The Institute of Contemporary Art or better known as ICA is located in the Miami Art District in Florida. The museum is dedicated to pushing continuous experimentation in contemporary art, advancing new scholarship, and fostering the exchange of art and ideas. Contemporary art is work produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century that has global influence, cultural diversity and technological advances.
One of the most noticeable things when walking to the museum is the architecture of the building. As you approach the entrance, the museums name “ICA MIAMI” is tucked under the sliver geometrical front wall of the museum. Designed in 2017 by Aranguren and Gallegos architects, the building was created to mimic a “Magic Box.” The museum is quite large with three stories and 37,500-square-feet of space.
As soon as you enter the building, the small gift shop is to your left near the back of the room. The gift shop has many of the common things like stickers, postcards, pins and books. The tall modern front desk sits directly to the right across the exhibit entrance. Straight back, is the way to the sculpture garden.
The sculpture garden is clear to see at the back of the museum and was my first stop after the admission process. There is a few benches and tables for seating, but mainly open space for events. During my visit, many young people took advantage of the seating and sculptures as inspiration for their own art.
On the first floor was my favorite exhibit by the man of Dan Flavin. Despite his interest in watercolor and sketching, Flavin took an increasing concentration into the relationship between his sculptures and the spaces they inhabited. Below is a few of the sculptures on display at the ICA that do an excellent job of complementing the space.
The higher up you travel at the museum, the better your view is it at the top. Although the front of the museum is enclosed with the “magnetic magic box,” the back of the museum is all window from floor to ceiling, giving you an incredible view of downtown Miami.
A few artist that are represented in this museum are Damian Ortega, Mark Handforth, Abigail Deville, and Pedro Reyes.
One thing that stood out to me throughout the museum was the people that were working throughout the day. A majority of the staff looked like young students. Although age has nothing to do with anything, many of them didn’t have background knowledge on any of the artists or the art work that hung from the walls.
The absolute best thing about this museum was that it was free to the public. When looking into new museums, price is always a critical aspect because in extreme cases, you could be paying $40 and up for two people just to enter the building. Not only was there a range of artist presented, the range in their art style was even more unique. Below are a few different art works on display at the museum:
All together, a free art museum is a great adventure worth looking into especially in an area where art is can be found on every street. This is not your typical oil on canvas museum. For this reason, this museum holds value in inspiration for younger generations and enlightenment opportunities for older generations who might not have interest in the new art form.
Address: 61 NE 41st St, Miami, FL 33137
Hours:
| Thursday | 11AM–7PM |
| Friday | 11AM–7PM |
| Saturday | 11AM–7PM |
| Sunday | 11AM–7PM |
| Monday | Closed |
| Tuesday | 11AM–7PM |
| Wednesday | 11AM–7PM |
Tickets: FREE
Phone: (305) 901-5272
BlackSheep.blog 