Bringing some much needed culture to basically the worst place on earth - Miami International Airport - is among the reasons why Random Acts of Culture sponsored by the Knight Art Foundation continues to be one of our favorite movements of the past few years.
The latest drive by enculturation happened on March 11 when members of the Florida Grand Opera struck like cultural terrorist to the unsuspecting hordes at MIA. Not even the gigantic chip on the shoulders of all airport travelers could stop them from enjoying the show. Make the jump for the video.
In total seven performers from the opera company surprised travelers
with a "sort of" impromptu rendition of Verdi's Verdi's Brindisi "Libiamo
ne' lieti calici" from La Traviata. It's particularly cool that the
performers don't reveal themselves until their part in the opera comes
up. That way, unsuspecting civilians continue to get surprises for the
whole performance. We think we are noticing more smiles in the crowd
than during earlier performance where some look stupefied or worse,
annoyed.
The MIA performance is the latest in South Florida. Previously, the
opera company performed at Dadeland Mall.
In the next three years, the Knights Foundation says there will be
1,000 such "random" acts throughout seven cities across the country. As a
suggestion for future performance, Cultist would like to request that
the opera players plop down in the middle of I-95 during bumper to bumper traffic. We know there's no A/C and stepping
foot on the highway at any time is like stepping into your own grave, but
if there's any part of South Florida that can use some culture, it's
that stretch of pavement. We can dream.
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