Artist Collector as Archivist
Exploring the lesser-known spaces of Downtown Miami taught us about impermanence and stewardship.
On Saturday, February 8, artist Fared Manzur welcomed 20 Commissioners to the Rice Hotel, a building he’s transformed into a studio and exhibition space over the past eight years. Imagine a vacant hotel stripped of familiar furnishings and accoutrements, flanked by a suite of doors. With exposed slats, pressed aluminum ceilings, drywall installations, and 4” x 4” pine flooring, Rice is a work unto itself—an embodied sculpture.
When asked about the pressures of maintaining a space in the rapidly developing neighborhood, Fared seemed at peace with both its impermanence and longevity, reminding us that part of memory work is change and future-building. In a city where space is a depleting resource, Fared’s approach feels rooted in an interiority that transcends any one structure or moment. Here, memory work considers how we build forward beyond the changing nature of external circumstances.
For Commissioner, this concept is intricately tied to the enduring ripple effect that art in homes has on everyday conversations and consciousness. When many people are stewards of the works created out of a lived experience or environment, we all collectively benefit from more narratives, stories, and perspectives. In this way, there isn’t a singular institutional voice but a rich dialogue across spaces that intimately considers the individual’s role as memory-keeper, steward, stakeholder, and collector.
On a journey to explore the magic and memory of Downtown Miami hidden in plain sight, we then visited the Miami-Dade Public Library. Curators Oscar Fuentes and Daniela Gutierrez welcomed us in the rotunda lobby, where a text-based installation by legendary artist Ed Ruscha looms in the frieze above: “Words without thought never to heaven go.” A phrase from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the full sentence reads, “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below; words without thought never to heaven go.”
The meaning behind this quote suggests that if Hamlet’s murderous uncle Claudius is simply mouthing the words, but not putting intention behind them, then heaven won’t accept him because he isn’t being honest with himself or with God. For visitors of the library, the ascendant view of Ruscha’s work, which requires one to look up toward the heavens, is reminiscent of the Renaissance Era. More profoundly, its placement at the entrance posits the library as an institution where one can seek the truth—the truth in knowledge, and by extension, within themselves—but perhaps only if they are intentional.
Our tour of the library continued with cafecitos and meet-cutes. Mark Baum introduced his installation Sitting Tree, and Claire Jeanine Satin welcomed members to the exhibition Artyping: Typewriter Books. It was, however, the seminal works of Elizabeth Catlett, Purvis Young, Ana Mendieta, and Fernando Garcia that the collections team pulled from the library’s vault that animated our conversations in the “secret reading room”—a space behind closed doors curated exclusively for our visit.
There, archive advocate and librarian Katharine Labuda ushered us into the world of 16mm film with a screening of her favorite title, A Few Things I Know About Miami. Comprised of five segments that interweave archival footage with interviews to highlight aspects of Miami's colorful history, features included a look at the Olympia Theater, where Season Two Artist A.G. staged a performance for our artist video; and historic Overtown, recently highlighted in a story with South Florida PBS.
Our afternoon concluded with a surprise tour of the neighboring exhibit, SANCTUARY: Our Sacred Place by Woosler Delisford, at HistoryMiami Museum. Independent curator and Commissioner patron Marie Vickles generously led us through the over 100-piece exhibit, which highlighted how Miami’s Indigenous, African, and Caribbean communities are harnessing sacred spaces as vital sources of life, both politically and spiritually. SANCTUARY will be on view through March 2, 2025.
Decentralized is what Downtown Miami used to be. In a changing city, memory work is everyone’s work. We’re endlessly grateful for this opportunity to slow time together, and get lost in learning, discovery, and exchange.
To dive deeper into the rabbit hole, check out the links below:
Photography by Monica McGivern. Sincere thank you to the Miami Downtown Development Authority for their support.
