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Artist Pandora Graessl’s Transportive “Amor Fati: When the Fire Bit Me” Exhibition

In an abandoned building in Mexico City, a mythic serpentine journey comes to life

David Graver

12 February 2024

In several rooms across three floors of an abandoned brick building, behind a small market in Mexico City, photographer and multidisciplinary artist Pandora Graessl‘s mythic exhibition, Amor Fati: When the Fire Bit Me, transports guests by way of serpentine photographic and sculptural works. The immersive installation—which plays with light and color, texture and material—contrasts several metaphoric pieces with their surprising surroundings. While the unexpected exhibition aligned with the Zona Maco art fair, it will continue to run through 20 February.

Amor Fati is the first solo Latin American exhibition for Graessl, a French-Swiss artist who resides in Mexico City. In the exhibit, she conjures up inkjet prints of hyper-realistic scans of snakes and floral arrangements and forges twisting bronze sculptures. Each work is an exploration of the mythic and natural worlds, and converses with the raw edifice and the views beyond every windowless frame.

Graessl, who founded her own creative studio after working Bureau Betak and Management Artists, utilized the power of collaboration for several pieces in Amor Fati. In one spellbinding corner room, the artist pairs her “La Curandera” chair, crafted from stainless steel, leather and python skin, with a mirror surrounded by python skins of various colors—all set to tangles of vegetation. Both pieces were produced in conjunction with Paolo Angelucci, and will be produced in unique editions, by demand. The exhibition also features two carpets developed in collaboration with Joel Fear, each composed of cotton, microfiber polyester and luxury chenille yarn.

Other collaborators include composer and cellist Patrick Belaga and audio company X-Pan, both who contribute to the exhibition’s multi-sensory centerpiece, a suspended sound sculpture set with colorful candles. Hosted in a sprawling garage, beside the dismantled parts of a red Corvette (the latter not a part of the exhibition), the sculpture’s magnitude, flickering flames and drone-like soundscape ensnare attendees.

Living elements (like floral moments or plastic-wrapped shrubbery) and representations of life (including imagery of flowers) infiltrate each room. Throughout, Graessl taps into dreamlike wonder and guides attendees from room to room asking them to question what they encounter. There’s something haunting about Amor Fati and something haunted about the venue. And it’s this logic that allows all of the parts to work in service to one another—or consume each other—much like an ouroboros.

Amor Fati is open to the public from 10AM to 8 pm, and by appointment, at Avenida Thiers 231, Anzures, Miguel Hidalgo, 11590, Mexico City.

Read Design

Interview: Zona Maco Founder Zélika García

Insight on the twenty years of developments that have led to the acclaimed art fair’s 2024 edition

David Graver

5 February 2024

As international artists, art collectors and gallerists arrive to Mexico City for the 2024 edition of Latin America’s leading art fair, Zona Maco, they’ll continue a cultural conversation that began when one artist asked one question more than twenty years ago. Upon her graduation from the University of Monterrey, with a degree in the arts, Zélika García wanted to know why Mexico no longer had an international art fair. Refusing to accept the answer she commonly received—that there wasn’t a market—she founded her own. What began as Muestra in Monterrey transformed into Mexico City’s Zona Maco. Over the last two decades, García has established Zona Maco as an inspiring stop on the annual arts calendar and introduced the world to the strength of Mexican and Latin American art, artists and galleries. To learn more about the exponential growth of the fair, the Mexican contemporary art scene, surprises from the 2024 edition and her dreams for the future, we sat down with García for further insight.

Looking back, twenty years in, can you share your path from artist to art fair founder?

It wasn’t planned. I was really happy producing art. That’s why I visited Guadalajara Art Fair, to go see the galleries and to go to the program and the talks. That art fair opened my eyes to a new world. It was the first international fair I ever visited. After I graduated college and after I just had a baby, I tried to go back to the Guadalajara Art Fair but I heard that it closed. I kept asking why there were no other international art fairs in Mexico. No one believed that people would buy art in Mexico. So, I tried to start my own.

I started Muestra en Maco México Arte Contemporáneo in Monterrey. It was a success, though most of those galleries were from Mexico, with maybe one from London and another from New York. We then moved to Mexico City. I had met Pablo del Val, who is now artistic director of Art Dubai. He started helping us with our VIP program and later became our artistic director. The fair got a selection committee. We hired curators to help with the overall vision. We changed the name to Zona Maco to make it an official art fair and not just an experiment. That’s how it all began in 2004.

Why is it important to showcase international art alongside work by Mexican artists? Are both integral to your vision?

