For the past 15 years, the Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz Collection welcomed Miami arts patrons to its private collection of artworks, including many significant Latin American pieces. Located next door to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (ICA Miami) in the Design District, the Collection also donated nearly 50 pieces to the museum, including works by Hernan Bas, Felix Gonzalez- Torres, Ana Mendieta, Jorge Pardo, and Manfred Pernice.
ICA Miami’s interior expansion, Interior expansion, photo by Rose Marie Cromwell, courtesy of ICA Miami
Earlier this year, Rosa de la Cruz passed away at 81 years old, leaving a legacy in the art world for future generations. After Carlos decided it was time to put their beloved building up for sale, its neighbors, the ICA Miami, purchased it. Reopening next year under the institution’s name, the new site will double ICA Miami’s exhibition footprint, dramatically expanding its size and ability to host a suite of new programming. “The acquisition means that we can continue to expand—even double—the impact of our programs,” said Alex Gartenfeld, the Irma and Norman Braman Artistic Director of ICA Miami. “With expanded educational resources our service for youth, teens, and adults will only deepen.” Whitewall spoke with Gartenfeld about the new site and how it adds to the museum’s overarching missions.
Evolving the ICA Miami
WHITEWALL: Why was this acquisition something the museum wanted to take on? Did it always have plans to expand?
ALEX GARTENFELD: In ICA Miami’s first ten years, we have witnessed a profound response from the community to our programs. The growth of our permanent collection, public programs, and educational impact—and the pent-up demand for them—have exceeded the bounds of our current spaces. So the opportunity to acquire a museum-grade space that could be efficiently retrofitted to our needs was a natural next step for our board and staff leadership.
WW: What are the long-term plans for the space?
AG: This expansion enables ICA Miami to continue the growth of our exhibitions program, with more gallery space for special exhibitions and dedicated space for the creation of the Knight Foundation new media gallery, which will provide a platform for artists experimenting with emerging mediums and technology. ICA Miami will also have, for the first time, dedicated galleries for the museum’s permanent collection, which includes some of the most important work of the last decades and reflects a robust intergenerational and inclusive narrative of global contemporary art. We are also creating several state-of-the-art classrooms, spaces for talks, lectures, symposia, and performances, and a lab for the creation of digital and audiovisual media.
“We have witnessed a profound response from the community,”
Alex Gartenfeld
Artworks from the de la Cruz Collection
© Marguerite Humeau, courtesy of the artist and ICA Miami.
WW:The de la Cruz Collection opened 15 years ago, and routinely showed important works from Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz’s personal collection, including many Latin American pieces. Of what importance was that space and the couple’s collection to you personally? To Miami?
AG: The Collection shared with an ICA Miami a commitment to free access to important contemporary. Generations of students and the public grew up visiting these locations, and we are proud that, together with the ambitious projects hosted by the Miami Design District, we have built a shared language and admiration for contemporary art. It is an inspiring tradition and educational mandate for us to uphold.
WW: After Rosa’s passing, many of the collection’s works were sold at auction at Christie’s. What works were kept in the collection that the ICA Miami aims to safeguard?
AG: Throughout our history, the de la Cruz family donated close to 50 works to ICA Miami, including works by Hernan Bas, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and Ana Mendieta. Recently, they donated—among about a dozen works—a sculpture by Jorge Pardo and an installation by Manfred Pernice that is currently on view at ICA Miami.
“We have built a shared language and admiration for contemporary art,”
Alex Gartenfeld
On View at ICA Miami During Art Week
Lucy Bull, 4:28, 2024. Oil on linen. 100 x 76 x 1 1/4 inches (254 x 193 x 3.2 cm) (LBU 24.008), photo by Elon Schoenholz, courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery.
Keiichi Tanaami, Love High Hill, 1973, courtesy of the artist and Nanzuka, Tokyo.
WW: What will the museum present during Art Week in Miami?
AG: Just ahead of Miami Art Week, ICA Miami opens the first U.S. solo museum presentations for the influential late Japanese Pop artist Keiichi Tanaami and rising abstract painter Lucy Bull; a showcase of two critical historical series by Rubem Valentim; and a new immersive installation by the brilliant interdisciplinary artist Marguerite Humeau. In our project space, we host the first U.S. institutional project for London-based Ding Shilun, featuring new paintings and a site-responsive wall mural. Overall, the program reflects a range of global perspectives and spotlights artists who are pushing the boundaries of contemporary art through their practices.
Ding Shilun, “The Weight of The Oath,” (2022). Oil on canvas. 74 3/4 x 70 7/8 in, anonymous gift, photo by Eva Herzog, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Maria Bernheim.
WW: What are you looking forward to about this year’s edition of Art Week in Miami?
AG: We are partnering with DMINTI to realize an important digital work and public installation in the Miami Design District with artist Laurie Simmons; celebrating Au Départ’s Art Prize and the brand’s gift of sculpture by artist David Douard to our permanent collection; and realizing a major outdoor installation celebrating sustainability with Lexus and Slovakian architects Crafting Plastics in our Sculpture Garden.
“The program reflects a range of global perspectives,” — Alex Gartenfeld
