OPENING RECEPTION
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7
METRO DIGITAL & COMPUTERS INC.
144 EAST FLAGLER STREET
“For a fresh look at Miami talent, the Fringe project offers five public artworks or “site activations/performances” that were selected out of 43 international proposals by a jury of experts with the guidance of two-time Fringe curator Amanda Sanfilippo and funding through Miami Dade County’s Art in Public Places (AiPP).
“Our projects have historically been permanent,” said Brandi Reddick of AiPP’s support for these ambitious and fleeting commissions. “Participation in Fringe enables us to break out of this old paradigm and align the program with Miami’s evolving contemporary art scene.”
Fringe will breathe life into a one-mile radius of downtown’s concrete jungle during Art Days through the contributions of local artists Jenny Brillhart, Nicholas Lobo, Emmett Moore, Domingo Castillo, and Moira Holohan. The public art commissions will remain on display for an extra week through Sept. 28.
“Because these projects are temporary and site-determined, they are alive and integrated into the real world. We use the city as a platform to actualize timely concerns and ideas through engagement with the site and its wider context,” said Sanfilippo, who’s known for commissioning world-class contemporary artists to create socially poignant experiences.
As part of Fringe on Instagram, a pair of Miami artists are set to share photographs of the historic Alfred I. Dupont building, street views, and other downtown Miami landmarks surrounding MCAD for an instant historical archive using the hashtag #DDAFF2014. Kevin Arrow and Baron Sherer will use methods common to archivists and historians to honor the city’s civic history and change. They encourage the public to contribute to their live documentation throughout the festival.”
Dimensions Variable Ongoing Outdoor Special Projects-
Tom Scicluna and Patrick McDonough
Standard Custom Logo Bench- Tom Scicluna
Originally Curated by Amanda Sanfilippo for Fringe Projects, DWNTWN Art Days 2013
Ongoing Outdoor Special Project
Tom Sciculuna, Standard Custom Logo Bench, 2013. Ready-made park bench.
Dimensions Variable presents an ongoing outdoor special project Standard Custom Logo Bench by Miami based artist Tom Scicluna. This work will be accessible to the public 24/7 outside our building on an ongoing basis. The piece is located next to the double glass door DV entrance in the parking lot. Originally curated by Amanda Sanfilippo for Fringe Projects, DWNTWN Art Days 2013.
Freedom Bench is a civic-orientated participatory-based structure/situation. Referring to the potential site of exhibition and its neighboring institutions of federal courthouses, Clyde Atkins United States Courthouse and the James Lawrence King Federal Justice Building near by, as well as in relation to the new condos/future development projects in sight along Biscayne Boulevard. The project would involve the installation of a 6ft long commemorative “freedom” park bench within the empty lot, as of yet to be privatized into valuable commercial real estate.
Functioning as a predetermined structure, the blue powder-coated bench already exists as a ready-made concept/product – as advertised, the word “freedom” is used as a generic example template to illustrate a custom logo application for a municipal parks and services company product line – and as such the proposed object would take the appearance of its prescribed advertised form (see below). Situated somewhere between ideological marker of site and potential civic and participatory object (the bench would be fully functional offering a potential resting place/viewing) Freedom Bench would engage the site and inspire questions and considerations about the use, desirability, functionality, and privilege of the site.