Media Contacts:
Gabriel Riera: 305.375.1706
griera@miamidade.gov
Maile Rodriguez: 305.375.1705
maile@miamidade.gov

Miami Art Museum Sets The Pace For
Expansion With Museum Architecture Show

Miami – June 11, 2003. Miami Art Museum (MAM) is pleased to present Museums for a New Millennium Concepts Projects Buildings, from October 3, 2003 through January 18, 2004. The exhibition focuses on contemporary museum architecture and is a project of Art Center Basel, Switzerland. The Miami installation is designed by local architect Rene Gonzalez and coordinated by MAM Assistant Director for Programs and Senior Curator, Peter Boswell. The traveling exhibition consists of drawings, photographs and original models representing twenty-five of the finest examples of recent museum architecture designed by the world’s most prominent architects as one century ends and another begins.

Contemporary art museums are not only among the most important and noteworthy building tasks in the public domain, they also frequently act as catalysts for redevelopment in the communities that build them. Museums thus become effective tools with which cities project a definitive profile when competing for new investments and tourist dollars. “This show provides MAM with a wonderful source of inspiration for our own vision of Miami’s future,” said MAM Director, Suzanne Delehanty. “ In addition to the beauty of its form, the museum of the 21st century must function as much more than a repository for art. It also plays key roles in the community; as civic institution, educational resource, economic engine, and more.”
The span of works in Museums for a New Millennium highlights buildings that range from Los Angeles’ J. Paul Getty Museum designed by Richard Meier, to the recently opened and much-praised futuristic design by Zaha Hadid for the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. Also included in the exhibition are breathtaking structures like Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and Santiago Calatrava’s winged extension of the Milwaukee Art Museum, both of particular interest to Miami as they instantly became major public and tourist attractions. Also featured in the show is the new Tate Modern in London. Designed by the Swiss architectural team Herzog & de Meuron, it has proven to be a huge success by drawing millions of visitors and creating an estimated 2,000 jobs in the surrounding area.

As designed in Miami by architect Rene Gonzalez, the installation at MAM highlights key aspects of the 21st century museum as exemplified by the projects Museums for a New Millennium displays drawings, plans models and photographs in a form that not only presents the object at hand in a clear and understandable fashion but allows the artistic dimension to become manifest as well.
Thanks to overwhelming public support, MAM is currently in the initial planning phase of its own expansion with Museum Park Miami, the City of Miami’s official urban redesign vision for an abandoned 29-acre, city-owned property on Biscayne Bay in downtown Miami. The project consists of a premiere public park anchored by landmark new facilities for the Miami Art Museum and the Miami Museum of Science. Miami residents voted to support the vision for Museum Park Miami -- the linchpin in the transformation of downtown Miami -- by passing a bond issue that provided $3.5 million to each museum, with a three-to-one match, to be used for planning purposes.

As museums evolve in the new millennium, they play an increasingly important role in recording and expressing publicly the distinctive cultural identity of their region. Universally regarded as the “Gateway of the Americas,” Miami is uniquely identified with various diverse groups, all staking their ground and bringing their own cultural heritage with them. MAM’s expansion will provide Miami with a 21st century art museum that will serve to not only raise the city’s profile, but also create a populist gathering place for ideas and cultural exchange, as well as functioning as an educational resource for the community.
Mastering Civic Engagement, a recent publication of the American Association of Museums, based in Washington, D.C. challenges museums to become “...an active, visible player in civic life, a safe haven, and a trusted incubator of change." MAM is taking these words to heart and moving forward on its vision for the future. Museums for a New Millennium provides a blueprint for inspiration and a platform from which to look ahead.

Museums for a New Millennium: Concepts, Projects, Buildings is a project of the Art Centre Basel, Basel, Switzerland, coordinated under the direction of Suzanne Greub. Scientific curators and editors of the catalogue are Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani and Angeli Sachs, from the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich.

Related Programs

Architects Lecture Series:
Three Architects' Perspectives

Rafael Viñoly
Wednesday, October 8
11:30am – 1:30pm
Rafael Viñoly studied and practiced architecture in Argentina before moving to the United States. Mr. Viñoly discusses his current projects including the Tampa Museum of Art.

JW Marriott, 1111 Brickell Avenue, Miami
Registration: 11:30am
Lunch at Noon / Talk from 12:30pm to 1:30pm
MAM members: $40 / Non-members: $45

Terence Riley
Thursday, October 16
7pm – 8pm
The chief curator of architecture and design at The Museum of Modern Art in New York discusses some of the landmark museum projects in Museums for a New Millennium. Program developed by MAM in collaboration with the Arango Design Foundation.

Miami Art Museum, 101 W. Flagler St., Miami
MAM members free / Non-members free with
$5 museum admission

Daniel Libeskind
Friday, December 12
7:30pm
Designer of the new World Trade Center site in New York and the celebrated Jewish Museum in Berlin, Mr. Libeskind discusses both projects as well as plans for an extension to the Denver Art Museum. This lecture is a collaborative effort of Miami Art Museum, Miami Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Miami Architecture Club, Gold Coast Chapter of the American Planning Association, and The Wolfsonian-FIU.

Lincoln Theatre, 541 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach
Registration: 7pm
Talk at 7:30pm
MAM members: $10 / Non-members: $15

Second Saturdays are free for Families
Fun, hands-on activities for children and their parents. Every second Saturday of the month
1pm – 4pm Free

Saturday, October 11
Paper Parks: use colored papers to design a new Bicentennial Park with an art museum and sculpture garden.

Saturday, November 8
Magnificent Museums: use a variety of materials to make a model of your fantasy art museum.

Saturday, December 13
Cool Collections: use images of artworks to “hang” your own exhibition.

Saturday, January 10
Silly Sculpture Gardens: use clay, pipe cleaners and other materials to build your own sculpture garden for MAM at Bicentennial Park.

Teacher's Institute
Thursday, October 9
4:30pm — 7:30pm
Explore teaching strategies and interdisciplinary connections to works exhibited in Museums for a New Millennium. Open to Miami-Dade County Public School teachers, private-school teachers, home-schooling parents, and college/university students. Five TEC points are available to M-DCPS teachers upon completion.

$10 for MAM members and college/university students (with valid ID); $20 for non-members.

School Tours
Tuesdays — Fridays
10am – 1pm
By reservation. Call 305.375.4073
MAM’s gallery teachers lead class tours of the exhibition.

JAM at MAM
Happy hour with an artful twist. Music, cocktails, and hors d’oeuvres. Every third Thursday of the month, 5pm – 8:30pm. Throughout the run of Museums for a New Millennium, JAM at MAM nights will feature stimulating lectures and gallery talks on topics related to the exhibition.
MAM members free / Non-members free with $5 museum admission.

Thursday, October 16
Lecture by Terence Riley
7pm – 8pm
The chief curator of architecture and design at The Museum of Modern Art in New York discusses some of the landmark projects in Museums for a New Millennium. Program developed by MAM in collaboration with the Arango Design Foundation.

Thursday, November 20
Architect Gallery Talks
Miami-area architects and professors of architecture from Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University, and the University of Miami discuss selected projects and themes in the exhibition. Architect Gallery Talks have been developed in collaboration with the AIA Miami Architecture Club.
6pm - 6:30pm Rene Gonzalez, AIA
6:30pm - 7pm Michael Kerwin, AIA
7pm - 7:30pm Margi Glavovic Nothard

Thursday, December 18
Architect Gallery Talks
6pm - 6:30pm Rafael Sixto, AIA
6:30pm - 7pm Bernard Zyscovich, AIA
7pm - 7:30pm Jason R. Chandler, AIA

Thursday, January 15
Architect Gallery Talks
6pm - 6:30pm Jean-François LeJeune
6:30pm - 7pm Carlos Prio-Touzet, AIA
7pm - 7:30pm John Kneski, AIA

Infortmation

Hours
Tuesday-Friday 10am to 5pm, third Thursdays until 9pm,
Saturday and Sunday noon to 5pm. Closed Monday.

Admission
MAM members, students and children under 12 and students (with valid ID) free, adults $5, seniors $2.50. Second Saturdays of each month are free for families.

Sundays are Free
Free admission on Sundays from 12 to 5pm.
Sponsored by The Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald.

Telephone
305.375.3000
305.375.1725 Fax

Secure Parking
The Cultural Center Parking Garage/Metro Dade Center Garage is on your right hand side on 50 NW 2nd Avenue. The Parking Garage is adjacent to the museum on the west side. Take elevator to 2nd level and walk across covered pedestrian walkway to the Cultural Plaza.

Miami Art Museum
101 W. Flagler St Miami
(305) 375-3000
(305) 375-1725
www.miamiartmuseum.org

Accredited by the American Association of Museums, Miami Art Museums receives both private and public funding. More than 50 percent of its annual support comes from corporations, individuals, foundations and MAM members. Miami Art Museum is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts; with the support of the Miami Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor and the Board of County Commissioners.

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