and onto the floor, eventually shrinking to a small string that ends up between the legs of a live performance artist who is positioned inside the wall, with only her legs revealed.
This performance aspect of “The Inverse” is somewhat controversial, nothing new for the experimental Brazilian who works in interactive art, often using bodies–nude and otherwise–and animals to explore human relations and social norms. She follows in a vein of groundbreaking performative conceptual Brazilian art from the 1960s and ’70s that garnered worldwide attention. Lima is a also a co-founder, along with her more famous countryman, the sculptor Ernesto Neto, of a pioneering art and cultural space in Rio de Janeiro, A Gentil Carioca.
While Lima has shown extensively internationally, this is the debut North American solo museum outing for her. Both Miller and Lima were long overdue to be introduced to Miami; kudos to chief curator Alex Gartenfeld for bringing them.
Site-specific installation by Renaud Jerez. Photo by Fredrik Nilsen Studio.
Upstairs, three other exhibits fill the galleries–making the ICA’s temporary home feel much bigger than it actually is.