Walking into a nondescript building across from the Rubell collection, cello music can be heard wafting through the door leading to Miami’s newest art destination. Superblue, a new venture raising the caliber of experimental art, debuted their inaugural program, Every Wall is a Door, this past month. Meadow, a kinetic installation by Amsterdam-based artist studio DRIFT, greets visitors upon entry.
A blue light emanates from multiple hallways leading to a central white room, where bodies linger in front of various walls and a formation of masked dancers in sweats and sneakers sway back and forth in unison to the notes of the cellist. Shadows loom over the cellist as dancers pace around the room in choreographed chaos and a light is projected from the wall, casting beams that give off the illusion of a sun. Fast forward through the performance and find two dancers circling a white monolithic structure bordered by a square LED light. With each step they take, a note is struck so that they are almost part of the music
Audience members are invited to saunter along the entry space’s outer walls and observe the dancers before letting themselves into an unmarked entrance of double doors painted white to blend in with the walls. Between teamLab's Life and Non-Life is an immersive installation of rooms physically connected to each other that explores the ambiguity between living and non-living states of being and the relationship between humanity and the world.
Stepping through the door, a dark room unfolds with ethereal music and a large screen showing wondrous representations of flora in shades of yellow ochres, umbers, and greens. Plants dance across the screen as though a light summer breeze is propelling them, shedding petals that rise vertically off the screen.
An even larger space awaits in the next room covered wall-to-floor in digital renderings of flora in bright hues of reds, pinks, purples, and whites adorned with green foliage. One wall of mirrors invites the audience to insert themselves into the landscape and act more as participants than viewers of the installation.
Making its global debut is teamLab’s Massless Clouds between Sculpture and Life, a space filled from floor to ceiling with giant floating clouds. There are no clear boundaries between the sculpture, the space, and the visitors’ bodies, which become immersed in the installation.
Retreating back to doors that lead to the performance space, audience members are encouraged to make their way along the far wall to a vast room reflecting changing light. After placing booties over their shoes, viewers encounter AKHU, a large-scale light installation by James Turrell.
Taking its name from a German word that describes the phenomenon of the total loss of depth perception, also known as a white-out, Ganzfelds are the body of work that includes AKHU. The light-based work immerses viewers in a room of monochrome lighting without an object on which to focus their vision. In this way, the piece challenges viewers’ ideas of perception.
Also debuting at Every Wall Is A Door is Forest of Us, a multifaceted immersive environment by Es Devlin. The work starts as a film that takes visitors on a journey through a forest tracing a tree’s branching structures. The viewer eventually realizes they are looking at a bronchial tree, which makes up the large air passages of the lungs. Devlin is making a connection between the gases inside and outside of us.
Aportal opens where the screen once sat, ushering viewers into a very large mirrored labyrinth. According to Devlin, “the hall of mirrors is a metaphor for the glimmering feedback loops of human design that enchant our gaze so seductively, we lose awareness of our symbiotic connection to rest of the biosphere.” The edges of the labyrinth are bodies of water, inviting viewers to stand on multiple bases that create LED displays mimicking the viewer’s movements on the mirrored walls.
Exiting the labyrinth, viewers are invited to unwind in a serene and spacious room accentuated with white furniture and lush plant life. The room is part of Superblue's 5,000 square feet of flexible programming and event space that will be used to support a year round program of talks, performances, workshops, family programs, and event rentals.
“Superblue is at the forefront of how we experience immersive art," says Superblue Co-founder and CEO Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst. "The artists inaugurating it offer a glimpse into a new world and a completely new experience. We’re looking forward to welcoming the public to immerse themselves in the new worlds these artists have created.”
Check superblue.com for ticket release dates when it opens to the public.
Photography by: Photos Courtesy of Pace Gallery. Photo by Andrea Mora.
