‘Go big or go home.’ This $4 billion development debuts its outdoor museum in Miami

Women draped in white dance around a drum circle alongside the mangroves. Mermaids wave as manatees swim nearby. Stars and leaves swirl through the air. An alligator grins.

This magical and surreal version of Miami — a mural by artist Viktor El-Saieh called “I of the Spiral” — overlooks the reality of noisy, dusty construction sites of Miami Worldcenter, a sprawling multi-use complex in the heart of downtown.

The mural was unveiled Monday along with other works by international and local artists as part of Worldcenter’s public art program, a $5 million “outdoor museum” curated by renowned art dealer Jeffrey Deitch and Primary, a Miami-based curatorial collective that focuses on public art.

The public art program unveiling came at the start of Miami Art Week and the 20th anniversary of Art Basel Miami Beach. The program was several years in the making as Worldcenter’s developers prioritized implementing public art into the 27-acre, $4 billion mixed-use space. The area, which will include retail, luxury condos, hotels, public art and restaurants, is one of the largest private real-estate developments in the United States and rivals New York City’s Hudson Yards.

The public art initiative includes murals and sculptures by acclaimed masters like Nick Cave along with emerging artists like El-Saieh, a Miami-raised painter of Haitian and Palestinian heritage. Deitch said the program provides up-and-coming artists with a platform to boost their careers and international recognition.

“He’s created his own world in this image that is his combination of dream-world Miami and real-world Miami,” Deitch said as he looked up at El-Saieh’s mural. “This is exactly what we were trying to do: create something excellent that’s also very accessible.”

Every piece on display at Worldcenter is figurative, which means it depicts people. That’s unusual for a public art program, Deitch said. Usually, developers install abstract art in public spaces that is neutral, open to interpretation and inoffensive. But Deitch and Primary wanted viewers to be able to relate and connect to the artworks.

Nitin Motwani, the Worldcenter managing partner, said the value of the public art is “intangible” and part of the development’s long-term commitment to downtown Miami.

“It’s giving people that constant reason to come back and take a look around,” Motwani said. “You don’t have to spend money. You just have to come here and you can enjoy world class art.”

Other murals included in the program reflect different aspects of Miami, too. Nina Chanel Abney, a rising star in the art world who has a show at the Institute of Contemporary Art, completed a massive and ambitious mural inspired by the historically Black neighborhood of Overtown. Nearby, local artist Hernan Bas depicted a storied day in Miami history on the side of a building: the day it snowed in Miami.

The mural shows a surprised young man leaning against his car as he watches snow gently cover the pink lawn flamingos and palm trees. Bas said he wanted to memorialize the kind of local history people still talk about today. The date, January 19, 1977, is sprawled on the snow-covered windshield.

“It’s my first public anything,” Bas said. “So go big or go home.”

The sculptures featured at Worldcenter are just as colorful and striking. One piece that’s destined to end up on your Instagram feed is “Undom Endgle (Undom Endgle and the Mound Meat Cycle),” a superhero goddess by Trenton Doyle Hancock.

The sculpture is a “total embodiment of afrofuturism,” Deitch said. The superhero is a Black woman wearing a bright cobalt bodysuit, brilliant red lipstick, green and orange go-go boots and Speed Racer-esque helmet. She stands defiantly, surrounded by rings of hot pink spheres. Her eyes are flames and her nose is a cute green button. (Eat your heart out, Marvel.)

“It evokes power. He’s able to create something monumental,” Deitch said. “Usually, it’s [statues of] old white men on a horse. This is a different version of the superhero.”

For Woody De Othello, a California-based artist who was born and raised in Miami, Worldcenter’s program was an opportunity for him to bring his artwork to an outdoor, public space in his hometown for the first time.

Othello, who usually works with ceramics, created “Some Time Moves Fast, Some Time Moves Slow,” a deep blue bronze sculpture of a kneeling figure clutching onto clocks. The piece was inspired by how strange the passage of time felt during the pandemic, Othello said. He wanted people to be able to relate to the artwork and explore it, especially since it looks so strange.

As someone who grew up exposed to art in public spaces like Aventura Mall instead of museums, Othello said Worldcenter’s program is a great way to introduce people to interesting art and sculpture.

“I’m glad that art is being more integrated into the fabric of the city,” he said. “Art offers a personal, spiritual communication.”

Miami Worldcenter, 650 NE 2nd Ave., Miami

This story was produced with financial support from The Pérez Family Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.

This story was originally published November 28, 2022 at 6:54 PM.