Untitled Art, Miami Beach 2023

November 02, 2023

Untitled Art, Miami Beach 2023

Image: Erick Antonio Benitez, Software for People v2 (2023). Performance 12/7 at 5pm. Presented by Selenas Mountain (New York, NY) and supported by Y.E.S. Contemporary. Courtesy of the artist and Selenas Mountain.

We are pleased to announce a program of curated Special Projects, performances, podcast conversations, and events for the upcoming 2023 edition.

Untitled Art’s programming is part of a curatorial platform spearheaded by Artistic Director Omar López-Chahoud and Director of Development and Curatorial Affairs Clara Andrade Pereira in support of the wider arts ecosystem – both globally and locally in Miami.

Untitled Art, Miami Beach 2023
Wednesday, December 6 through Saturday, December 9, 11am-7pm
Sunday, December 10, 11am-5pm

Image: Vera Chaves Barcellos, Epidermic Scapes (1977-2022). Courtesy of the artist and Zielinsky (Barcelona, Spain / São Paulo, Brazil).

Special Projects, presented throughout the fair, call attention to curatorial focuses and new artistic voices. Highlights this year include:

bitforms (New York, NY) is bringing a selection of Manfred Mohr’s earliest computer-generated plotter drawings (circa 1970) showcasing his first implementation of the hypercube through the seminal video work, Cubic Limit (1973-74). This special project distinguishes Mohr’s pioneering use of algorithms decades before it became a tool of contemporary art.
Gerd Leufert’s NENIAS (1965-1985/2023) is a wall installation presented by Henrique Faria Gallery (New York, NY). The term “Nenias” has been used by the artist since the early 1960s to identify a series of figures he developed. The conventional meaning of the term comes from music, referring to certain old songs or lamentations reserved for funeral rites. These forms, now adapted for new space and spectator, fuse together ancestral cosmogonies with contemporary figures able to transcend the diverse currents of anthropological and indigenist thought.
Epidermic Scapes (1977-2022) by Vera Chaves Barcellos showcases a series of images of the artist’s and other people’s skin enlarged to such an extent that their indexical function is lost as they take on a more abstract appearance, presented by Zielinsky (Barcelona, Spain / São Paulo, Brazil). The artist’s intention is to expand the images to such an extent that they could be displayed on the floor or wall in a monumental way and as if they were terrestrial landscapes.
El Kilómetro (San Juan, Puerto Rico) presents Awilda Sterling-Duprey’s Blindfolded (2020-present), part of her series of dance drawings where the artist blindfolds herself to make abstract marks on wall-mounted paper in response to salsa and/or jazz improvisations. Blindfolded was included in the 2022 Whitney Biennial where the artist created the work via performance within the installation itself. Similarly, as part of this year’s Special Projects sector, this iteration of the series will be activated during the artist’s performance at 11:30am on Wednesday, December 6th.

Explore the 2023 Special Projects

Image: Nicki Duval and Robbie Trocchia, bout (2023). Performance 12/9 at 6pm. Presented by Locust Projects. Courtesy of the artists and Locust Projects.

Ten live performances will also accompany the fair, continuing Untitled Art’s support of non-commercial genres and multi-disciplinary art practices. Highlights include:

An audience-activated performance by Trueson Daugherty in which the artist serves slices of a symbolic mass wedding cake meticulously adorned with over 100 custom-made bride and groom figurines, presented by curator and multidisciplinary artist Kalup Linzy and with the support of The Tulsa Artist Fellowship; supported by Gallery Meessen De Clercq (Brussels, Belgium) and developed in collaboration with the Ringling College of Art and Design faculty and students, Lieven De Boeck’s ongoing performance parade, What’s going on?, celebrates mixed gender and queer identity, and explores art as an interactive experience that can only happen through personal activation (a concept tied to the work of Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica); Software for People v2 by Erick Antonio Benitez presented by Selenas Mountain (New York, NY) and supported by Y.E.S. Contemporary connects the physical, mystical, and digital through dance; presented by Negrón Pizzaro (San Juan, Puerto Rico), David Correa’s Death in Dade is an ongoing series of performances depicting desperation, resentment, and sorrow of the Latin laborer; presented by Miami-based non-profit cultural partner Locust Projects, an audiovisual performance and installation by Nicki Duval and Robbie Trocchia titled bout (2023) deconstructs competitive boxing and the work of American realist painter George Bellows, breaking down the boundaries between arts and athletics, and challenging gender stereotypes through boxing and queerness; and GeoVanna Gonzalez will present an iteration of her performance installation, PLAY, LAY, AYE: ACT 6, presented by Commissioner, in partnership with Chief.

Image: "Fly Over Passed Over" is a panel discussion on 12/6 at 12:30pm, curated by Kalup Linzy with the support of The Tulsa Artist Fellowship. Image courtesy of Dylan Johnson (@giantclick) and Tulsa Artist Fellowship.

The Untitled Art Podcast returns for its fourth year to support the fair’s 2023 Exhibitors within a dialogue showcasing the wider art ecosystem. Over 20 conversations are scheduled on-site during the fair, with participation of figures within each facet of the art community: including renowned artists Antonio Andrews, Ashanti Chaplin, Jeffrey Meris, Alyssa Klauer, Kalup Linzy, Sharif Bay, Manfred Mohr, LaKela Brown, and Kacy Jung; and influential art professionals and institutional curators Natasha Becker, curator for the Arts of Africa at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; NXTHVN’s Assistant Director of Exhibitions and Programs, Marissa Del Toro; Rachel Delphia, the Alan G. and Jane A. Lehman Curator at Carnegie Museum of Art; Kate Green, Ph.D., Chief Curator & Nancy E. Meinig, Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, Philbrook Museum of Art; and Carolyn Sickles, Executive Director of Tulsa Artist Fellowship.

Highlights include two Spanish-speaking panels, one of which features DeMartini Family Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art and Untitled Art Ambassador Marcela Guerrero in a discussion with Latin American and Caribbean galleries from the Nest sector; Curator Kaitlin Garcia-Maestas and Artistic Director Neville Wakefield to discuss Programming Partner Desert X 2025's themes and socio-cultural concerns with Zoe Lukov; and a series of panels covering the art market for female artists, the impacts of new technologies, and new collecting models hosted by Untitled Art’s Education and Programming Partner Sotheby’s.

The full 2023 program is now live on our website, and we look forward to sharing more highlights as we draw closer to the 12th edition of Untitled Art,

The Official Partners of Untitled Art, Miami Beach 2023 are Chase Private Client, By Michael Miller, Champagne Pommery, Rado, and Resy, in partnership with Delta SkyMiles and American Express. Our Digital Partner is Vortic, who is also one of our Prize Partners this year alongside 21c Museum Hotels, CCA Andratx, Fountainhead, Her Clique, NXTHVN, Pébéo, and Platform. Programming Partners also include 99 Canal, Chargeurs Philanthropies, Commissioner, Desert X, and For Freedoms. Our Education Partner is Sotheby's Art Institute. With the support of the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority.