Miami, Dec. 5, 2023 – Miami Dade College‘s (MDC) Koubek Center presents Two Islands, an extraordinary multidisciplinary performance featuring storytelling, music and dance. This event, which will take place at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 16, is the culmination of the first part of a two-year international cultural exchange residency that brings together Afro-Cuban artists from Miami and Aboriginal artists from Australia to explore how these vastly different cultural traditions speak to their ancestors through a musical and dance performance.

Two Islands features Afro-Cuban musician and educator Michael Gil, who will be working with the First Nation artists along with Afro-Cuban dancer and choreographer Marisol Blanco from Sikan Afro-Cuban Dance Project; musicians Manuel Clua, René Pedroso and Caridad Paisán; and dancer Suramy Suarez. The Aboriginal Australian counterparts include NT Dance Company Artistic Director and Choreographer Gary Lang from the Larrakia nation, Yolngu elder Banula Marika and Marranunggu Marrathiyel singer-songwriter David Spry.

“The idea is to provide three sides of both cultures,” says Miami-based Gil. “We’d like to offer an idea of the cosmology, the origin of the world according to each culture, and also a bit of the tradition of each culture. We are talking about the Afro-Cuban Yoruba dances and music that are part of Yoruban liturgy, and from the Aboriginal side, the rituals, dances and music in their ceremonies. Another part of all this is that both cultures, while they are ancestral, have evolved, have transformed, and will continue to transform and develop. Gary Lang already takes that approach, blending the traditional aboriginal dances with elements of contemporary dance.”

This blend of ancestral and more modern elements is also reflected in the instrumentation.

“You can’t do an Australian Aboriginal ceremony if you don’t have a didgeridoo (a horn-like instrument developed 1,500 years ago by the Aboriginal people in Northern Australia), and you can’t do a Yoruba ceremony without the batá drums,” says Gil. “These are instruments of cultures that have been enslaved, conquered, mistreated, and are instruments of cultural identity, of resistance.” But in Two Islands, they will be perhaps played side by side with a guitar, a flute, an African kalimba (thumb piano) or a berimbau, a bow-like Brazilian instrument of Angolan roots.

Working with his Australian Aboriginal counterparts has presented Gil with very different notions of speed, time and a focus on process – being present, rather than outcomes. Beyond experiencing the beauty in these traditions, he hopes audiences will walk away with ”the questions that have been the same and remain the same. Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? Is there something beyond? Those questions have been the same for all cultures, only they have been manifested and answered in different ways. So, despite how incredibly different two people may be, they have a profound similarity that perhaps could translate into a greater understanding.”

The second part of this collaboration will take place next year when Miami-based artists visit Australia. This project is possible with funding from the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs International Partnership Grant and the National Endowment for the Arts.

WHAT:   Two Islands world premiere

WHEN:   Saturday, Dec. 16, at 8 p.m.

WHERE: Koubek Center

2705 S.W. Third St., Miami, FL 33135

Tickets:  $20

Purchase:

https://www.squadup.com/events/two-islands-world-premiere-dancemusic-australiamiami?legacy=0

Free Parking  

The Koubek Center
A South Florida landmark with a long and rich history as a cultural hub, The Koubek Center is dedicated to building community through the arts. Over the past several decades, the Center has offered a variety of activities, including workshops, art exhibitions, theater performances, literary readings, and concerts. It is a place for artists and local arts organizations to explore, experiment, collaborate, and share their work with the community. The Koubek Center includes a 200-seat theater, an expansive garden, classrooms, rehearsal, and multi-use spaces. Built in 1929 by Austrian trader John J. Koubek as a gift to his wife, it was later donated to the University of Miami and acquired by Miami Dade College in 2011.

