Davide Balula

Art Basel Miami Beach 2016 - Public sector

November 30, 2016 - 8pm

Miami Beach, USA

Public opening night performances: Davide Balula, Interrupting Words with Burp Sounds, 2011-2016

Davide Balula, Interrupting Words with Burp Sounds, 2011-2016
Photo : Rui Pombal

2016 marks the fourth year that Nicholas Baume, Director and Chief Curator of Public Art Fund, New York, will curate Public at Art Basel in Miami Beach. The theme ‘Ground Control’ will frame this year’s selection, which includes over 20 site-specific works by established and emerging artists spanning 10 countries. Produced in collaboration with The Bass for the past six years, the sector will transform Miami Beach’s Collins Park into an outdoor exhibition space. 

[…]

The Public sector of Art Basel in Miami Beach, whose Lead Partner is UBS, will open on Wednesday, November 30 at 8pm with a special evening performance program featuring Davide Balula, Lady Bunny, Rob Pruitt and Naama Tsabar. The Public Opening Night is free of charge and open to the public. 

Nicholas Baume’s curatorial focus for the 2016 show will be ‘Ground Control’, inspired by David Bowie, who passed away earlier this year. Under this theme, the Public sector will examine ways in which artists invent and imagine new kinds of space: physical, social and psychic. Interpreting ‘Ground Control’ literally, the works will invite viewers into new relationships with familiar surroundings and reframe Collins Park into a site for transformational experiences with contemporary art.

[…]

The opening night performances will likewise extend themes from Baume’s curatorial premise. Davide Balula’s (b. 1978) interactive performance will incorporate the preparation and distribution of a garlic infused beverage. Musicians, who will join guests in drinking the cocktail throughout the evening, will be positioned in the crowd with brass instruments to randomly create human-like sounds.