Miami’s historic Freedom Tower, which was the original home of the Miami News and then a Cuban Refugee Center, was donated to Miami Dade College (MDC) in 2008. Since, the college has not only protected the iconic structure but through well curated exhibitions, MDC’s Museum & Galleries of Art + Design (MOAD) has also established the Freedom Tower as a cultural center for visual art and design, free and open to the public, for the entire community to enjoy. Ever since MDC’s Museum & Galleries of Art + Design opened its doors, the Freedom Tower has without a doubt become one of my favorite spots to visit when adventuring around town, hungry for art. This past weekend, I finally stumbled in to check out FLASHBACK: Miami 1980s, an exhibit by freelance photographer (y compatriota mia), Alexia Fodere.
FLASHBACK: Miami 1980s
June 7 – August 10, 2013 | MDC Museum of Art + Design 600 Biscayne Blvd
This multi-medium art project, conceived by freelance photographer, Alexia Fodere, in collaboration with The Miami Herald veteran photographers, Donna Natale Planas and Charles Trainor, Jr., pairs stills of the Magic City with period-specific television sets. The exhibition exemplifies great storytelling via nostalgic 1980’s images of Miami featuring icons such as Don Johnson, Carlos Santana, Mohammed Ali, among others.
Some of the photographs capture darker scenes of violence and tell tales of corruption and deceit through images of police raids and drugs deals. Nonetheless, the exhibit proves that photojournalism at its best requires no words to tell a good story.
A Poetic Reality: Magical Realism
The CINTAS Fellows Collection June 7 – September 21, 2013 | MDC Museum of Art + Design 600 Biscayne Blvd
A Poetic Reality: Magical Realism of the CINTAS Fellows Collection features artworks by 10 Hispanic artists, including José Mijares and Ernesto de la Vega Pujol, and compositions by CINTAS music composition fellows Tania Leon and Orlando Jacinto Garcia, explores the theoretical structure of Magical Realism; a mid-20th century Latin American literary movement.
“It is within the home cloister, the secrecy of intimate space, where I explore (expose) memory” Ernesto Pujol
Curated by MOAD Curatorial Intern, Natalie Fulgencio Perez, the exhibit explores concepts of race, religion, and culture through the use of fantastical elements in everyday situations. The artists selected are not concerned with taking a political or social position but, through the arrangement of forms; redefine the ordinary with extraordinary creating elements that allow a variety of arguments to surface.
Rightfully so, Isabelle Allende’s “Like Water for Chocolate,” a staple of Magical Realism (and one of my personal favorite novels), was quoted within the walls of the exhibit:
“Tita fue literalmente empujada a este mundo por un torrente impresionante de lágrimas que se desbordaron sobre la mesa y el píso de la cocina”
While visiting MOAD, you’ll probably also encounter another exhibit, Imagining La Florida. Within the interactive exhibit you’ll find (and walk inside) the Fountain of Youth. Enjoy!!