C7W - Approve $150k Public Art Installation

Resolutions - C7 W

COMMISSION MEMORANDUM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the Resolution.

BACKGROUND/HISTORY

Inaugurated in 2022 to enhance the Española Way corridor, Elevate Española is a dedicated art presentation site that commissions installations suspended above the historic Española Way corridor, providing pedestrian connectivity between Española Way and Ocean Drive. Featuring annual projects, Elevate Española plays an important role in bringing contemporary art to one of the most publicly visible areas of Miami Beach. Selection of artists is made via the Art in Public Places Committee (AiPP) and funded through the Cultural Arts Council Fund for Temporary Art Installations.

The scope of work for the selected artist includes fully developing the project within the allocated budget, which is inclusive of design, engineering, fabrication, installation, insurance and any other cost associated with the implementation of the work. All artists are required to contract a Licensed Florida Contractor and Engineer for submitting permit documents and installation of artwork.

Past selected recipients include FriendsWithYou, Carlos Bentancourt, Edouard Duval-Carrié, Jillian Mayer, Assume Vivid Astro Focus, Beatriz Chachamovits, and Jen Stark.

ANALYSIS

On January 17, 2025, The City of Miami Beach, through its Tourism and Culture Department Cultural Affairs Division, released a Call to Artists, requesting qualifications from professional artists and/or artist teams to create a site-specific temporary public art installation to be located at the East corridor of Española Way, between Washington Avenue and Collins Avenue for the Elevate Española program. On March 31, 2025, the Call to Artists for the Elevate Española program was closed, receiving 44 submissions, with three (3) applications being shortlisted by Tourism & Culture Staff.

At the May 20, 2025, AiPP Committee Meeting, the three (3) shortlisted applications were shared with the Committee. From this shortlist, two (2) artists were selected to develop a full proposal for the Española Way program and present it to the Art in Public Places (AIPP) Committee, sharing detailed proposals to determine a final selection. The selected artists included Germane Barnes and Janet Echelman.

At the June 17, 2025, AiPP Committee Meeting, the two (2) finalist artists in the Elevate Española program call for artists (Germane Barnes and Janet Echelman) presented their proposals to the AiPP Committee. As approved via LTC #248-2025, the “When Lines Shift” proposal by artist Janet Echelman was recommended as the selected temporary public art installation for the Elevate Española program.

Janet Echelman’s “When Lines Shift,” is inspired by the artist’s family ties to the State of Florida and its local shifting survey markers. Combining both 2- and 3-dimensional drawing in space, like the historic lines which mapped the curving shoreline of South Florida’s coast, Echelman’s “When Lines Shift,” utilizes physical rope lines fixed to anchors on the Española Way walls, which generate painted lines on the adjacent walls. The mural is itself a map of the sculpture. This installation explores the complex human experience of adapting to current and future environmental change.

Artist Janet Echelman creates experiential sculptures at the scale of buildings that transform with wind and light. The art shifts from being an object you look at, to something you can get lost in. Her work defies categorization as it intersects disciplinary boundaries, from Sculpture, Architecture, and Urban Design to Material Science, Computer Science, Engineering, and Performance. Using unlikely materials from knotted fiber and atomized water particles to choreographed dancers, Echelman combines ancient craft with original computational design software to create artworks that have become focal points for urban life on five continents.

Recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, Harvard Loeb Fellowship, Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellowship, and Fulbright Lectureship, Echelman was named an Architectural Digest Innovator for “changing the very essence of urban spaces.” Her TED talk “Taking Imagination Seriously” has been translated into 35 languages with more than two million views. Oprah ranked Echelman’s work #1 on her List of 50 Things that Make you Say Wow!, and she recently received the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award in Visual Arts, honoring “the greatest innovators in America today.”

If approved by the City Commission at the July 23, 2025, meeting, the City will promptly finalize the contract with Janet Echelman for project completion set to take place November 2025.

FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT

The funding for the Elevate Española Program is available in the current year budget.

Does this Ordinance require a Business Impact Estimate? (FOR ORDINANCES ONLY)

If applicable, the Business Impact Estimate (BIE) was published on: See BIE at: https://www.miamibeachfl.gov/city-hall/city-clerk/meeting-notices/

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Elevate Española program account 140-6080-000343-25-406-555-00-00-00

CONCLUSION

The Administration recommends that the Mayor and City Commission authorize the City Manager to execute a professional service agreement in an amount not to exceed $150,000 for the design, fabrication and installation of the work of art for the Elevate Española program with artist Janet Echleman to be unveiled in December 2025 during Art Week Miami Beach.

Applicable Area

South Beach

Was this Agenda Item initially requested by a lobbyist which, as defined in Code Sec. 2-481, includes a principal engaged in lobbying?

If so, specify the name of lobbyist(s) and principal(s):

Department

Tourism and Culture

Sponsor(s)

Co-sponsor(s)

Condensed Title

Approve Agreement with Artist Janet Echelman for Elevate Española. TC

Previous Action (For City Clerk Use Only)