Audio By Carbonatix
Surrounded by steaming swampland rife with 20-foot pythons, man-eating gators, and marauding skunk apes, our little burg at the end of the continent is a certified hot spot for the dangerous, deranged, and bizarre. We’ve already had sex offenders under a bridge, cat killers in our midst, and tar balls on our beaches. But now, it’s getting stranger.
Enter Sin City’s creepiest corners with “Weird Miami,” an art show and bus tour operating out of the offices of the Bas Fisher Invitational through September 19.
First, there’s the visitor center exhibition permanently installed at the BFI, featuring arty oddness from Jason Hedges, Peggy Levison Nolan, Alyse Emdur, Autumn Casey, Adler Guerrier, Nicolas Lobo & Kenneth Andrew Mroczek, Justin Long, and Isabel Moros. Expect amphibian parts, stiff saris, and a ramshackle raft.
In one corner of the visitor center are the remnants — dirty flour, spatulas, grease — of Jason Hedges’s unholy cooking experiments. On opening night, this art school chef chopped, battered, and fried up some frog legs for hungry and half-drunk gallery-goers. No one seemed grossed out. Both bleary- and bright-eyed members of the throng chomped into the crispy little creatures. Apparently, weird is tasty.
Off in another corner is Peggy Levison Nolan’s Bar Mitzvah Boys and Prom Queens, a hauntingly benign living-room setup featuring a worn-out bamboo chair, kitschy knickknacks, and found family photos. Then, in a dark, adjoining room, Alyse Emdur’s 20-minute video documentary, Weatherwoman With Lissette Gonzalez, loops unendingly, painting the walls in a hot TV glow.
And then there are the artist-led bus tours. “It was all kind of inspired by NYC artist-collective Flux Factory,” says project leader Agatha Wara. “They do these summer tours and I was like, ‘Oh, my god! Miami would be perfect for that!’ There are so many nooks and crannies and neighborhoods and strange stuff that we would never know about unless somebody walked us through it. And who better to do that than artists. They are always super-aware of their surroundings.”
The tours kick off this Sunday with Adler Guerrier’s “Untitled (How the other half lives).” Sadly, it’s already totally sold out, but you can still book a spot on one of the two remaining treks into weirdness — Kevin Arrow & Clifton Childree’s “TBA” on August 15 and Christy Gast’s “Ripe Riparian” on September 19 — by calling 305-879-6978 or emailing info@basfisherinvitational.com. Each tour costs $16, although everyone should bring a nice stack of emergency cash for cheesy souvenirs, cheap beer, and skunk ape repellant. Trip with the weird!
“Weird Miami,” featuring work by Jason Hedges, Peggy Levison Nolan, Alyse Emdur, Autumn Casey, Adler Guerrier, Nicolas Lobo & Kenneth Andrew Mroczek, Justin Long, and Isabel Moros. Bas Fisher Invitational, 180 NE 39th St., Miami. Admission is free, but the gallery is open only by appointment. Call 305-879-6978 or visit basfisherinvitational.com.
