Miami Art Week is overwhelming but these are the events you don’t want to miss

Mark your calendars. This year’s edition of Miami Art Week runs Dec. 1 - 8. Get those comfy shoes ready to catch these highlights.

ON THE SAND

Faena Art presentations at the namesake Miami Beach hotel never fail to wow, and this year’s installation on the beach promises to keep the tradition humming. Cross-discipinary indigenous artist Nicholas Galanin’s “Seletega (run, see if people are coming)” recalls Spain’s colonization of the Americas in the form of a 30-foot-high galleon rising from the sand. The work memorializes a pivotal moment when Hernan Cortes ordered the scuttling of the ships he sailed from Cuba to Mexico, marking a point of no return. In the hotel’s elaborate lobby Cathedral, Faena presents the public debut of multidisciplinary artist Lyra Drake, who uses AI to evoke a female oracle in an exploration of faith and belief.

Dec. 3-8 at Faena, 3201 Collins Ave, Miami Beach; faenaart.org

Nearby, at 36th Street on the beach, the Reefline presents a temporary prototype installation by Miami artist Carlos Betancourt. Come spring, Betancourt’s 90-foot-wide work will be installed underwater, creating a substructure for corals on the Reefline, a project designed to increase ocean awareness.

Dec. 2-8 at NE 36th Street and the ocean. thereefline.org

AT THE ARSHT

South African artist William Kentridge returns to the Arsht Center with the North American debut of his new interactive stage production, “The Great Yes, The Great No,” a fictionalized account of a wartime escape from Marseille. Expect tickets to fly out of the box office; his previous Art Basel Arsht production, “The Head & the Load,” was the 2022 Art Week standout.

Dec. 5-7 at the Arsht Center, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; arshtcenter.org

IN THE BANDSHELL

Now in its third year, the Tribeca Festival at Art Basel Miami Beach stages live music performances plus a conversation with Grammy-nominated pop star Camila Cabello. A retrospective screening of Mike Nichols’ “The Birdcage” is followed by a performance of local drag queens.

Festivities this year are at the Miami Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave, Miami Beach. Tickets at tribecafilm.com/miami

ON PARADE

If you’ve lived here – or anywhere – long enough, you’ll recall the parades of lions and clowns and elephants that wound through towns when the circus arrived. This year, the elephants return in a manner befitting these conscious times. A herd of 100 life-sized elephant sculptures hand-crafted from an invasive plant species comprise The Great Elephant Migration, recently seen in New York and Newport, and now set for the Miami Beach shore. Italian fragrance house Xerjoff, the headline sponsor, has created a unique fragrance for the activation; it and the elephants themselves are available for sale to benefit indigenous and community-led conservation efforts in southern India.

Dec. 2-8 at 36th Street on the sand. thegreatelephantmigration.org

AT HAMPTON HOUSE

If you haven’t yet been to the Historic Hampton House, it’s time. For Art Week, the Green Book hotel that played host to Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, Ella Fitzgerald and others during Jim Crow will once again be transformed into an art venue with “Invisible Luggage,” a large-scale thematic exhibition featuring works by A-list artists. Included this year are Marina Abramović, Alexandre Diop, Awol Erizku, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Hugo McCloud, Ming Smith and so many very others. Last year’s inaugural Art Week show was a not-to-be-missed standout. The curatorial team again includes Beth Rudin DeWoody, Laura Dvorkin, Maynard Monrow, Zoe Lukov and Auttrianna Ward.

Through Feb. 15, 2025 at Hampton House, 4240 NW 27th Ave., Miami. historichamptonhouse.org; 305-638-5800.

IN THE LOBBIES

“No Vacancy,” contemporary installations commissioned by the City of Miami Beach, returns this year to a dozen Miami Beach hotel lobbies with works by local artists. Included this year are Dennis Scholl’s “Untitled (Dodecagon Drawing Grid) 2024” at the Hotel Croydon, Marielle Plaisir’s “Rhapsody for a Beloved World” collage at The Cadillac and the AI-assisted film “Faux Ecologies + Augmented Visions of the Micro-verse” by [dNASAb] projected on the orb at The Betsy. (Be sure to wander the Betsy for a variety of exhibitions and musical performances throughout Art Week.)

The works are on display Nov. 14 - Dec. 12. Check out the full roster at www.mbartsandculture.org/no-vacancy/

ON LINCOLN ROAD

Art goes public on Lincoln Road with two mammoth sculptures and a pair of noteworthy exhibitions.