We have such an interesting art scene in Mexico. We have for many, many years. We also have all these museums and private collections. There are so many galleries, too. These galleries have changed our culture. Some, which are no longer around any longer, started in the 1950s. Some were the first to show Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera and all of the artists that are now famous around the world. I

t’s important to support the local Mexican galleries—but I also know that international collectors who go to art fairs love to see international galleries and international art. A lot of these collectors are also interested in seeing Mexican artists that they cannot see elsewhere. Some of our galleries only show at Zona Maco. It’s a good mix for our visitors.

The world is looking toward Mexico for cultural guidance and inspiration—from food and drink to art and design. Have you observed this change—where the world once overlooked Mexico and now all eyes are on Mexican culture?

A few people—collectors, and galleries—have been with Zona Maco since the beginning, all twenty years. But more and more attention has come to Mexico and the fair. I think it has to do with the platform that the fair created, where Mexican galleries started building relationships with international galleries and curators. This has allowed Mexican artists to present in other art fairs and museums around the world. Our own galleries started to bring international artists to Mexico for residencies and projects.

A lot of artists have also moved to Mexico. International galleries who have been working with us for years have also opened spaces up in Mexico. This has meant that Mexican galleries have had to improve because there’s more competition. The big Mexican galleries, the spaces that visitors tour now, they didn’t exist seven or 10 years ago. These are recent developments. The art was always good, but having a proper space to exhibit the art lets the artist present bigger and better projects.

Can visitors expect something different for the 2024 Zona Maco?

Every year we try to do something different. In 2021, we couldn’t do the fair at the convention center so we presented Zona Maco art week in different galleries and smaller venues and design spaces around Mexico City. We had one location where everyone could get together because it was an outdoor space, Casa Ortega, a house by architect Luis Barragan. We invited different artists to collaborate in the outdoor garden.

Last year, we created Art Baja California and we did the Zona Maco Patio to try to repeat the success of the outdoor exhibition we organized in 2021. A project we planned for this year with the artistic director of Zona Maco, Direlia Lazo, is called Forma. It is inspired by Patio. Direlia invited the galleries that have participated in most editions of the fair to install special interventions and site-specific works inside the fair, not in booths but hanging from the ceiling or hiding somewhere or right in the middle of everything. They were either made for the fair or will be exhibited in Mexico for the first time. This will be a surprise for viewers. We are also working with Cuervo—1800 Tequila has been our sponsor for 20 years. They give an award every year, where they acquire a piece from new artist. They are doing a special exhibition inside the fair to showcase some of the works that they’ve bought over the years. Some of those unknown artists that they acquired 18 years ago are very well known today.

What are your goals 20 years in? Or is there a new dream for the fair?

When I started Zona Maco, I did not imagine it would grow so much—but it did. After the early success of the art fair, we started to see a need for design. We created another fair, Zona Maco Design. A few years later, we had all the antique galleries in Mexico looking to join, so we created another fair dedicated to antiques. Finally, we debuted the photography fair. We now have four fairs simultaneously in the convention center, separate and yet in the same space. We want to maintain the quality. We do not want to make a bigger fair, we want to make a better fair.

Would you bring Zona Maco to another city in the way that other fairs have multiple locations?

As of now, I’m not interested in doing the fair somewhere else. I think there are enough art fairs. We need to focus on making this one better than ever, but not do more. Art Baja California is a new idea. It’s not an art fair. It’s a festival. There are different galleries and different artists. It’s fresh. I feel like we are producing it like how I began Zona Maco in Mexico City 20 years ago. It will take more than a few years but I believe it can become very important for the local community, the Baja California community, where there are already so many local artists and visitors.

Is there guidance you’d offer to someone visiting Zona Maco for the first time?

I would plan to spend an entire day there. We have 15 restaurants inside the fair because we are in a city with so much traffic that leaving for lunch is too crazy. To make it fun, we will have DJs on the terrace. There is tequila and champagne. I would also attend as many gallery openings around Mexico City as possible because they’ve planned so many special events. They’ve been working on them for a year. All the spaces are so different. You could drive to San Miguel Chapultepec and walk to all of the galleries. Then go to Condesa and walk. On another day, I would go to all the museums. We have so many important museums—Tamayo, Jumex, Artes, the Museum of Modern Art, Anthropology, MUAC. It’s endless.

Is there anything about the fair that people might not know that you hope they’ll pay attention to?

We have a selection committee in the main section with all of the galleries. Each of the rest of the sections have a dedicated curator. Looking at these sections is not just looking at the galleries within, but it’s having the opportunity to see 20 or 40 artists in one section that have been chosen by one person who has dedicated a lot of time to together one vision. It’s like going to a museum show but in booths throughout a fair. It’s particular interesting in the young artist section. You have a preselected body of work by a renowned curator who is putting this in front of you—and then you have the opportunity to buy it.

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Sundance 2024: Rashaad Newsome’s “Being (the Digital Griot)” at New Frontier

An interdisciplinary poetry and dance performance and decolonization workshop from an artistic artificial intelligence

David Graver

17 January 2024

This year, the Sundance Film Festival turns 40—a milestone for a cultural institution that’s introduced the world to films like Reservoir Dogs, Y tu mamá también, Get Out, Whiplash, Call Me By Your Name and Precious, and that’s kept movie fans coming back to Park City, Utah. In addition to a highly anticipated slate of films, Sundance 2024 includes the return of New Frontier, a division of experimental works that we at COOL HUNTING have followed for nearly a decade. For years, New Frontier has debuted pioneering augmented, mixed and virtual reality pieces that have broadened the future of storytelling. This year, the section includes a profound and profoundly important participatory piece by multidisciplinary artist Rashaad Newsome entitled Being (the Digital Griot), which centers around the digital depiction of a 30-foot-tall humanoid cyborg named Being, who uses they/them pronouns and aims to decolonize the AI space. Being has been in development since 2019, learning from datasets derived from the work of acclaimed Black activists, theorists and poets, including bell hooks and Dr. Cornel West. To observe Being dance and recite poetry is to glimpse at a vastly different utilization of AI, to feel comfort in the creation.

For people unfamiliar with Being, will you explain who they are?

Being is an artificial intelligence that presents as a femme cyborg whose design is inspired by the female (Pho) mask from the Chokwe people of the Congo. Being is a digital griot, an educator, an archive, a performance artist and a healer.

What has Being been up to since the Assembly exhibit at the Park Avenue Armory? What have you been up to since then?

During Assembly, we weren’t able to engage the deaf and hard of hearing in a way that honored their lived experience so, since then, Being has been developing a new communication technique, one that combines Black Queer ASL and dance. Currently, they are performing a poem I wrote using this technique in my solo exhibition Hands Performance at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California.  

What will Being be doing at Sundance? Why is it valuable for you and Being to be a part of New Frontier?

Being is doing an interdisciplinary poetry performance; rather than standing and reading, they dance and generate supporting visuals as a way to engage the cinematic potential of the Egyptian Theatre. Following the performance, they will lead a decolonization workshop that starts with a critical analysis of ballroom culture and introduces the audience to the work of bell hooks and Paulo Freire. The audience is asked to consider how capitalism, imperialism, white supremacy and patriarchy impact their lives, and speak to one another and Being about strategies they can develop to start to liberate themselves from that apparatus of domination. They hold space for everyone to tell their story, and we believe telling stories is one of the ways we can begin the process of building community.

As New Frontier’s mission is to support works that reorient the relationships between storytelling and technology, presenting Being with New Frontier was an excellent opportunity to show the infinite possibilities of AI in this space. 

Can you share with us a bit about the teaching process that informed Being? What materials/art forms/emotions have they learned and learned from?

Since 2019 I have been developing a counter-hegemonic search algorithm that uses non-Western indexing methods and highlights alternate histories and archives such as abolitionist, queer and feminist texts. The model was trained primarily on the work of American author, professor, feminist and social activist bell hooks; American philosopher, theologist, political activist, social critic, actor and public intellectual Dr. Cornel West; and Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire. This data set informs how they communicate with their audience. They are designed to associate patterns in their exchanges with specific outcomes, detect learned patterns in new data, and use them to predict future outcomes. This allows them to learn from the interaction in their classes, further reinforcing my interest in Horizontal learning. Regarding art forms they have learned, I would say they are in a constant state of learning these art forms, such as vogue femme, poetry, and, more recently, Black Queer ASL.

Why is poetry an important part of what Being shares? Why is dance integral to Being?

When developing Being, I wanted to give them the gift of creation. An often sci-fi film trope has been that if robots were given the ability to create, they would make more of themselves and kill us. When you think critically about that, you can see how deeply inculcated that concept is in white supremacist ideologies, a fear of the other. Much of my research around my Being project has been about interrogating the complex relationship between African Americans and robots. I feel the queer subject/object position we occupied when we arrived in this country is analogous to that which cyborgs occupy. Therefore, centering their creative expression in their words and voice as a way to express themselves felt critical because, as bell hooks so eloquently said, “When we end our silence, when we speak in a liberated voice, our words connect us with anyone, anywhere who lives in silence.” I trained them on the written work of one of my favorite poets, Dazié Rustin Grego-Sykes, as well as the dance of prominent figures in the global ballroom scene, such as Dyu Juicy Couture, Honey Balenciaga and Divo Yamamoto. Doing that allowed me to further build on the idea of them being an archive of virtuosic Black and Queer movement and intellectual production.

What set you on this mission to develop agency in the AI space?

My work has been long engaged in conversations surrounding agency; at times, it was how Black femmes were showing up in my collage and video work and at others, the cooption of early to mid-century African artworks. I felt it was a great conversation to continue in the space of AI and robotics, as historically, Black people have been viewed as cyborgs as a means of stripping us of agency. I believe there is much to learn about the importance and complexity of emancipatory action from looking at the histories of Black folks and robots. 

Are you optimistic about the future of AI?

Yes, and I am aware that I am taking a more radical approach to it that is not in alignment with the most funded bookends of the field, e.g., the business side, whose primary objective is to improve market share, essentially taking a machine smarter than humans and teaching it greed, or the defense sector, whose interests lie in teaching machines to kill.

Being (the Digital Griot) is a refute to these bleak extremes. I am taking a machine that is more intelligent than a human and teaching it to help humans think critically about their lives in the pursuit of becoming better humans who can, in turn, make better machines.

Is there anything you feel people need to know about you as an artist/creator or about Being as an AI?

People should know that it is financially and emotionally expensive to create artificial intelligence to help humans start a process of ridding themselves of the legacy of negative socialization to realize a world where all are equal and help those who are the most vulnerable within that system navigate the trauma of living in it while doing that work. 

I am committed to leveraging the power of AI to improve the human condition by creating applications that augment and enhance human capabilities rather than simply displacing or replacing them. This is a call to arms for those inspired by what they have read here to join me in the mission to advance AI research, production, and education that seeks to improve our lives. You can connect with my lab at beingthedigitalgriot.com.

How did the imagery that supports Being’s poetry come together?

Using a custom machine learning model, I trained it on the work of Oakland-based Black Queer poet Dazié Rustin Grego-Sykes. By running massive amounts of Dazié’s work through the machine and having Dazié ask the model to finish a stanza after he had written a beginning, it began to emulate his writing style in new and exciting ways. It became a bit of a creative loop. Being would write things that would inspire Dazié to write better, thus making Being write better. I then worked with the model to create unique visuals to make the text’s words visible. I wanted the visuals to mirror how the text intended to move from the superficial to the substantial. This is why many tunnels draw you deeper into the work and hopefully yourself in relationship to it.

Read Travel

The All-Season Splendor of Nantucket’s Greydon House

The conveniently located boutique hotel—with enchanting interior design by Roman and Williams—offers an array of options for winter guests

David Graver

15 January 2024

Each summer, the population of Nantucket swells, roughly, to 80,000 individuals looking to bask in the island’s natural beauty and its quaint New England village environs. In the off-season, those numbers dip to 14,000. While some of the upscale shops, restaurants and bars shutter for those months—some accommodations, like Greydon House, not only remain open but schedule thoughtful programming to support guests and tap into the splendors of a destination that just so happens to be magnificent all year long. Greydon House, a boutique luxury property (that was once the home of a sea captain), embodies 20 distinct guest rooms and an intimate, elegant Venetian-inspired restaurant—all designed by Roman and Williams. Not only is the hotel conveniently located (a quick walk from the ferry), but it’s also a partner of Tradewind Aviation, which offers guests discounted private charters on their fleet of Pilatus PC-12 aircraft during the winter months.

To step into Greydon House is to understand the charm of Nantucket. An eclectic assemblage of design establishes a whimsical and enveloping environment. The warmth of natural wood complements nautically themed artworks and numerous patterned textiles. Roman and Williams struck a balance between classic and contemporary, cozy and elevated in the guest rooms and public spaces. But Greydon House is more than timeless design.

For the winter months, the hotel has looked both inward for packages and programming and across the island for partnerships on behalf of its guests—including a bike and helmet initiative with the Nantucket Chamber of Commerce. A “Long Stay Package” for bookings beyond 14 days includes unique perks like being able to check your phone at the front desk for a digital detox, and a suite of complimentary services. A collaboration with nearby Lavender Farm Wellness encompasses everything from cold plunges and massage therapy to juice cleanses and guided mindfulness meditation.

Whether heading to Nantucket to slow down or to seek out adventure in the often blustery wintertime weather, Greydon House is an enchanting place to return home.

Garison Beale—the General Manager of Greydon Hotel Group (which includes Greydon House and a series of guest houses like the standalone three-bedroom Craftsman-style property named, 52 Union, and the five-bedroom renovated farmhouse with a pool, 23 Madaket, as well as sister properties the Periwinkle Inn, Martin House Inn and Anchor Inn)—says, “I love the gray lady, our name for the fog that comes in during the off-season. It’s super-romantic and a lot of people get it. People write stories about it. For me, being on island in the off-season is so great. It’s when my wife and my boys get to explore for ourselves, hiking snow-covered paths. There are still great restaurants open, too. There’s nothing like going to Via Mare and sitting in front of the fireplace. There’s even a better sense of community than in the summer.”

In the off-season, Greydon House maintains the same standard of service—with friendly, helpful staff. “We make sure that the staff delivers the highest end level of service because we clearly have the highest end product and design,” Beale says. He adds, “We have general contractors walk into Greydon House all year long to see the bathrooms in guest rooms because they had clients stay with us and ask them to replicate what we’ve done. It’s exactly what they want in their house. We know we have a great design. And we know we have a great team that augments that.”

The food at Via Mare is as comforting as the atmosphere. The restaurant is operated by a team that’s well-established across Nantucket. “We’ve been with them since the beginning of 2019, the end of 2018,” Beale says. “They were already established on the island with Ventuno. They took over 21 Federal and established their own beloved Italian restaurant there. The chef and co-owner, Andrea Solimeo, is from Italy. All of his concepts come from Italy. They’re based on his family’s recipes. Their team is really clued into the island. They recently took over The Corner Table, the cafe across the street from Greydon House, too.”

“We love to have people in the off-season,” Beale says. “It’s obviously romantic but it’s a fun time to come visit, too. There are so many little things that people can do. In many ways, you can almost get more value in the off-season because everyone is willing to give you one-on-one attention.” With the ease of access through Tradewind Aviation, the opportunity to explore without summertime congestion and accommodation as pleasing and pleasant as Greydon House, the off-season opens Nantucket to travelers looking for something different than beach days.

Read Design

Sesh Case Optimizes Stash Jar Storage

A colorful, carefully designed pack-and-roll product for cannabis

David Graver

9 January 2024

When serial entrepreneurs Dawn and Treg Bradley established a cannabis storage brand, Sesh, the business was predicated on a personal need to pair vibrant design with thoughtful organizational potential. This mission is epitomized by the brand’s debut product, the Sesh Case. Crafted in a range of alluring colors and featuring a playful curvaceousness, Sesh encapsulates a dynamic storage system—which includes several stash jars, one bud scoop and a removable rolling tray—with optimized functionality. The Bradleys desired a decorative piece that locked in aromas and served a purpose at home and during their time on the road—and the Sesh Case became all that and more. We spoke to both to learn more about how the brand came to be and what will come next.

Before we dive into the Sesh case, can you share the brand’s origin story?

Dawn Bradley: We come from the cannabis industry. I owned retail stores for many, many years and Treg made various products. We’d been around cannabis for many years and, as an avid user, I was always carrying it around in mismatched things. My husband is a man of style. My choice of items to carry the product around in did not meet his standards—for what it should look like or how it should be organized. He loves to create design items.

Sesh was born out of “me in the TSA line” meeting Treg and his need for thoughtful design and an orderly format.

After we sold our previous businesses in the hydroponics industry, we noticed that everybody was kind of creating the product but nobody was creating products to hold the product. No one was creating items for storage; and, really, they were repurposing other things to use for storage. Nothing was design-worthy.

Where did you look for inspiration when designing the Sesh case?

Treg Bradley: I was inspired by the bento box! It’s just a simple object that caught my attention. I actually created a product many years ago called Grobal. It was a little self-watering pot. Karim Rashid actually designed it. For both, I like the idea of creating accessible objects—so, I found that with plastics, you can produce it in a democratic way. I like the process with plastics, from conception through finishing, all done with computers.

Was there a lot of prototyping?

TB: It took roughly three years.

DB: There were also many challenges in the world during the time that Sesh was envisioned, as everyone is well aware. Originally, we thought we were going to be producing in China. Today, we are producing in Mexico. We’re very happy to have it made in North America. There were several prototypes, though the design was very clear from the beginning. Prototypes were made to get the functionality in order and to get other people to understand how to make a cannabis-specific product so that it locks in smell. This took a few iterations.

TB: When I got the final product in my hands, it had this perfect ratio and scale. It’s really an artistic process behind this little object.

You’ve got so many great colors. Have you released the entire spectrum or will we see more?

TB: I’m really into color therapy. Right now, these colors are what I wanted to launch with. Next, I want to have it progress in a fashion where we’re not following trends—we are leading them. That said, we really want to get this palette established first.

Can you tell us a bit about the product testing behind SESH?

DB: We do product test all the time. One of the things that people have to remember about a cannabis storage case is that you roll on the lid. As long as you are cleaning the lid, the container stays clean. To the extent that I use it, I just wipe it down. Altogether, Sesh does a really good job of managing the mess.

Is there anything you want readers to know about you as entrepreneurs?

DB: I personally want to be able to take cannabis everywhere and I’m glad that there’s now something people can use to do so. Cannabis is a hard thing to transport or to put into luggage or your backpack. People have been looking for an item like this. I want them to know it exists. You do not need to repurpose something. There’s a better option that’s affordable.

What about hopes for the future of the brand?

TB: We want to push the category. We don’t mind being the leaders. There will be hundreds of companies to follow suit in the next ten years. It will be rewarding to see it all develop. Right now, it’s a wasteland of ill conceived design, especially at the accessible level. My job is to create products. My wife keeps it all together on the business side. To me, it’s just really rewarding to be able to create something useful. I want it to speak for itself. I’ll be interesting to see where this product takes the company as we try to create more things that have this same artistic investment.

Read Culture

Notes: The Spectacular Moments That Defined Miami Art Week 2023

From Art Basel Meridians to a moody Philippe Starck and Mortlach dinner lit only by candles, a theatrical Sukeban wrestling pop-up under an overpass, White Cube’s annual beachfront bash, an elegant Ginori 1735 cocktail in a private garden, HigherDose and Muse at the Vivid Suite and more

David Graver

13 December 2023

A dazzling, dizzying series of days, Miami Art Week 2023 delivered enough inspiration, design, sunshine and champagne to get every attendee into the new year. Once again, two attributes defined the artful extravaganza—Art Basel Miami Beach itself, and Miami’s own fleet of art and design institutions (from The Bass Museum to ICA Miami, PAMM and more). Coupled with this were innumerable collaborations, partnerships, activations, satellite fairs and outdoor installations that spun locals and visitors from South Beach to the Miami Design District and back again. We’ve already explored some highlights—two sensorial experiences from Alex Israel, a magical emerging artist’s Miami debut at NADA, Dutch solar designer Marjan van Aubel‘s interactive Lexus installation, nostalgic reimagined toys and more. Further, we intend to explore other stories in-depth, like Italian design fair Alcova‘s eccentric, engaging Miami debut. So much happens during Miami Art Week that no two schedules are ever exactly alike and that’s part of the fun of it—the desire to do as much as you can, to drink from the overflowing font of creativity. The following ten occurrences were on my calendar, among many other worthwhile events, but stood out for their marriage of substance and spectacle.

Mortlach x Starck Dinner

Hosted on a derelict floor of an abandoned department store and illuminated only with hundreds of candles, an intimate dinner organized by Mortlach whisky centered around an announcement that renowned designer Philippe Starck would take on the role of their creative director. The move celebrates the single malt scotch brand’s 200th anniversary and the gathering teased to the spring 2024 release of the MORTLACH x STARCK debut collection. Over the last few years, Mortlach has become one of our home-bar staples and mysterious activations like this contribute to the allure.

Japanese Women Wrestling League Sukeban’s World Championship Match

2,000 people assembled under and a highway overpass in Downtown Miami’s Lot 11 Skatepark for the world championship match of Japanese women’s wrestling league Sukeban. The wildly theatrical event was more than art-tangential. Industrial designer Marc Newson designed the championship belt—and fashion designer Olympia Le-Tan is not only the league’s creative director, but also a co-founder. “It made sense to time the match to Miami Art Week,” Le-Tan explains in a statement, “given all of the amazing creatives that are involved in the project, from Marc Newson and Ayako Ishiguro to Isamaya Ffrench.”

Art Basel Miami Beach Meridians

Curated by Magalí Arriola, Art Basel Miami Beach Meridians remains an absolute must-see at the fair each year. This section is dedicated to large-scale artworks and the magnitude of each piece is coupled with a commitment to detail and nuance. From the whimsy of Masako Miki’s “Hyakki Yagho, Night Parade of 100 Demons” (via CULT Exhibitions) to the wonder of Seung-taek Lee’s monumental “Earth Play” inflatable rendition of the planet (courtesy of Gallery Hyundai), the roster of works transported attendees.

Southern Guild, Villa Albertine, Nifemi Marcus-Bello, Aman Interiors and Marina Abramović at Design Miami/ 2023

Without fail, Design Miami/ remains a COOL HUNTING favorite year after year. This milestone edition follows the fair’s successful Paris debut earlier this year. Contributing to the inspiring sensations we associated with this Miami iteration were Villa Albertine and Mobilier National‘s all-white installation curated by Alban Roger, Marina Abramović‘s empowering meditation chairs with HAADA Gallery, Lagos-based designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello‘s upcycled works (and the story of their inception) at Marta Los Angeles, Kengo Kuma’s furniture for Aman Interiors and Porky Hefer‘s cocoon-like pieces with Southern Guild.