Equal access/equal opportunity
Miami Dade College is an equal access/equal opportunity institution which does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, marital status, age, religion, national origin, disability, veteran’s status, ethnicity, pregnancy, sexual orientation or genetic information. To obtain more information about the College’s equal access and equal opportunity policies, procedures and practices, please contact the College’s Equity Officer: Cindy Lau Evans, Director, Office of Equal Opportunity Programs and ADA Coordinator, at (305) 237-2577 (Voice) or 711 (Relay Service). 11011 SW 104 St., Room 1102-01; Miami, FL 33176. EquityOff@mdc.edu

The mysterious conceptualist Lutz Bacher is having her first posthumous institutional show at Raven Row in London. The artist herself initiated the concept for the exhibition with curator Anthony Huberman as a mixed presentation of audiovisual pieces which featuring old VHS footage from Princess Diana’s funeral and the voices and imagery of legendary figures from pop culture, including Leonard Cohen—but also Darth Vader. Eerie installations, including a pit of sand, fill the gallery rooms. After Bacher’s passing in 2019, the non-profit exhibition center Raven Row worked with the artist’s estate and Galerie Buchholz to deliver the exhibition.

A California native, Bacher lived in the Bay Area and later New York. She was known to be highly secretive and never publicly revealed basic biographical information, like her birth name or age (although it is known that she was born in 1943). Nonetheless, she received widespread institutional recognition with solo shows at MoMA PS1 in 2009, the ICA in London in 2013, and the Secession in Vienna in 2016.

At Raven Row, Bacher’s blend of found material, digital ephemera, and appropriated sounds and images is quintessential Bacher. In one gallery, panes of glass shimmer with projected images of the Empire State Building lit up with bright colors at night. In the lobby, the visitor is affronted by loud traffic noises, whereas upstairs, bible passages are blared out of a huge speaker while tinny radios play run-of-the-mill pop hits over each other. These strange works, that are tricky to categorize or contextualize, manage to disorientate the viewer in much the same way as our information-oversaturated world often succeeds in doing.

“Lutz Bacher: AYE!” runs through December 17. Check out more installation views of the exhibition below.

Installation of “Lutz Bacher: AYE!” at Raven Row gallery in London. Photo: © Marcus J Leith.

Installation of “Lutz Bacher: AYE!” at Raven Row gallery in London. Photo: © Anne Tetzlaff.

Installation of “Lutz Bacher: AYE!” at Raven Row gallery in London. Photo: © Anne Tetzlaff.

Installation of “Lutz Bacher: AYE!” at Raven Row gallery in London. Photo: © Marcus J Leith.

Installation of “Lutz Bacher: AYE!” at Raven Row gallery in London. Photo: © Marcus J Leith.

Installation of “Lutz Bacher: AYE!” at Raven Row gallery in London. Photo: © Marcus J Leith.

Installation of “Lutz Bacher: AYE!” at Raven Row gallery in London. Photo: © Anne Tetzlaff.

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Starting in 2026, travelers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) can experience Native artist Crystal Worl’s work both inside the airport and on the airfield.

Worl and fellow artist Fumi Amano were selected to create public art installations for SEA Airport’s C Concourse Expansion project as part of a first-of-its-kind residency partnership between the airport and two iconic glass art entities — Pilchuck Glass School and the Museum of Glass. The Pilchuck residency allows artists to brainstorm ideas; the Museum of Glass residency helps them produce these ideas into a final product for display at the airport.

And earlier this year, Alaska Airlines debuted an aircraft featuring Worl’s design, titled: Xáat Kwáani (Salmon People). It’s the first aircraft in the history of any domestic airline to be named in an Alaska Native language and to depict the ancestral importance through Northwest Coast indigenous formline art, which is characterized by curving lines and shapes and dates back thousands of years.

This summer, Worl completed her two-week residency at Pilchuck, and will complete a second five-day residency at the Museum of Glass, likely in 2024. Her finished piece will be on display at the airport in 2026 with the opening of the new C Concourse.

