MIAMI, FLA.- The Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami opened the doors to its new permanent home in the Miami Design District on December 1, 2017. Marking the first U.S. project designed by Spanish firm Aranguren + Gallegos Arquitectos, the new 37,500-square-foot building launched with a bold inaugural program that reflects the museum’s mission of championing new narratives in contemporary art and providing a platform for the exchange of art and ideas. With more than double the gallery space and a new outdoor sculpture garden, ICA Miami’s new home enables the museum to present ambitious thematic surveys for the first time in its history, as well as to expand its commitment to mounting monographic presentations of emerging talent, commissioning site-specific and boundary-pushing works of art, and fostering new scholarship.

“We are thrilled to unveil ICA Miami’s new permanent home and to sustain our commitment to free general admission, inviting the entire community to engage with our dynamic inaugural program,” said Ellen Salpeter, Director of ICA Miami. “Our new building enables us expand the diverse spectrum of exhibitions, and public and educational programs, offered year-round—from ambitious thematic exhibitions and major site-specific installations and commissions, to workshops designed for teens and youth, to seminars for graduate students, to talks and activities that engage the general public in contemporary art and ideas. Showcasing a range of artistic voices and perspectives, our programming seeks to foster cross-cultural dialogue and the exchange of ideas on local, national, and international levels.”

Highlights of the inaugural program include The Everywhere Studio, the museum’s first-ever thematic survey and most ambitious exhibition to date, tracing the impact and influence of the artist’s studio from post-war to the present day. Focused solo exhibitions of work by Edward and Nancy Kienholz, Senga Nengudi, and Hélio Oiticica bring to light significant periods of each artist’s work and provide renewed understandings of their practices. An installation dedicated to Robert Gober, showcasing works on longterm loan from Irma and Norman Braman, and exhibitions of newly commissioned paintings by Chris Ofili and emerging Miami-based artist Tomm El-Saieh are also on view. The museum’s outdoor sculpture garden features sculpture by George Segal, on loan from Miami-based collector Martin Z. Margulies, alongside large-scale installations and site-specific commissions by Allora & Calzadilla, Abigail DeVille, Pedro Reyes, and Miami-based artist Mark Handforth.

“The inaugural program of the new ICA Miami represents an expansion of the depth and breadth of our programmatic approach,” said Alex Gartenfeld, Deputy Director and Chief Curator. “The Everywhere Studio exemplifies the thematic surveys that we now have the space to mount, which explore critical topics in contemporary practice through the work of today’s leading artists and their predecessors. These exhibitions, in addition to solo presentations of rarely exhibited bodies of work, are key examples of ICA Miami’s commitment to bringing fresh perspectives to our understanding of contemporary art, fostering dialogue, and expanding scholarship in the field. The inaugural program also represents the global and local voices represented in ICA Miami’s programs, from renowned Trinidad-based artist Chris Ofili, to emerging Miami-based artist Tomm El-Saieh.”

Situated in the heart of the city’s historic design district, the new ICA Miami creates an integrated and transparent environment in which visitors can encounter and experience the museum’s varied artistic programming, both indoors and out. Visitors approach the museum from the south, encountering a façade of interlocking metal triangles and lighted panels. Entering the museum’s main lobby, visitors may either turn into the first-floor galleries, or walk through an enclosed breezeway to the museum’s outdoor sculpture garden, which houses a rotating series of long-term installations and commissions. The interior of the museum includes 20,000 square feet of adjustable gallery spaces across three floors that respond to the diversity of artist installations, exhibitions, and performances that ICA Miami presents, as well as increased space for educational and community programming. A curtain wall of windows on the museum’s northern façade brings natural light into the museum’s galleries and allows visitors to take in views of the sculpture garden and the surrounding cityscape.