The island: a retrospective

 

Guest blogger Nick Ducassi visits "the island" on assignment for Viewfromvirginiakey.  

The invite was cryptic: "Everyone who should be there will be; we all will be."

Hipster catnip, no doubt. 

One of the  Art Basel Miami Beach 2010 events, "The Island" was a unique twist on the art gallery experience, scattering 17 art pieces in the sand, mangroves, and forest of Flagler Memorial Island. 

We step off into the sand.

The letters F-A-M-E, each bedazzled with light bulbs, sit strewn in the sand. 

First sign of life/art: Five folks in flowing white garb carry pink poles. We found the artist himself on the shore. He says the poles must always touch, and always move either clockwise or counterclockwise. You can jump in the middle of the circle, as my friend does, and cause them to change direction. An unbroken but everchanging chain of energy...or something like that. 

Pressing on, we find vinyls in the sand, televisions in the woods, and four ladies in tights, flanked by an amplifier, a DVD player, and a television. They dance, chant, and shriek in hellacious (and hilarous) style. Macbeth, anyone?

Sifting through some bushes, I come upon another art piece. 

Full garbage bags. Large Sheets of Cardboard. Boxes, lanterns, and what looks like plastic wrap. It's Trash. 

Now this is brilliant art. Except the trash isn't part of a piece--it's "the island's" staging area. Cheers to irony.

And through all this, I can't help but wonder...aren't we missing the point? "The Island" is cool because instead of white walls and air conditioning, it's a gallery made of sand and blue sky. But all anyone can look at is the "art."

Even when it unintentionally make a nice "tongue-in-cheek" art -- the staging area non-art piece comes to mind -- the real art isn't the shrieking witches or the vinyls in the sand. It's the sand. It's not the TV in the woods. It's the woods. It's the water. It's this ISLAND, people.

Blade Runner pops into my mind. 


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An island where life imitates art (and visa versa)

island: a tract of land completely surrounded by water, and not large enough to be called a continent

deserted island: an island with no people

the island : an Art Basel Miami 2010 exhibit.

Maybe it takes some outsiders  - artistic ones at that - to remind us of what’s really cool about Miami. 

How about a lush, tropical island where no people live (officially) but wildlife abounds, that’s just off the urban grid. That would be Virginia Key.

But the (mythical) island created by the Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND),  a non-profit art organization,  seeks to emulate just such a vibe at Flagler Memorial Island during Art Basel this weekend.

Listen:  

they say that twin lovers were lured there once.¹

that they came on a boat of cloth.²

that they still hold hands on the bank.

a message:

"the earth seemed unearthly. we are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there - there you could look at a thing monstrous and free." ⁱ

they say that their spirits remain.³

multiplied. infinite. ever moving.⁴

that she makes her way to the wilderness, deliberately⁵, and others, aware that they are there only - ghosts - ensuring the world does not fall apart....⁴

It’s part of a poem describing the art installation. The organizers told the New York Times they wanted to “create this feeling of being stranded on a deserted island that’s in unique contrast to the fanciness and luxuriousness of the fair.” 

The “off-the-grid spectacle” includes site-specific projects at Flagler Memorial Island by 15 artists creating art from natural materials, including sand, water and greenery. 

2010@ Copyright. All Rights Reserved View from Virginia Key
Art: "the island." Courtesy of Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND).