WAIL l.a.b., Second Floor

Director’s Preview: February 12th, 6 -8 pm  | Exhibition will run from February 13th through April 19th, 2015

MDC Museum of Art + Design (MOA+D) in partnership with WAIL (Word And Image Lab) and in collaboration with The Center for Writing & Literature at MDC, present 90 Miles, its latest WAIL l.a.b. project by artist Carlos Alejandro. An opening reception will take place on Wednesday, February 11th, 2015 from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. at MOA+D located within the College’s Historic Freedom Tower. The reception is reserved for MOA+D members, invited guests and MDC/NWSA students, and the general public is invited to attend with a five-dollar donation to MOA+D. The exhibition will be open to the public on Thursday, February 12, 2015 and will run through April 19, 2015. The exhibition and supporting program are FREE and open to the public.

Born in Frankfurt, Germany from Colombian and Puerto Rican parents, Carlos Alejandro addresses topics such as human rights, spirituality, consumerism and recycling in his work. 90 Miles, a multimedia installation created by Alejandro, is intended as an interactive installation and dialogue on immigration and human rights. His ongoing crocheting project uses 90 miles of multi colored yarn, creating a continuous strip totaling approximately 1.5 miles, yet if unraveled the sum is equal to 90 miles, symbolic of the distance between Key West and Cuba. Alejandro’s works are typically a vast array of non -conventional materials such as pills, hair, bottle caps, chopsticks and in this particular project, yarn, taking common everyday objects out of their context and transforming them into visual discourses.
Carlos Alejandro obtained his undergraduate degree from the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University in Bogota, Colombia and soon thereafter relocated to South Florida. He has exhibited widely throughout Miami and has participated in several cultural exchanges, workshops and talks throughout the city where he currently works and resides.
Inspired by 90 Miles a project by Carlos Alejandro and the book When the Emperor Was Divine By Julie Otsuka, MDC MOA+D and the Center for Writing & Literature at MDC invite the community to partake in a workshop that combines a deep rooted love for the art of knitting and poetic beauty of writing a haiku. Visitors will be able to learn simple knitting techniques while writing two haikus about “hope” in any form on strips of fabric. Participants will keep one for themselves and add one to a community chain, forming a string of collective well wishing. The Community Workshop will take place Saturday, February 14th, 2015 from noon to 4pm and is FREE and open to the public.
Free copies will be available of When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka for participants by the Center for Writing & Literature at MDC in support of The Big Read, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts.

WAIL was established in 2009 by a group of Miami based artists and writers who met to discuss the possibility of a book arts center in Miami and other interdisciplinary initiatives. What resulted was an organization run by artists and writers that creates a community conversation and opportunities for collaboration.