Miami Beach may be famous as the home of Art Basel, but thanks to an initiative from the city government, visitors don’t even have to leave their hotels to experience great works of art.
Started in 2019, “No Vacancy” is an annual art exhibition taking over around a dozen hotels and resorts across Miami Beach. Artists are selected after a rigorous open call and application process to transform a certain space with their artworks. Most of the commissioned artists are locals or have roots in Miami; this year’s crop includes Amanda Linares, Lee Pivnik, Pepe Mar, and Edison Peñafel.
READ MORE: A South Florida writer documents the evolution of Miami’s art scene in new book
The program was started as a way to bring together two important industries for the city, hospitality and culture. Participating properties range from gleaming resorts like the Casa Faena and the Miami Beach EDITION to smaller, more characterful hotels such as The Betsy Hotel on Ocean Drive. All of the artworks are placed in areas accessible to the public, so non-guests can view the work. In fact, the city is encouraging South Florida-based area art lovers to come out by expanding the program to four weeks from its original run of two.
“A fun thing about ‘No Vacancy’ is you can make a day of it with friends and rent a Citi Bike, and go around to the different stops, almost like a scavenger hunt,” says Lisette Garcia Arrogante, director of tourism and culture for the City of Miami Beach. “And it’s a very inexpensive way to really have a fun day of viewing art and getting to know local artists and the hotel properties that we have on Miami Beach.”
According to Garcia Arrogante, the program is popular among artists as well. The open call for this year’s edition meanwhile yielded over 200 submissions from artists.
“It just speaks to the notoriety of the program and showcases Miami Beach and the artists in a very positive way during a time that I think not a lot of local artists get a platform, during Art Week.” she says. “It’s a program we’re really proud of.”
Part of the appeal of “No Vacancy” is seeing how each artist utilizes the spaces they’re given, occasionally even integrating the architecture of the hotels. Nathalie Alfonso, for instance, was assigned the International Inn on the Bay, a vintage motel on the water just off the North Bay Causeway on Normandy Isle. The two-story lobby space features large windows facing the water — clearly visible from the causeway when driving towards the beach. It was a perfect fit for the artist, who typically works on site-specific projects.
“My work is only possible when given a space,” says Alfonso. “I think about the work in my studio, but the work actually happens when I’m given a location. So in this case, my location was the windows.”
Alfonso, who usually works in drawing with materials such as charcoal and graphite, attempted to find a way of activating the windows that didn’t disrupt the picturesque view of Biscayne Bay. She settled on using colored vinyl strips to decorate the windows, similar to stained glass. The colors filtering through the space change as a result of the shifting sunlight throughout the day.
“Even though the material itself is attached to the window, to me the artwork is more about those moments of light being reflected on the ground,” she says. “Throughout the day you get to see how the sun is directly hitting those windows, but then at night, when the sun sets, you still get that beautiful horizon line with those oranges and pinks that happen in Miami.”
James Sprang, meanwhile, took a different approach. His work “Take Me Home” at the Sherry Frontenac Hotel in North Beach consists of a single 9 ft. by 13 ft. photograph taken at Toronto’s Carnival celebrations, featuring two women “preparing to hit stage and hit road,” in the words of the artist. The image is suspended from the ceiling in the hotel lobby.
The work is part of a larger ongoing project documenting Carnival celebrations across the Caribbean diaspora. Sprang, born in Miami but now living between Brooklyn and Philadelphia, wanted to converse with ideas of diaspora and community, especially considering his relationship to the city and his Trinidadian heritage. He has memories of watching steel drum bands and learning about Trinidad from his father and about the rest of the Caribbean from the wider community in Miami.
“I started thinking about ways in which I could represent and be in conversation with the diaspora, not only in Miami, but the larger diaspora,” says Sprang. “And going through the images I had on hand, there was something about this one particular photograph that, for me, really celebrates care and really celebrates the black interior alongside the spectacle that is Carnival.”
The choice to display the work as a black and white photo is also intentional.
“Carnival is so much about color,” he says. “Black and white photography is a beautiful and simple abstraction, it’s a removal of color. We’re forced to think about texture and form and light and expression. And it’s interesting to kind of tune into those aspects of the image and see the vibrance of the people depicted.”
IF YOU GO
What: “No Vacancy”
When: Hours vary by location. Through Saturday, Dec. 20.
Where: Andrea Myers, “A Soft Pixelation,” Avalon Hotel Miami, 700 Ocean Drive; LIZNBOW, “Portal to Niña,” The Betsy Hotel, 1440 Ocean Drive; Denise Treizman, “Wish You Were Here,” Cadillac Hotel & Beach Club, 3925 Collins Ave.; Edison Peñafiel, “Florida Florarium,” The Catalina Hotel & Beach Club, 1732 Collins Ave.; Pepe Mar, “Tropical stomping ground,” Casa Faena, 3500 Collins Ave.; Nathalie Alfonso, “BayScape,” International Inn on the Bay, 2301 Normandy Drive; Patty Suau, “Unexpected Encounters,” Kimpton Surfcomber Hotel, 1717 Collins Ave.; Amanda Linares, “Tierra Húmeda,” The Miami Beach EDITION, 2901 Collins Ave.; Evelyn Sosa, “No Place is Far Away,” Nautilus Sonesta Miami Beach, 1825 Collins Ave.; Fabiola Larios, “Heartware,” Riviera Suites Miami Beach, 318 20th St.; Lee Pivnik, “Wellspring,” The Shelborne by Proper, 1801 Collins Ave.; James Sprang, “Take Me Home,” Sherry Frontenac Hotel, 6565 Collins Ave.
Cost: Free
Information: miamiandbeaches.com
ArtburstMiami.com is a nonprofit news partner of WLRN, providing news on theater, dance, visual arts, music and the performing arts.
