Here's What You Can Expect For The Ninth Annual Deering Contemporary

Deering Estate is transformed by artists’ stories of past and present for the Ninth Annual Deering Contemporary.

Meg Wallace, “Hear Here” (2024) PHOTO BY: JORGE GONZALEZ GRAUPERA/COURTESY OF DEERING ESTATE

Eight site-responsive art installations, created for the annual Deering Contemporary, span the 450-acre historic Deering Estate from Jan. 26 to March 23, 2025. Themed “Unraveled Tales,” curator Angela Chaine highlights the work of international artist Pamela Suasti and Miami-based artists Amanda Linares, Laura Villareal, Rebeca Lopera, Juliana Torres, Claudio Marcotulli, Carol Jazzar and Dona Altemus—Deering Estate Head Curator Liliam Dominguez, Ph.D shares an exhibition preview.

Gretchen Scharnagl, “Refuse Refuge” (2024). PHOTO BY JORGE GONZALEZ GRAUPERA/COURTESY OF DEERING ESTATE

Why “Unraveled Tales”?

“Unraveled Tales” references those who have traversed Miami’s landscape—from its earliest Indigenous communities to present-day inhabitants. Rapid urban development threatens to erase layers of history embedded in the land, and this exhibition seeks to preserve cultural and environmental heritage while highlighting our role as modern storytellers. Artists challenge viewers to engage with our often-unseen past and its hefty influence on our contemporary experience.

How are artworks experienced?

We have transformed Deering Estate’s outdoor spaces, immersing visitors in Miami’s cultural and environmental history. Artworks, including sculpture, installation, photography and performance, are woven directly into the landscape, while others are in locations with their storied pasts. Navigating these multi-sensory spaces, audiences encounter the interplay between Miami’s ancient narratives and its evolving identity, an experience supplemented by workshops, lectures, and conversations with artists.

Great Hall installation view of Jeanne Jaffe’s “Hybrids” installation PHOTO BY LILIAM DOMINGUEZ/COURTESY OF DEERING ESTATE

Why focus on Miami’s artists?

Supporting Miami’s artists has been a decade-long commitment to preserving and celebrating the city’s diversity, history and natural beauty, and it is a source of pride for us. Deering Contemporary collaborates with our own Artist-in-Residence Program, which also gives artists unique access to the Estate’s landscapes and our conservation experts to explore local flora and fauna. We foster a more profound sense of belonging by linking art and place.

Visit Deering Estate at 16701 SW 72nd Ave., Miami,deeringestate.org