Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami Announces Fall 2024 Public Programming
Updated: Jul 22
The Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami (MOCA) has announced its Fall 2024 programming: Andrea Chung: Between Too Late and Too Early; Smita Sen: Embodied; and Nicole Salcedo: Earth Gate. The three presentations will open throughout the fall and will also be celebrated during Miami Art Week 2024 with a public reception on December 3rd.
“We are thrilled to present these solo presentations, each of which reflects the diversity and creativity of contemporary art in South Florida and beyond, while also highlighting three women artists local to our community,” said Chana Sheldon, MOCA Executive Director. “Each presentation brings a unique perspective and innovative approach, offering our visitors a chance to engage deeply with themes of resilience, transformation, and the interconnectedness of our shared histories.”
Opening November 6, Andrea Chung: Between Too Late and Too Early will be a solo exhibition highlighting Chung’s unique multidisciplinary oeuvre with more than 80 mixed media works, including collages, a new installation, sculptures, and works on paper. The show marks the largest institutional presentation of Chung’s work to date.
Chung’s practice mobilizes a diverse range of materials, from sugar to cyanotypes, all serving to explore the complex legacies of colonialism and its impact on island nations. Her use of materials is rooted in both creativity and necessity. She particularly employs sugar, a central symbol of the transatlantic slave trade, to tell stories of resilience and resistance
“A significant aspect of my practice involves embracing the materials for what they are, acknowledging that I cannot control their changes,” said Andrea Chung. “By allowing these pieces to evolve independently over time, I hope that, in witnessing their transformations, viewers come to reflect on the transient nature of history and materials.”
A highlight of Between Too Late and Too Early, Chung will present a new commission featuring sugar bottles, which recalls the desperation of mothers who committed infanticide to prevent their children from becoming enslaved. In their perilous acts, they either threw their children or themselves off slave ships into the ocean. Each bottle contains a note of apology to a lost child and dissolves over time, the smell permeating the gallery’s atmosphere and tainting the bottles, inviting viewers to return to the gallery again to witness the transformation and ephemeral nature of the materials and histories represented.
Alongside Chung’s works, Smita Sen will debut her first major solo exhibition, Embodied, featuring a diverse array of mediums such as body prints, 3D printed sculptures, and films. This exhibition provides a comprehensive look at the evolution of Sen’s practice over the last five years, examining the complexities of the human condition and the role of art in grief and understanding.
Sen, an artist and interaction designer, works across multiple mediums including performance, sculpture, and drawing. Her upcoming show at MOCA will delve into the early origins of her dance-based practice, exploring themes of the body, both internal and external wounds, grief, and healing.
“Over the past decade, my work has shifted from questioning how to physicalize my experiences to understanding and visualizing them,” said Smita Sen. “Prompted by physical and emotional transitions in the last five years, what began as an investigation of my limitations transformed into an extension of my capabilities and a process of healing. Embodied represents that transformation and reflects the ongoing discoveries in my practice.”
In Embodied, Sen incorporates advanced technology such as 3D renders in her sculptural work, as both a natural extension of her physical practice and a way to navigate her changing physical limitations. This will be highlighted in her show, offering a multisensory experience for viewers to consider grief, loss, resilience, and the human experience of living with pain and longing.
Sen's artistic practice is an extension of her former career as a dancer. After an injury that prevented large-scale performances, she turned to using advanced technology and 3D modeling to explore the resilience and malleability of the body, reflecting her continuous search for healing mechanisms, which evolved into her series Feelings, Fossilized, which will be on view at MOCA as part of the exhibition.
A highlight of the exhibition, Sen will perform alongside artist Trina Basu in a reimagining of their piece, Rituals of Sacred Surrender, which was first presented in 2021 at Recess as part of Sen’s Session Residency.
These exhibitions highlight MOCA's commitment to showcasing significant works by artists at pivotal points in their careers while continuing its tradition of supporting South Florida talent. As the museum approaches its 30th anniversary, these shows invite reflection and meditation, exploring themes of resilience, transformation, and the influence of historical and personal legacies. Through diverse mediums, the exhibitions emphasize the interplay between materiality and storytelling to address complex social issues. Both exhibitions will be on view through April 6, 2025.
Ahead of the two exhibition openings, on September 18, Nicole Salcedo’s Earth Gate will culminate as the final installation of the 2024 Art on the Plaza series. The public art work will offer a transformational threshold for visitors to pass through and honor the spirit of the Earth and our inherent interconnectedness with all beings.
Drawing from the legacies of Cuban women artists, such as Ana Mendieta and Belkis Ayón, Salcedo’s multidisciplinary practice spans sculpture, fibers, performance, film, drawing, and mark-making while integrating botany, fractals, electromagnetic physics, and animistic spirituality in an exploration of land-consciousness and the interplay between the body and its environment.
Inspired by Caribbean-style gates, her installation at MOCA features intricate plant motifs and a large face representing the spirit of nature. The installation’s freestanding design signifies a transition from the mundane to the sacred, inviting reflection before crossing. Supported by pools of water, the work will enhance the museum's landscape, offering visitors a meaningful opportunity to contemplate and connect.
In conjunction with Salcedo’s installation, MOCA will host a public program on September 27, inviting visitors to engage with the work by building a mandala alongside artists Alex Zastera and Agua Dulce. On October 12, MOCA will also host a public conversation about the 2024 iteration of Art on the Plaza, discussing the artists’ works and practices. More information on these events can be found here.
“Each of these artists uses their multidisciplinary practices to tell powerful stories—Chung through her exploration of colonialism and its effects on island nations, Sen through her examination of the human condition and healing, and Salcedo’s drawing from the legacies of Cuban women artists,” said MOCA Curator Adeze Wilford. “Bringing these works to Miami is particularly significant as they offer a unique opportunity for viewers to engage with contemporary issues, providing a platform for meaningful dialogue and reflection on the ongoing impact of many shared histories across our community.”
For more information about the fall programming and upcoming events, please visit mocanomi.org.