Miami-based Lynne Golob Gelfman died in 2020, leaving behind a rich trove of geometric abstracts that subtly tug at the viewer. They tugged, too, at her artistic contemporaries, often members of other generations, as they shaped their own practices. From Dec. 2, Gelfman’s estate presents a series of dialogues between Gelfman’s work and that of eight Miami artists who knew her well. “Constructive Arguments,” curated by Tobias Ostrander and Natalia Zualga, runs through Dec. 22 at 1108 Lincoln Road.

Jordi Molla is best known as an actor (“Bad Boys II,” “Blow”) and director. He’s also a painter who creates works far more upbeat than his notorious characters. The pop-up gallery Beauty will feature works from the past five years. Contact Giuseppe Ferlito via WhatsApp at +39 335-830-0988 for an appointment at 1655 Meridian Ave, Miami Beach.

If you’re strolling the Road, you won’t be able to miss “XO World.” Daniel Anderson’s 20,000-pound stainless steel sculpture stands 12 feet high and 24 feet long. X stands for love; O is represented by a globe. One love. 400 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach.

Five blocks west, at 900 Lincoln Road, Rubem Robierb’s 10-foot-high “Dream Machine” invites viewers to stand between the wings of a butterfly and imagine themselves in a place where dreams come true.

OVER THE WAY

Espanola Way, that is. For the fifth year, the City of Miami Beach presents a site-specific installation over Espanola Way, the cozy little walking street that somehow really does feel like Havana. This year’s artwork, “Sundial Spectrum,” comes from Miami-born Jen Stark, who has created 13 panels imbued with Stark’s signature bold colors. When the sun shows through, viewers are surrounded by rainbows.

From Dec. 3 on Espanola Way in Miami Beach

THROUGHOUT THE DISTRICT

The Miami Design District’s magnetic pull is always strongest during Art Week, when big-name brands host pop-ups and the District’s annual design commission sculptures are installed. This year, Nicole Nomsa Moyo created “Pearl Jam,” a series of giant jewelry-themed sculptures, turning them into live-size interactive experiences. The work is inspired by South Africa’s Ndebele tribe. Tribal women created more than 1,000 giant “pearl” earrings that hang from the trees.

Meanwhile, the former de la Cruz Collection space at 23 NE 41st St. has been transformed into “Trinity 100,” a free interactive exhibition from Cartier that traces the brand’s journey from 1924 to today. It’s open Dec. 4-8 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

If you’re dreaming of a white Christmas, head over to Sweet Bird North Plaza to check out Gucci’s 16-foot-high snow globe, surrounded by murals by American artist Corydon Cowansage. While you can’t go inside the globe - that’s reserved for Gucci luggage and miniatures referencing the brand’s heritage - you can queue up for baked goods and ice cream, offered mid-day Dec. 5-8.

Other installations throughout the Design District:

• New York-based artist Alteronce Gumby unveils “Living the Dream,” a new permanent public mural of stained glass, gemstones, fossils, and mosaic tiles. Jade Alley, 23 NE 41st St., Miami.

• Bony Ramirez celebrates the Caribbean with a new mural, “Musa Coccinea.” Palm Court (second floor,) 140 NE 39th St., Miami.

• Miami Design District developer Craig Robins opens his personal collection to visitors Dec. 4-6 at the Dacra offices, 3841 NE Second Ave., Miami,

• LA-NY gallerist Jeffrey Deitch presents “Psychomachia in Miami,” a solo show of work by Austin Lee in his annual Art Week showcase, Dec. 3-8, in a new location at 35 NE 40th Street.

IN ALLAPATTAH

If you haven’t been to Superblue since it opened in 2021, it’s time. The warehouse turned immersive art space just unveiled Studio Lemercier’s “Lightfall,” a complex play of light on water droplets that creates an ever-changing series of angles and planes accompanied by score from sound artist sound artist Murcof. By the time your eyes register each image, the droplets refracting the lasers are already gone. “Lightfall” joins last year’s new addition by Rafel Lozano-Hemmer, an installation of 3,000 lights that glow eerily to the beat of the viewer’s own heart, and JR’s “Print Press,” a trip down memory lane for those who still love a printed newspaper. Download the app, and spend some time outside learning the stories of the Miamians depicted in JR’s massive outdoor mural. (And yes, the original Es Devlin maze, TeamLab’s interactive video projections and clouds, and James Turrell’s light sculpture are still there too.)

1101 NW 23 St, Miami, across the street from the Rubell Museum.

This story was originally published November 26, 2024 at 4:30 AM.

Jane Wooldridge

Miami Herald

Jane Wooldridge is a former journalist for the Miami Herald.