LTC 399-2020 Art Outside Miami Beach i-Zanele Muholi Exhibition at City HallDocuSign Envelope ID: 91F266D1-0E1C-4341-B4B0-9BA544F94EBA
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OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. LTC # 399-2020 LETTER TO COMMISSION
TO: Mayor Dan Gelber and Members of the City Commission
FROM: Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager
DATE: November 10, 2020
SUBJECT: Art Outside Miami Beach i- Zanele Muholi Exhibition at City Hall
The purpose of this letter to the Mayor and Commission is to provide an update on Art
Outside Miami Beach. Art Outside is an interactive exhibition of contemporary, walkable,
public art installations throughout Miami Beach. Presented by The Bass Museum of Art
(“The Bass”) in partnership with the City of Miami Beach Art in Public Places (“AiPP”),
Miami Beach Urban Studios – Florida International University, The Wolfsonian – Florida
International University and the W South Beach hotel, the works range from monumental
sculptures, neon, to sound and video, and participatory artworks..
The Bass initiated Art Outside to offer Miami Beach residents and visitors an opportunity
to see and experience a network of public artworks. The Bass is handling all costs
associated with acquiring, commissioning and installing the Art Outside temporary works
in the Collins Park campus and beyond.
On September 15, 2020, AiPP made a unanimous motion to approve the placement of
temporary works of public art, as presented by The Bass, for the expansion of the Art
Outside program. These recommendations were presented in LTC 338-2020 and includes
the work of South African artist Zanele Muholi for placement on the east facade of City
Hall. The work will visually link existing works of public art in the Art Outside program,
including Bent Pool by Elmgreen & Dragset in Pride Park and Sonic Dreamscapes by Bill
Fontana in Soundscape Park.
The work, entitled Phaphama at Cassilhaus North Carolina (2016), will be installed on or
about November 12, 2020 on the east façade of City Hall using a decal vinyl that will
adhere to the stucco wall. The installation of this work coincides with the artist’s first major
survey presented by the London Tate Modern, which is currently on exhibition. The work
will be on display at City Hall November 2020 - April 2021, as part of the Art Outside
program.
DocuSign Envelope ID: 91F266D1-0E1C-4341-B4B0-9BA544F94EBA
About Zanele Muholi
Muholi is a South African visual activist and photographer. For over a decade they
have documented black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people's
lives in various townships in South Africa. Responding to the continuing
discrimination and violence faced by the LGBTI community, in 2006 Muholi
embarked on an ongoing project, Faces and Phases, in which they depict black
lesbian and transgender individuals. Muholi's self-proclaimed mission is "to re-
write a black queer and trans visual history of South Africa for the world to know
of our resistance and existence at the height of hate crimes in SA and beyond."
These arresting portraits are part of Muholi's contribution towards a more
democratic and representative South African homosexual history. Through this
positive imagery, Muholi hopes to offset the stigma and negativity attached to queer
identity in African society.
Muholi was born in Umlazi, Durban and lives in Johannesburg. They studied Advanced
Photography at the Market Photo Workshop in Newtown, Johannesburg, and in 2009
completed an MFA: Documentary Media at Ryerson University, Toronto. Muholi has
won numerous awards including the ICP Infinity Award tor Documentary and
Photojournalism (2016), Africa'Sout! Courage and Creativity Award (2016), the
Outstanding International Alumni Award from Ryerson University (2016), the Fine
Prize for an emerging artist at the 2013 Carnegie International, and a Prince Claus
Award (2013), among others. Muholi's work has been exhibited at Documenta 13, the
South African Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale, and the 29th Sao Paulo Biennale.
Solo exhibitions have taken place at institutions including the Stedelijk Museum,
Amsterdam, Autograph ABP, London: the Mead Art Museum, Amherst, Gallatin
Galleries, New York, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, Brooklyn Museum, New York,
Kulturhistorek Museum, Oslo, Einsteinhaus, Ulm, Schwules Museum, Berlin, and
Casa Africa, Las Palmas. Muholi's work is included in the collections of the Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, the Brooklyn Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the
Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art New York, the San Francisco
Museum of Art, the Tate Modern, London, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
and others. Muholi was shortlisted tor the 2015 Deutsche Borse Photography Prize
for their publication Faces and Phases 2006-14 (Steidl/The Walther Collection). Other
publications include Zanele Muholi: African Women Photographers
For more information, please contact Heather Shaw at heathershaw@miamibeachfl.gov
or x26563.
cc: Marcia Monserrat, Chief of Staff, City Manager
Heather Shaw, Assistant Director, Tourism and Culture Department