LTC 023-2023 Art in Public Places Committee Motions—January 17, 2023DocuSign Envelope ID: 0AA96D05-9C1F-4063-B37D-EA40A07BB198
MIAMI BEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. LTC # 023-2023 LETTER TO COMMISSION
TO :
FROM:
Honorable Mayor Dan Gelber and Members of the City Commission
Rafael E. Granado, City Clerk c ~:.i;,.f,r/1.lM.M
DATE : January 20, 2023
SUBJECT: Art in Public Places Committee Motions-January 17, 2023
The purpose of this letter to the Mayor and Commission is to provide an update regarding
two motions made during the January 17, 2023 Art in Public Places ("AIPP") Committee
meeting.
1. Friends With You, Starchild at Harry Liebman Square ( 41 st Street and Pinetree Drive)
Motion to acquire Starchild (2022) by FriendsWithYou as a permanent artwork for the City
of Miami Beach Public Art Collection in its current location at Harry Liebman Square, 41 st
Street and Pinetree Drive.
The above motion was approved unanimously.
On September 20, 2022, the Art in Public Places (AiPP) Committee made a motion to
commission Starchild by FriendsWithYou as part of the Miami Beach OnStage! temporary
program initiative.
The monumental sculpture was unveiled to the public during Art Week Miami Beach on
November 28, 2022. Due to the success and positive reception of Starchild among the
community, the AiPP Committee made a motion on January 17 , 2023 to acquire the
artwork and make it a permanent public art piece .
DocuSign Envelope ID: 0AA96D05-9C1F-4063-B37D-EA40A07BB198
FriendsWithYou is the art collaboration of Samuel Berkson and Arturo Sandoval Ill,
created with the intention to bring more joy, kindness, and love to the world. Starchild is
the main character in FriendsWithYou's newest body of work, a longform conceptual
project in which the artists are renaming the Earth to "Ocean" as a means to unify the
planet by a name.
2. Water Tanks Public Art Installation -(Located adjacent to Miami Beach Senior High)
O,Miami in collaboration with Spanish Art Collective Boa Mistura and Miami
Beach Senior High Students
Motion to proceed with O,Miami's selection of the Spanish art collective Boa Mistura to
implement the public art installation entitled Finding Home for the water tanks located
adjacent to Miami Beach Senior High .
The above motion was approved unanimously.
On June 15, 2021 the Art in Public Places Committee recommended O,Miami work with
Miami Beach Senior High to develop a public art project for the water tanks located
adjacent to Beach High . Since the Fall of 2022, O,Miami has been teaching poetry at the
school. A total of 201 students participated in the workshop, each with a poem.
Finding Home uses a line from a Miami Beach High student poem to transform the water
tanks adjacent to the school's football fields into a colorful message about pride of place.
The line reads , "finding my home in every voice that I hear", which speaks of how our
identity travels within us like a seed we plant in the place where we live, creating new
stories, new ties, and new coexistence environments. Boa Mistura and 0, Miami worked
with Beach High students on all aspects of the project, from writing poems to finalizing the
design. Work will commence on the water tanks in May of 2023.
Members in attendance: Marcella Novella (Chair), Michael McManus (Vice-Chair), Nick
D'Annunzio, Aaron Resnick, and Ann -Kathrin Seif.