By Nila Do Simon
As if South Florida couldn’t get any more dynamic, this spring marks the debut of Superblue Miami, an immersive environment filled with vibrant lights, digital experiences and more. Launching in the booming Allapattah neighborhood, the Superblue Miami experiential art center breaks all traditional art rules by encouraging visitors to interact with the large-scale works and use their experiences to interpret the pieces.
When looking at the scope of Superblue, the team looked to South Florida first to launch its programming. “South Florida has a large, vibrant and rapidly evolving arts ecosystem, and it is also an international destination for tourism and arts and culture,” says Shantelle Rodriguez, director of Superblue Miami.
The inaugural program, “Every Wall is a Door,” features the work of three leading contemporary artists and collectives: Es Devlin, teamLab and James Turrell. Thoughtfully selected to give new experiential-art seekers an optimal yet approachable experience, “Every Wall is a Door” features “artistically and technically ambitious approaches to creating immersive installations that transform the visitor’s perception,” Rodriguez says. “Together, these artists challenge the limitations of conventional art and expand the traditional ways of experiencing art to a more accessible and engaging environment that appeals to new audiences.”
teamLab’s “Flowers and People, Cannot be Controlled but Live Together” —Transcending Boundaries, A Whole Year per Hour, 2017; Sound by Hideaki Takahashi.
Whereas traditional art galleries are typically set in a defined space to house works that are often for sale, Superblue does not have tangible pieces on display for purchase. Instead, its currency is out-of-the-box pieces that focus more on the encounter and the emotion they elicit. Rodriguez says the experience as a whole ultimately belongs to the people.
“The beauty of experiential art is that the audience has been converted from passive viewer to active participant,” she says. “Every visitor is encouraged to interact with their surroundings and play a central role in the completion of the artwork.”
This article originally appeared in the Spring 2021 Issue.
