MIAMI, FLA.- Florida International University’s Frost Art Museum, the Smithsonian Affiliate in Miami, announces a powerful new season of exhibitions and programming for Art Basel Season 2018 in Miami. Headlining this year is Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago (Oct. 13 – Jan. 13), the first major survey of this size and scope of 21st century art by 67 contemporary Caribbean artists representing 14 Caribbean countries, whose works offer expansive perspectives that transcend the boundaries imposed upon Caribbean cultures. The museum presents a panel discussion, Saturday October 13 at 3:00 p.m., followed by the opening reception from 4:00-7:00 p.m. that same day. The panel will discuss contemporary art by Caribbean artists and the prevailing issues related to the Caribbean diaspora with moderator Dr. Tatiana Flores, the curator of the exhibition. Panelists include: Adler Guerrier and Charo Oquet, both artists featured in the exhibition, and Dr. Andrea J. Queeley, associate professor of anthropology.

“Because of Miami’s geographic proximity to the Caribbean nations, as well as our cultural mosaic which Caribbean cultures have shaped, it was important for us to bring this exhibition to Miami during Art Basel season,” said Dr. Jordana Pomeroy, the Director of the museum. “Our new season opens up a dialogue about global commonalities rather than differences, from ecological changes to societal values around the world.”

Features contemporary artists with roots in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Curacao, Aruba, Saint Maarten, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Trinidad, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Barbados and Saint Vincent. Departing from the premise that the concept of Latin America favors mainland countries, the exhibition proposes a mapping of the region that begins with the islands. Arising from a legacy of colonialism, recurrent themes include race and ethnicity, history, identity, sovereignty, migration and sustainability.

The works in this exhibition speak for the Caribbean’s indigenous peoples whose homes were fractured and divided by colonialism. These are spaces that were mercilessly exploited for labor and goods by distant European monarchies. This area also marks the site of one of the West’s first rebellions (the Haitian slave revolt which led to the independence of the island in 1804) and the Cuban War of Independence in 1898, a byproduct of the Spanish-American War.

The Caribbean is inhabited by many different indigenous cultures whose languages include Spanish, Dutch, English, French and Creole. Although the Caribbean has been fragmented by centuries of tyranny and domination, the contemporary artists in this exhibition draw upon themes of connection that often envision what lies beyond imposed borderlines.

Relational Undercurrents is curated by Tatiana Flores, Associate Professor of Art History and Latino and Caribbean Studies at Rutgers University, this exhibition was organized by the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, part of the Getty Foundation’s Pacific Standard Time LA/LA.

Conceptual Mappings
Artists in this section challenge the organization of traditional maps. In contrast to colonial maps, these artists create images that inspire a process of decolonialization, creating new spaces that suggest a more diverse, just and complex concept of the world.

Perpetual Horizons
Horizons are the prominent characteristic of island geography, representing boundaries and possibilities. Whether the artists in this section incorporate
the horizon as a portal to the past or present, or as a representation of limit or potential, each artist in this section contributes to a common dialogue about this prominent feature where they live - offering strength in the acceptance of infinity.

Landscape Ecologies
The Caribbean is a region of shared ecosystems and inhabitants. Artists in this section depict landscapes in relation with to history, ecological issues, and current social and economic issues. Perceptions of the Caribbean have shifted throughout history from those of wonder, to fears of disease and degeneration during the height of colonialism.

Representational Acts
All Caribbean islands have seen their autonomy challenged through colonialism and foreign occupations. Political agency is elusive and, in many cases, unattainable. Representation takes on an urgency for artists in Relational Undercurrents, who actively reconfigure the world they inhabit through social practice and self-expression.