SCOPE Miami is back with its biggest show to date. The location may have changed – now NE 36th St and Midtown Boulevard – but the ethos remains the same: to showcase some of the best contemporary works in the world and, as part of its celebrated Breeder programme, bring attention to emerging artists.
This year’s show, which runs concurrently with Art Basel Miami Beach, will be taking place in a capacious 100,000 square-foot pavilion that will play host to over 105 exhibitors.
Of these, 20 new galleries will form part of the successful Breeder programme, considered a perfect conduit through which to gain unprecedented exposure to all the right people.
The alumni of this programme are evidence enough of its sway within the art world: Peres Projects, Kurimanzutto, John Connelly Presents, Galeria Enrique Guerrero, Daniel Reich Gallery, Taxter Spengemann, Magical Artroom and Spinello Projects, to name but a few who have gone on to establish themselves in their own right as quality establishments.
“With a legacy built on discovery, SCOPE is renowned for its uncanny ability to forecast new trends in emerging art that are embraced globally,” the organisers have stated.
Here is a list of highlights of some of the other programmes on show throughout the course of proceedings.
David Rohn – Contact Walt Whitman
New Yorker David Rohn is an intriguing performance artist who will be paying homage to the great American poet Walt Whitman in an enclosed tableau vivant, which will be viewable through stereoscopic viewers set into the wall of the interior of the installation.
The idea is that audiences can gain a glimpse into not only the life of Whitman, but also of nineteenth century America, through what is a “mundane event” (observing someone go about his business).
VH1+SCOPE
An innovative partnership, this project puts together music and art and pursues how they can, as one unit, deliver an unbelievable cultural experience. This particular event sees the duo celebrate the “impact of emerging visual art as it cross-pollinates with music”.
Some of the artists forming part of this include Hugh Haden, who is known for his explorations of racial identity; Brent Birnbaum, who has a penchant for collecting miscellaneous bits and bobs and assembling them in an allegorical way; and Patrick Martinez, who takes inspiration from pop culture.
Simon Bilodeau – Le mode est un zombie
From The Walking Dead to Brad Pitt’s cinematic version of the cult novel World War Z, zombies have never been so visible in popular culture. Simon Bilodeau takes inspiration from these vacant creatures to survey the impact of industrialisation and mass, consumerist culture.
Anyone expecting zombie-like constructs will be disappointed, the reference being figurative. Instead, Bilodeau lets an abstract installation serve as his critique of contemporary society, which is sleepwalking itself into oblivion.
Kenneth Pietrobono – National Rose Garden
“Americans have always loved flowers with which God decorates our land,” president Ronald Regan said in 1986, when the rose was designated the official floral emblem of the US. “More often than any other flower, we hold the rose dear as the symbol of life and love and devotion, of beauty and eternity.”
Mr Pietrobono takes the idea of the rose and politicises it, renaming it with policies and systems that various US administrations have put in place over the years. In doing so, he denies the viewer the simple pleasure of the rose, as they are greeted with the undeniable and dark power of the state.
SCOPE Miami runs from December 4-9th 2012.
Cadogan Tate, a leader in fine art shipping and storage, will be available for consultation during Art Basel Week.