Miami’s many museums pull out all the stops in December, when thousands of people descend on the city for Art Basel week. This year sees the opening of the new ICA Miami in the city’s Design District as well as the newly reopened Bass Museum. Below, we’ve compiled a list of the shows you won’t want to miss.
1. “Force and Form” at the de la Cruz Collection
Themes of identity, gender, class, and power play out in this group exhibition drawn from the collection of Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz.
23 NE 41st Street, Miami Design District. Admission is free. December 5–December 9, 2017.
Poncili Creación, “Sunrise of Hate” site-specific performance in El Yunque, 2016. Photo: Walter Wlodarczyk.
2. “Focus on Puerto Rico” at Mana Wynwood
In this shared initiative, Clocktower, Mana Contemporary, and MECA International Art Fair highlight the work of artists participating in a three-month studio residency, culminating in various performances, open studios, and other events, on display during Miami’s Art Week.
777 International Mall at 145 East Flagler Street. Admission is free. Through December 31, 2017.
Claes Oldenburg’s Soft Baked Potato. Courtesy of the Margulies Collection.
3. “Pop Art” at the Margulies Warehouse
A selection of rarely seen work by masters of Pop art including Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, and James Rosenquist—all culled from the extensive collection of Martin Z. Margulies.
591 NW 27th Street. General admission is $10; Through December 18, 2017.
![Cundo Bermudez, Quinteto Matancero [detai], 1994). Courtesy of the Frost Art Museum, gift of Univision Communications Inc.](https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2017/08/univision_2000x1358.jpg)
Cundo Bermudez’s Quinteto Matancero (1994), detail. Image courtesy of the Frost Art Museum, gift of Univision Communications Inc.
Spanish-language television network Univision, which has apparently amassed quite an art collection over the years, has made a major donation of work to the Frost. See 40 highlights, including serigraphs, paintings, and mixed media works from the likes of Cundo Bermudez, Humberto Calzada, Wifredo Lam, Guido Llinas, Rafael Soriano, and Coqui Calderon.
FIU’s Art Museum is located at 10975 SW 17th Street. Admission is free. Through January 3, 2018.
Ruth Gruber. Photo courtesy of the International Center of Photography, New York.
5. “Ruth Gruber: Photojournalist” at the Jewish Museum of Florida
This touring exhibition from New York’s International Center of Photography celebrates the career of pioneering international photojournalist Ruth Gruber (1911–2016). The exhibition features images shot on four continents over a period of more than five decades, including her documentation of the Soviet Arctic in the 1930s and Ethiopian Jews during the civil war of the 1980s.
301 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach. Through January 7, 2018.
Dara Friedman’s Dichter (2017), video still. Courtesy the artist and Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York. ©Dara Friedman.
6. “Dara Friedman: Perfect Stranger” at the Pérez Art Museum Miami
PAMM presents Miami-based film and video artist Dara Friedman’s first mid-career survey, featuring 17 major works that showcase her updated take on experimental structural filmmaking. Highlights include Romance (2011), Friedman’s surreptitiously obtained slow-mo footage of some 70 couples kissing on the streets of Rome.
1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami. General admission $16. Through March 4, 2018.
Roy Lichtenstein’s Artist’s Studio with Model (1974). Image courtesy of the ICA Miami/collection of Irma & Norman Braman.
7. “The Everywhere Studio” at the ICA Miami
Three years after being founded by a breakaway group from Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, the ICA Miami finally unveiled its permanent home, trading temporary digs at the Moore Building for permanent ones designed by Spanish firm Aranguren + Gallegos Arquitectos in the Miami Design District. The inaugural show, “The Everywhere Studio,” examines the evolution of the artists’ studio from the end of World War II through to the present.
61 NE 41st Street, Miami Design District. Admission is free. December 1, 2017–February 26, 2018.
Installation view of Ugo Rondinone’s exhibition “good evening beautiful blue.” Photography by Zachary Balber. Photo courtesy of the Bass, Miami Beach.
8. “Ugo Rondinone: good evening beautiful blue” at the Bass Museum of Art
The newly reopened Bass Museum of Art presents a three-decade Ugo Rondinone retrospective. Expect to see Instagram posts featuring the 45 life-size sparkly rainbow-colored clowns of vocabulary of solitude (2014), but don’t miss the more subtle six-channel video installation It’s late It’s late and the wind carries a faint sound as it moves through the trees.… (1999–2000), not seen in the US for close to 20 years.
2100 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach. General admission is $10. October 8, 2017–February 19, 2018.
Work by Jacob Felländer. Photo courtesy of the Museum of Contemporary Art Miami.
9. “Jacob Felländer: How to Unlock a Portal” at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), North Miami
Through his work in painting, sculpture, and virtual reality, Swedish photographer Jacob Felländer aims to transport the viewer into an alternate dimension.
Joan Lehman Building, 770 NE 125th Street. General admission is $5. December 6, 2017–February 11, 2018.
Carmen Herrera’s Tondo (1958). Image courtesy of the artist and the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection.
10. “Triángulo: Loló Soldevilla, Sandu Darie, and Carmen Herrera” at the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO)
In this exhibition, three luminaries of Cuban abstract art delve into the spatial and symbolic possibilities of the triangle—the simple geometric shape provides distinct interpretations.
1018 North Miami Avenue. Admission is free. December 6, 2017–March 4, 2018.
Allison Zuckerman’s Woman at her Toilette (2017). Image courtesy of the artist and the Rubell Family Collection.
11. “Allison Zuckerman: Stranger in Paradise” at the Rubell Family Collection
The surreal and colorful paintings of rising art star Allison Zuckerman, who spoke to artnet News’s Taylor Dafoe, will be on display at the Rubell Family Collection; the artist follows in the footsteps of past artists-in-residence including Cy Gavin, Lucy Dodd, and Oscar Murillo.
95 NW 29th Street, Miami. Free admission. December 6–August 25, 2018.
Julius Klinger. Courtesy of the Wolfsonian.
12. “Julius Klinger: Posters for a Modern Age” at the Wolfsonian FIU
Austrian designer Julius Klinger (1876–1942), one of the most important figures in modern graphic design, gets a solo show at the Wolfsonian, featuring his posters, book and magazine illustrations, typographic design, and brand development. In an accompanying show, Vienna-based design studio Seite Zwei has created a Klinger-inspired installation for the museum facade and lobby, titled “Double Vision.”
1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach. General admission is $12. Through April 29, 2018.
Frank Stella’s Paradoxe sur le comediene (1974). Image courtesy of the NSU Art Museum/photographer Jason Wyche, © 2017 Frank Stella/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
13. “Frank Stella: Experiment and Change“ at the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale
Organized by museum director and chief curator Bonnie Clearwater, this retrospective celebrates not only the prolific six-decade career of Frank Stella but the institution’s 60th anniversary. The massive exhibition includes more than 300 paintings, drawings, and relief sculptures, including some of Stella’s best-known works.
1 E Las Olas Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. General admission is $12. Through July 8, 2018