Art in public places exhibition features ‘Public Color’

“Moving Interlude,” a large purple geometric structure, sits at Government Center in downtown Miami, surrounded by the buzzy comings-and-goings of the city. The interactive installation was created by Miami-based artist GeoVanna Gonzalez and encourages people to interact with the artwork in an unconventional way – by sitting on, moving through and touching it.

Overlooked by the 28-story Stephen P. Clark Center and surrounded by other government buildings, such as the U.S. Courthouse, Federal Detention Center and Family Court Service Center, the artwork’s placement in a public park challenges the traditional dynamic between the urban environment and open spaces.

“For this installation, it was really site-specific to Government Center and I did a site visit in the beginning, when I was invited to do something for the exhibition,” said Gonzalez. “I was just kind of amazed at how complex that location was, primarily through the different types of people that either pass through there or live there.”

Gonzalez, a California native with Costa Rican and Puerto Rican roots, wants to reimagine forms of “hostile architecture,” an urban design strategy in public spaces used to control and restrict behaviors, like spikes embedded on flat surfaces to prevent those experiencing homelessness or handrails placed in between benches.

By applying one-way tinting film to the structure that encourages informal social interactions, it prevents those standing outside from looking in and allows those on the inside to look out.

“I wanted to utilize this tinting method as essentially a way to control the idea of who has access, and going back to this research on public and private space and these different forms of barriers that exist,” she explained.

Gonzalez is one of the seven contemporary artists of Caribbean descent featured for Fringe Projects’ outdoor exhibition “Public Color.”

From a digital piece at the InterContinental Hotel towering over the waters of Biscayne Bay about the realities of climate gentrification to a large-scale mural of children being held by adults across from the Miami-Dade Children’s Courthouse, eight commissioned public art projects have been installed throughout downtown Miami and the Design District.

Each of the works explore topics and themes around Black identity and their specific locations serve as an integral part of the art itself, creating a dialogue around its surroundings. Artists featured include Gonzalez, April Bey, Morel Doucet, Mark Fleuridor, Kathia St. Hilaire, Johanne Rahaman and Charo Oquet.

“This should be happening more often, and I was excited to be able to participate in an exhibition with other artists that I really admire,” said Gonzalez. “It’s important that the work that gets shown or shared should also reflect the people of Miami.”

“Public Color” is organized by María Elena Ortiz, Pérez Art Museum curator, in partnership with Deborah Di Capua of Fringe Projects. The exhibition is presented in collaboration with the John S. and James L. Foundation, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, Downtown Development Authority Miami, Miami Design District and Oolite Arts. The installations will be on view through January of next year.

“The fact that it’s in public spaces alone is putting people of color to the forefront and having their art be represented as well,” Gonzalez said. “The thing for me that is fascinating about public artwork is that it’s accessible to anybody, so it’s not just speaking to a [private] art audience.”

Also situated at the Government Center is a golden assemblage of objects covered in fiberglass and resin.

The vibrant sculpture, “Points of Joy,” was created by Dominican-born artist Oquet. Using vivid color and found materials, her work draws inspiration from the collective Black Caribbean experience in South Florida, celebrating the Afro-Caribbean roots of Miami’s diasporic culture.

The artists has created a “sacred object” intended to be a source of joy for communities that have experienced racial, political and economic oppression.

“In general, the idea (of the piece) is healing, it’s love, it’s bringing community together,” said Oquet. “The way I feel about humanity, especially at this time, we realize that when we are very close and united, we can deal with a lot of different things, like a pandemic. It is about unity.”

She named the themes her piece touches on: Life, death, power, giving and healing.

“I would say I’ve tried to put everything in there,” she laughed.

Oquet often finds herself walking up to the artwork’s location and speaking to the people surrounding it. She will even touch up the structure from time to time in case the sun wears out the color or someone touches it to the point where a part needs repairing. She had never worked with fiberglass before or done a piece that has been placed outdoors for so long, so she describes the experience as a “little nerve wracking … but it’s a great challenge.”

Despite the piece’s unexpected maintenance, Oquet wants people to engage with the sculpture because it is different from a mural on a wall.

“You walk past it and you kind of have to see it. It has that relationship to the people, it calls to them to sort of ‘Look at me’ and you can’t ignore it,” she said. “For me, Miami is a very particular place as far as being a Latin American Caribbean, because Miami is that center for all of us. I love this city, I want to keep adding to it, to contribute to it in any way I can to make it a better place for all of us to live.”