Indigenous and travel connections

Worl’s connection to her Native heritage threads itself through much of her work. Worl is Athabascan, Filipino, and Tlingit from Raven moiety, Sockeye Clan, from the Raven House. She is Deg Hit’an Athabascan from Fairbanks Alaska and currently lives in Juneau, Alaska. Her work is diverse, ranging from Tlingit Northwest Coast design to contemporary multimedia pieces.

Worl’s plans for her C Concourse piece reflect her love for travel and the time she spent at SEA as a child on her way to visit family and looking at the art on display. As an international gateway and a gateway to Alaska, SEA is the perfect venue for Worl to express that passion.

“I travel a lot. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always been curious about traveling and exploring. Maybe it’s the Athabascan in me. We migrated a lot; we’re nomadic people. So maybe it’s just in my DNA to be curious. And I remember thinking from a young age, I want to be an artist, but I want to travel the world, and how do I do both? How do I take my art around the world? Or maybe my art could take me around the world?”

Worl has used art to fuel her passion for travel, building residencies where she can live abroad for months at a time. She makes the most of each trip, bringing a little portable artist studio in her suitcase and seeking out other artists in the communities she visits.

Inspired by heritage

Worl also attributes her artistic inspiration to the creative community she grew up around and the blend of a traditional and modern upbringing. She participated in potlatches, ceremonies, and gatherings to connect with heritage, while attending school to study and follow her passions. Her family emphasized the importance of learning modern tools so she could become a better community member.

Her mom showed her how to bead, her grandmother taught her how to sew, and her family made their own regalia, which represents family and clan.

“Growing up with that upbringing is just normal for me, but the more I started traveling, as I got older and started going to school, the more I realized that was very special and very unique. And people are very fascinated by it. Native art can be respected and embraced, and it’s beautiful and it should be shared, but in a respectful manner. And so having this opportunity and this platform as an indigenous artist is really cool.”

Her work bridges multiple worlds — the indigenous artist community that practices formline design and the glass artist community. “It’s challenging because glass makers don’t necessarily understand what formline is unless they are a Native artist. It’s a fun challenge. It’s really making me scratch my brain.”

License to explore

During Worl’s Pilchuck residency, she found herself inspired by the passionate and boundary-pushing community of artists. This was her second time at the Pacific Northwest glass school; she first studied at Pilchuck 10 years ago.

“It’s cool to be in a small, isolated but beautiful community that’s just a bunch of artists. We’re all nerding out over creating pieces in new ways. I feel like I’m like Alice in Wonderland, and everyone’s telling me to come down this rabbit hole.”

The residency partnership is designed to allow the artists to explore before they land on a concept for the airport commission. This gave Worl full permission to explore during her residency. With the assistance of her assistant Priscilla Lowe, she spent the first week mapping out her vision for the sculpture; she envisioned a grid of colorful gummy bear shapes formed from glass.

“This residency at Pilchuck Glass School has been really incredible and amazing because not only has it returned me to dip my toe in glass, but it’s reminded me of the expansive and talented community that works in glass.”

As a multidisciplinary artist with a goal to make the installation predominantly in glass, Worl needed an opportunity like this to help expand her understanding of glass.

“We’ve been trying to create a frog out of glass in every possible way we could come up with; I think we have five or six frogs now,” she said. “They don’t all look like frogs yet, but the idea is there. And it’s really cool to work with the gaffers (specialized glass artists) because there are so many things I can’t do with glass, but then for everything I can’t do, I learned there are a million other ways that I can do it. So it’s challenging me to think outside of the box. I’m uncomfortable and it’s good for me.”

A vision for the new C Concourse

Worl said she is also inspired by the design renderings for the C Concourse Expansion and the beautiful, light-filled space it will become.

“There’s a space for sitting and hanging out next to the wall that will have my art. The piece will have high visibility and see a lot of foot traffic. It’s a route towards the restrooms and also by the elevator. So it’s going to be seen a lot, and that’s really exciting.”

Worl is also co-owner of an Indigenous graphic design and art gift shop called Trickster Company with her brother Rico.  

Top photo credit: Gabe Re @gabere