“Porky’s work has a transformative power: sitting inside his large seating pods is to experience a new way of inhabiting space that brings you home to your senses,” Southern Guild co-founder Trevyn McGowan tells CH. “The effect is physical, emotional and cerebral, often prompting us to reflect on issues of consumption, waste and our relationship with the natural world. His work is located at the precipice of art and design, embodying a playfully disruptive approach that echoes the gallery’s collapsing of different categories.”

The Vivid Suite

In a spacious suite at The Goodtime Hotel, creative agency No.9 selected a roster of brands to demonstrate the future of the wellness industry. Aptly entitled the Vivid Suite, the immersive destination presented luxury products and programming like micro-dosing sessions courtesy of Muse, a pop-up spa with HigherDOSE, sexual wellness items courtesy of Hello Cake, non-alcoholic drinks from Levity and a sleep kit by Franny’s Farmacy. Coupled with these experiences, and anchoring the suite to art week, was a group exhibition featuring No.9 emerging artists: Wacky Backy, a Miami-based sculptor who showcased her BUD & DOOBIE pieces, LA-based glassblower Tyler Barry and NYC-based artist Stephanie Ketty.

Lizzie Gill’s Sold-Out Show at Untitled Art Fair

At the beloved beachfront Untitled Art Fair, multimedia artist and CH favorite Lizzie Gill‘s solo booth with Millerton, NY-based Geary Contemporary was not only a highlight for us—but for attendees, as well. The show sold out before the end of the fair. Through her work at Untitled, Gill mined the concept of “women in translation.” Her layered process—which includes extracting  images from museum catalogs or early 20th century magazines, transferring and sanding them, then enhancing them with acrylic paint and marble dust emulsion—forges an eye-catching dimensionality.

White Cube Gallery’s Annual Party at Soho Beach House

Art Basel Miami Beach is as known for its late-night parties as it is for its art and design fairs. Once again, the hottest ticket in town was the White Cube party in a tent on the sand at Soho Beach House. Commencing with an informal dinner at 7PM, and stretching well after midnight—with a performance by Ezra Collective that got guests dancing—the annual VIP fête did not disappoint.

Jonathan Kent Adams at Art Gaysel

A free-to-attend art fair that spotlights the work of LGBTQ+ artists, Art Gaysel at Hotel Gaythering continues to amass a devout audience for the quality of work presented and its commitment to representation of diverse voices. This year saw the return of Water Valley, Mississippi-based figurative painter Jonathan Kent Adams—and his entrancing multi-work exhibition was one of uncompromising beauty.

Ginori 1735’s Reborn Project Reception at The M Building

Though the enchanting Italian porcelain producer Ginori 1735‘s centerpiece exhibition took place at Design Miami/, where the heritage brand unveiled the fourth edition of their beloved Reborn Project—this time conceived of and curated by Frédéric Chambre—it was their elegant, garden-side reception at The M Building that set the standard for cocktail hours. It was a lush, convivial celebration of the Reborn Project, which, as the name implies, features reinventions of their classic porcelain tableware designs by collaborative international artists.

Sebastian Errazuriz for Faena Art

Erected on the beach for Faena Art by multi-disciplinary artist and designer (and COOL HUNTING favorite) Sebastian Errazuriz, “MAZE: Journey Through the Algorithmic Self” is a contemporary variation on a traditional monolithic maze. Rather than disorient visitors, its design aimed to bring people together and to encourage dialogue, especially in the central plaza.

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Miami Design District’s Magnitudinous Presence at Miami Art Week 2023

Sculptural commissions, pop-up installations, a 1,048-person photographic mural and more from this milestone year

David Graver

11 December 2023

Every year the Miami Design District undertakes exponentially more during Miami Art Week to affirm its reputation as a destination for inspiration. Though commerce is carefully integrated throughout the district’s 18 square blocks, luxury shopping is only part of its allure; a continuously refreshed portfolio of art and design of extraordinary merit acts as an attraction for audiences, too. With commissions from Bohinc Studio and Dr Samuel Ross, as well as a large-scale mural by JR, a physical debut from digital artist Andrés Reisinger, a new Gagosian and Jeffrey Deitch collaborative exhibition, Gaetano Pesce‘s latest whimsical wonderland, an Abita Jefferson retrospective posthumously funded by Virgil Abloh and so much more, 2023 was a milestone year for the Miami Design District—and one not to miss.

