The Underline: Inaugural Public Art Commissions

THE UNDERLINE ANNOUNCES INAUGURAL PUBLIC ART COMMISSIONS   Miami-Dade’s 10-mile linear park will be activated by four participatory artworks from January 14 – April 1, 2017.

Rendering of The Underline, James Corner Field Operations

Opening Reception & Performances: Saturday January 14, 2-5pm Brickell Metrorail Station, Downtown Miami Free and Open to the Public RSVP The Underline, Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department and Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs’ Art in Public Places program are pleased to announce the inaugural public art program for The Underline, a planned world-class linear park designed to transform the underutilized land below Miami-Dade’s Metrorail into an urban trail and art destination. These projects include four commissions by Miami-based artists Bhakti Baxter, Naomi Fisher, Nicolas Lobo, and Agustina Woodgate and will take place throughout a 9.7-mile corridor which includes eight Metrorail Station locations between the Brickell neighborhood and business district and Dadeland South.

Image courtesy of The Underline

The projects by these four artists will open to the public with a reception on Saturday, January 14, 2017, activating The Underline with public art interventions that reflect artistic excellence and engage the community. Commissioned by Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs’ Art in Public Places in collaboration with Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation, and Open Spaces and Friends of The Underline Art Advisory in cooperation with Miami-Dade County Transportation and Public Works Department, the four projects are funded by a $200,000 nationally competitive ArtPlace America Grant. ArtPlace has invested in projects in which artists and arts organizations play an explicit and central role in strategies to help shape their communities’ social, physical, and economic futures. James Corner Field Operations, the firm which designed New York’s celebrated High Line elevated park, has created a Master Plan for The Underline which includes biking and pedestrian trails connected with features and amenities that encourage Miami-Dade residents to get out of their cars to walk, bike, and exercise. The vision of the Master Plan will ensure that The Underline will become a destination for must-see art by incorporating space for public art into the design framework, whether as sculpture, performance, or installations. A rotating program of both local and international art works will draw residents and visitors, while also creating a platform for civic engagement for nearby artists and artisans.

Nicolas Lobo, study for forthcoming artwork Brutal Workout

Activation: Saturday, January 14, 3-5pm For a full schedule of upcoming activations, visit here. Nicolas Lobo presents Brutal Workout, a participatory artwork functioning as a mobile exercise station and critique of self-improvement. Flexibly designed to address different parts of the body as it rests on any one of its six sides, the 10’ by 10’ cube framework of stainless steel echoes the Brutalist, utilitarian aesthetic of the Miami Metrorail transit system itself. Throughout the course of the temporary intervention, the artwork will inhabit four different locations along the linear park of The Underline, changing its orientation.  Metrorail Station Locations (Exterior): Brickell (January 14 - January 28), University (January 28 – February 11), Douglas Road (February 11 – February 25), Vizcaya, (February 25 - March 11).

January 13 - 15 RSVP to Participate in the Bike Tour & Live Radio Broadcast Agustina Woodgate will activate The Underline and its environs through a broadcast of radioee.net, an online, nomadic, multilingual, event-based radio transmission focused on mobility, migration and transportation founded and operated by the artist. On January 13th, 14th, and 15th, global and local audiences can listen live online as the radioee.net team traverses The Underline via a bicycle-powered mobile radio station. This broadcast will explore the park’s future ecological, economic, and community impact through interviews with urban planners, city officials, real estate developers, transportation specialists, car dealers, neighboring residents and businesses. Recordings from the 10-mile journey and three-day broadcast will then be compiled into a podcast, free and accessible online. Posters will advertise the live broadcast and podcast from the wifi-ready rail cars and stations. Metrorail Station Locations (Station interiors, platforms, railcars and performance along linear park on January 13, 14, & 15, 2017): Brickell, Vizcaya, Coconut Grove, Douglas Road, University, South Miami, Dadeland North, Dadeland South. Metrorail Station Locations (Station interiors, platforms, railcars and performance along linear park January 13 & 14, 2017): Brickell, Vizcaya, Coconut Grove, Douglas Road, University, South Miami, Dadeland North, Dadeland South.

Naomi Fisher, Dancarchy, Installation view from Art Basel Miami Beach Nova Section, 2014

Performance: Saturday, January 14, 2-5pm At the Brickell Station, Naomi Fisher will create #PUZZLED, an architecturally-scaled participatory sculpture incorporating a motif of large anthropomorphic puzzle pieces. The hand-drawn shapes of the puzzle pieces will be laser cut onto mirror-finished steel, and include functional ballet barres. Furthering the dialogue of dance and performative practices within the realm of contemporary art, #PUZZLED combines sculpture and performance in a single work. The sculptural installation will be activated by ballet dancers to create unique performances throughout the duration of the artwork. Open to the public for use at all times, the schedule of activations and programmed performances are forthcoming.  Metrorail Station Locations (Exterior): Brickell

Bhakti Baxter, Study for Metro Flower Power, 2016

For Metro Flower Power, Bhakti Baxter will create unique live floral planting arrangements for the interiors of each of the eight Metrorail Stations located along The Underline. For the installation, Baxter will fabricate sculptural planters responding to different local aesthetics. Each station will be formally unique—engaging Art Deco, industrial materials like cement and steel, and traditional ceramics, celebrating the daily commute of many. After the duration of these living artworks conclude, the native tropical plants will be relocated outside of the stations and into The Underline linear park itself, to remain as part of the park’s landscape, allowing the temporary project to carry on indefinitely. Metrorail Station Locations (Interior): Brickell, Vizcaya, Coconut Grove, Douglas Road, University, South Miami, Dadeland North, Dadeland South.

ABOUT MIAMI-DADE ART IN PUBLIC PLACES Art in Public Places is a program of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs responsible for the commission and purchase of artworks by contemporary artists in all media. One of the first public art programs in the country, Miami-Dade Art in Public Places was established in 1973 with the passage of an ordinance allocating 1.5% of construction cost of new county buildings for the purchase or commission of artworks, educational programs and collection maintenance. The Art Trust Fund is administered by a County Commission-appointed citizens’ board, the Art in Public Places Trust, in consultation with its Professional Advisory Committee. For more information about the Art in Public Places Program and the Miami-Dade Department of Cultural Affairs, please go to www.miamidadepublicart.org and www.miamidadearts.org. It is the policy of Miami-Dade County to comply with all of the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request materials in accessible format, sign language interpreters, and/or any accommodation to participate in any Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs program or meeting, please contact Francine Andersen 305-375-4634 FRAN@miamidade.gov five days in advance to initiate your request. TTY users may also call 711 (Florida Relay Service.)