Miami New Times' Mastermind Awards honors the city's most inspiring creatives. As we approach Artopia, our annual arts soiree where we'll announce the three Mastermind winners March 8, we're profiling each of our nine 2012 finalists. For tickets and more information about Artopia, visit the website.
The End/Spring Break
For some trying to crack the code behind this quirky art project it can seem tantamount to unraveling a riddle wrapped inside an enigma. For one, observers are often left wonderstruck that the intrepid group of cultural instigators has been able to organize and host over 100 art happenings, film screenings, art talks and poetry readings since its inception less than two years ago and all without a space to call home.
But since first spooling Rosemary's Baby to explore the seed of pure evil, the folks behind the popular alt uprising have literally gone on to topple art of the altar and deliver it directly to the masses in a mind-numbing catalogue of venues across town free of charge.
The End/Spring Break is operated by the trio of Domingo Castillo, Patti Hernandez and Kathryn Marks.
To date their nomadic art project has staged some of our city's most talked about events ranging from a Motown brunch to local band Dracula playing at a South Miami cemetery. During this past Basel the trio hosted an impossible-to-find "Karaoke Speakeasy" and has at other times also organized everything from a pop-up store in Wynwood to a music marathon featuring 15 bands performing in 15 minutes during a collaboration with Miami's Roofless Records.
"We don't make stuff," says the 23 year-old Castillo who hails from El Salvador. "The art of performing the space is the 'work' for us."
Hernandez explains that their project was born from a local need for experimentation and freedom. "We didn't need a physical space to define usage. We are cultural activists and community organizers," mentions the 29 year-old Hernandez. "This all first started with screenings and lectures followed by conversations with friends and snowballed from there."
Marks, who is expecting her first child and the oldest of the group at 32, says their vision to blanket the 305 with provocative programming extends to all comers. "We are cultural facilitators. We want artists who have an idea to come to us so we can help them present it and inform people," she says.
More recently Spring Break hosted Ella De Burca, an artist from Ireland who was here on a residency and conducting six-hour walking tours of a 15-mile stretch of Miami five days of week as part of her art project.
"We talked about what it means to be 'present' during the walks which became sort of a meditative exercise," explained Burca.
"One of us had to be with her during the walks each day to perform the space," Castillo mentions. "It took a lot of passion and left a lot of calluses," Marks added.
Finalists:
Aholsniffsglue
TM Sisters
Antonia Wright
Laz Ojalde
Audio Junkie
Agustina Woodgate
Honorable Mentions:
The Project [theatre]
Funner Projects
Robert Chumbley
Charo Oquet
Team Danger
Luis Pinto
John Adkins
Jolt Radio
Regina Jestrow
Yovani Bauta
UOM
Kevin Arrow
Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova
Hialeah Haikus
Jonathan David Kane
Eddy "Earthtone" Vegas
Bannavis Andrew Sribyata
Sarah Kontoff Baker
Jason Snyder
Valeria Yamamoto
Jayme Gershen
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