Off Beat Culture
In June the Miami Design District is the place to go for off beat cultural happenings
Kicking off June is Edge Zones Art Projects Miami Performance International Festival ’13 (M/P ’13). Inaugurated in 2012 Edge Zones presents the second annual Miami Performance International Festival from June 1– 30. M/P ‘13 is an exciting four-week program of performance art accompanied by video screenings, talks and workshops that culminate in an intense 4-day event. The festival is a tremendous opportunity for the public to come face-to-face with the breadth and depth of performance art and offers visceral and challenging performance works by renowned, mid-career and emerging artists from 19 countries, as well as more than 40 national and local artists. This annual event provides a look at the creative process across a range of media, and presents cross-disciplinary, collaborative work that speaks to the high level of innovation, critical thinking, and social engagement in Miami. Events are free but availability is limited, visit www.miamiperformancefestival.org for the full schedule of events and performances, and on the June 8th Gallery Walk look for Colectivo Enema performing Mezclilla/Denim on the streets of the Design District and other great performances at 3900 North Miami Avenue.
MiamiArtExchange.com is also adding visual content to the Design District this month with an intense exhibition inspired by dirt, yes, dirt. Onajide Shabaka, visual artist and editor of MiamiArtExchange.com, curates DIRT Yuta Suelo Udongo Te. This exhibition investigates the notion of dirt, as a literal, physical substance itself, as art material, and as a psychological notion pointing to pollution, personally and ritually. The artists take on the notion of dirt, or pollution, and investigate with a variety of media and approaches. There is a challenge facing this exhibition. Statements about life, death, history and the ephemerality of it all are loaded with symbolic baggage before you do anything with them. Shabaka wanted to ask artists to take up the challenge and investigate various aspects of dirt, and certainly not all on the physical level. Visit DIRT Yuta Suelo Udongo Te on the June 8th Gallery Walk at 3815 NE Miami Court.
Also coming to the Design District this weekend is Southernmost Situations. Born out of a spontaneous trip to Key West, Southernmost Situations is a Miami-based social catalyst and experimental collective that blurs the boundaries between contemporary art, performance, and the traditional curatorial model. One June 6, 7th and 9th Southernmost Situations is taking over Swampspace Gallery to present la noche i.delicatissima, an imaginative adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ The Night of the Iguana. Directed by Liz Ferrer and Sebastian Duncan Portuondo, la noche i.delicatissima features a cast of local artists, dancers, and musicians, moving the play from its original 1940s Mexican setting to a dreamlike 1960s Cuba. Performances will take place at Swampspace 150 NE 42 Street Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Showtime at 8 p.m. tickets are $10 and available for purchase at southernmostsituations.eventbrite.com.