This is all thanks to intellectual architecting by entrepreneur Craig Robins, co-founder and co-owner of the Miami Design District (as well as the co-founder of DesignMiami/) and the founder and CEO of Dacra Development (the firm committed to advancing the neighborhood). Robins is not only an avid art and design collector, having amassed more than 1,300 pieces, but he’s eager to display these works and encourage discourse around them. He also bridges his personal collection to the commissions in the district. It all begins at Dacra’s Design District HQ, which houses the Craig Robins Collection and features seasonal exhibits that highlight works within. The latest of these showcases, entitled A Train of Thoughts, opened to the public during Miami Art Week (and remains open via appointment). From Marcel Duchamp’s “Three Standard Stoppages” to a series of monstrous slug sculptures by Jana Euler and a bench by Ross, the curation probes two important elements of Robins’ collecting style: figuration and conceptualism.

Outside of Dacra, and scattered throughout the entire Miami Design District, Bohinc Studio’s “Utopia” is composed of four installations of bulbous sculptural forms in organic shapes and softly vibrant, compelling colors—coupled with hundreds of egg-shaped bird feeders dangling from trees. Bohinc Studio’s acclaimed founder, Lara Bohinc, won this year’s 2023 Design Commission based on a nuanced proposal. Each piece in the installation is milled from cork and finished by hand. The material as well as the fungi-like forms themselves act as a reminder of the necessity and power of nature in dialogue with architecture and the built environment. “Utopia” will run midway through 2024.

There’s a beguiling tactility to Bohinc’s pieces that makes people want to reach out and touch them. “That’s important,” she tells COOL HUNTING. “I want people to touch them. The shapes are meant to be touched. I want people to have a childlike fascination with them—to squeeze them, to feel them. I like that kind of reaction. It’s one thing to do objects for a home, which are very private, but I really enjoy that this is public and that everyone can share them.” Bohinc has noticed, however, that “the material has changed since we put it out. The moisture and the sun has almost made it grow. The texture has even changed.” She hopes that when people touch them, they do so gently and within kindness.

Nearby during Miami Art Week, visitors to the Design District were able to bask in the billowing beauty of “Take Over Miami,” digital artist and designer Reisinger’s first-ever physical translation of his radiant rose pink viral works. A grand, theatrical piece, “Take Over Miami” toes the line of art and design—a functional (albeit surreal) drape upon a facade, and a fluid work of imagination. To cross the streets of the Miami Design District and catch a glimpse, even knowing that it had been installed, caused a sense of surprise and delight.

A permanent addition to the Miami Design District, a trio of sculptural, site-specific benches from artist and designer Ross aims to service pedestrians and contribute to the neighborhood’s architectural dialogue. Each anamorphic shape was drawn by hand, then translated into a 3D format before being machined from CNC steel and powder coated. “I have followed his work for many years, and personally collect his pieces,” Robins says of Ross. “I truly admire his ability to meld raw creativity with profound cultural insight to design pieces that inspire its viewers to question.” It’s been a milestone artistic and collaborative year for Ross, the founder of renowned design studio SR_A; and it is a great gift to the community that these three geometric works are accessible to anyone who needs them.

A participatory mural of staggering scope, scale and effort, “The Chronicles of Miami” includes the portraits of 1,048 Miami locals and visitors alike, captured through ten neighborhoods in November 2022 and meticulously layered together. The latest work from the beloved artist JR, the photorealistic artwork exists in two parts—with the first section presented in the Design District’s Jungle Plaza (while the second section runs across Superblue in Allapattah). Intricate and emotional, both pieces act as a study on the social fabric of Miami—and both will remain in place through January 2024.

Perhaps the most transportive experience within the Miami Design District during Miami Art Week, Pesce’s Again in Miami With Multidisciplinary Works pop-up exhibition wove together 28 works—both new and old—from the storied designer’s career. Some pieces on display were originally imagined in the ’70s, but the technology didn’t exist for their ideal fabrication. From a table crafted with folded orange resin to colorful, oversized chairs of rubber and enchanting lamps modeled after fruit, Pesce’s wonder was on full display.

A decade ago, it was likely to hear exhausted Miami Art Week attendees mutter “I don’t know if I will make it over to the Design District.” With Art Basel located in Miami Beach, the Design District was a body of water (and sometimes bumper-to-bumper traffic) away. Now, however, the Design District is at the forefront of art programming and its highlights truly require commitment. For us, that included the Gagosian and Deitch “Forms” exhibition (which, as with previous years, held some of the most thought-provoking artwork in Miami), as well as the Atiba skate photography retrospective. It wasn’t all art and design (and shopping boutiques and ZZ’s Club) that moved us this year—it was also the Design District’s announcement of a commitment to 100% renewable energy by 2025, a mission shared with LVMH and the luxury conglomerate’s 15 brands with flagships in the neighborhood. Additional maisons are slated to join, as the Miami Design District sets another standard for future developments around the world (like when all 18 square blocks became LEED Gold certified back in 2021).