Browse Exhibits (15 total)
Making Visible - Art, Activism & Archives: The Studio Archives of Chire Regans & Loni Johnson
Dec 2 - Feb 2, 2021
WAAM is pleased to present Making Visible: Art, Activism & Archives, an exhibition that explores the interrelationships between art, archives and activist practices. This exhibition presents the artist studio archives of two Miami-based artists, Loni Johnson and Chire Regans, whose art practices are rooted in social and restorative justice frameworks.
Specifically, this exhibition makes visible the multifaceted ways in which art practices can create spaces for “remembrance” and “commemoration”. How do archives convey cultural memory? How does art engage with and create discussions surrounding the preservation of enduring historical and social concerns? Ultimately, how do we "read the past" without access to the cultural records and memories that shape transformative art practices?
In Making Visible, we journey alongside and into the interior landscapes of artist sketchbooks, diaries, journals, personal mementos, keepsakes, ephemera, artwork and other objects that bear witness to personal and community histories and become signifiers that gain meaning with each reading.
Defining Space: Selections from the Karen Rifas papers
May 11 - September 4, 2019
Defining Space: Selections from the Karen Rifas papers includes exhibition cards, brochures, catalogs, ephemera, maquettes and other materials from Rifas’ work and life in the South Florida area that span over thirty years.
The selections provide an insight both into the artists prolific experimentation with materiality and process but also offers a vital glimpse into the early art activity of Miami's private and public art institutions.
Cara Despain: Unearthing Process & Research on the Anthropocene
May 11 - September 4, 2019
Cara Despain: Unearthing Process & Research on the Anthropocene underscores the importance of process, field work, source material and research in art production and highlights the ambiguous relationship that exists between artwork and documentation.
Despain's work interrogates the narratives and symbols related to industrialization, climate change, frontier expansion & land settlements.
In-Between Worlds: Selections from the Studio Archive of Charo Oquet
January 25 - March 31, 2020
In-Between Worlds: Selections from the Studio Archives of Charo Oquet documents the art practice and activities of Dominican-born, Miami based artist, curator, organizer, educator and gallery owner Charo Oquet. Her multidisciplinary art practice spans over thirty years, across three continents, and explores the intricate and underlying parameters of cultural migration, identity, and ritual traditions that encompass the socio-cultural landscape of the Dominican Republic.
Oquet travelled extensively throughout her life and this exhibition highlights documentation of her fieldwork and research, as well as the stylistic developments of her art production that took place in New Zealand, Europe, America, and the Caribbean. From painting, printmaking, sculpture, installation, performance, and photography, her approach to art-making has defied normative conventions. More recently, her techniques rely heavily on the use of found objects and building materials.
Save As
September 28 - December 20, 2019
WAAM is pleased to present Save As, a group exhibition that examines the artists' archive as a site where cultural memories are constructed and converge. In recognition of Dimensions Variable's (DV) ten year anniversary, Save As will present a selection of records from DV's organizational archives alongside the individual studio archives of artists who have participated in exhibitions from the past to the present. During its tenure in the ever-changing urban landscape of Miami, DV has supported the work of over seventy artists in solo and group exhibitions in five different art spaces.
All of the items in Save As - objects, ephemera, artwork, records, photographs, videos, flyers, brochures - speak to the relational aspect of archives. In artist-run spaces, singular narratives become plural. Save As repositions the archive as a dynamic site where meaning and memory is layered, constantly in flux and re-interpreted as each participant has their own reading of what these possibilities are.
As the title Save As suggests, there are numerous possibilities inherent in the archive. From the innovative formats of the materials on display to the underlying conceptual and theoretical discussions surrounding the objects, archives can embody radical spaces where collective and cultural memories are tangible, transparent, and valuable. The Save As Archive includes paper documents, born-digital and analog records, art-making materials, models, found objects, outputs, traces, and varied signifiers of the creative process. This archive is meant to explore ideas of temporality, media obsolescence, displacement, labor, privilege, representation and historiography. WAAM attempts to document collective memory in a visible and accessible way for the public.