Ai Weiwei @ Pérez Art Museum Miami

While we were in Miami over Christmas, we went to the new Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). See earlier post here. The museum opened with a show of Ai Wei Wei’s (艾未未) work titled “According to What?”.

Ai Weiwei is one of the leading contemporary artist of his generation from China. First becoming famous for his work Fairytale in 2007 and then he collaborated with Herzog & de Muron on the design of the Beijing National Olympics Stadium in 2008.

China log 2005  (made with 8 pillars salvaged from Qing dynasty temples and assembled using traditional joinery techniques).

But after the Sichuan earthquake, he was determined to create artwork commenting on the value of life. He had been challenging the Chinese government and in 2011 he was detained for 81 days by the Chinese authorities on alleged charges of tax evasion.

Study of Perspective 

This is the first time I saw his work. While not overly commercial, his works feels opportunistic and somewhat unsurprising. His works have been understood to ask certain fundamental questions concerning the human conditions, cultural and social aspects.

According to the catalog, his works are created using a very simple form and systematic method similar to that of conceptual and minimal artists – Sol LeWitt and Donald Judd.

 

In Feb 2014, a man picked up one of his ceramic works (Colored Vases) in the museum and smashed it. The series consists of vases from the Han dynasty which had been dipped in industrial paint. Ai weiwei had photographed himself dropping one such Han dynasty vase, thereby destroying 2,000 years of cultural tradition as an act of conceptual art. See the NYTimes coverage here.

Moon chests  – 2008

 

His Circle of Zodiac Animal Heads 2010 were also on display in the plaza.

The statutes represent those that were installed at the Yuanming Yuan in the Old Summer Palace which was razed and looted by British and French soldiers in 1860.

We have no idea what the originals looked like but these statutes are rather austere if not downright oppressive-looking.

It was a good show in a beautiful museum. This is a screen capture of a live web cam of the museum on Dec 31, 2013.

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Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)

Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), formerly known as the Miami Art Museum from 1996 until 2013, reopened at a new location on December 3, 2013. It is overlooking Biscayne Bay and provides a sculpture garden. We were lucky to be in town and visited it before it is even a month old !

Adjacent to it and currently under construction is the city’s Science museum. When it is completed, the whole park will become an area for science and arts education as well as spaces for cultural and relaxation programs.

The three-story building, built by Herzog de Meuron sits upon an elevated platform and below a canopy, both of which extend far beyond the Museum’s walls, creating a shaded veranda and plazas.

The canopy is perforated to allow in light, and lush vegetation grows out of suspended planters amongst the columns, transforming the veranda into a multi-dimensional garden. The architect has created a slide show showing off its building on their web site, here.

The museum is dedicated to collecting and exhibiting international contemporary art of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The permanent collection galleries are located on the first and, principally, the second level, which  also house extensive temporary exhibition galleries.

The interior of the museum comprises a series of distinct galleries and other public areas connected by a series of interstitial spaces displaying the permanent collection, allowing for a fluid visitor experience.

It houses a collection of pieces from the Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry – a comprehensive private archive of art that marries image and word. Something I have not seen anywhere before.

This is my favorite which consists of hundreds of pieces of dyed cloth placed in circles on the floor.

It had a small, rather open and flexible “auditorium” where visitors can sit on the steps and watch a performance or video.

Nice museum – not overwhelmingly huge, quite comfortable, a neutral atmosphere.

 

Views from our shipboard veranda

Below are the views from our veranda on board the Celebrity Reflection during a 7-day cruise through the Caribbean sea. Our cabin was located on the 12th floor, midship, starboard. For more views of the ship, click here and here for earlier posts.

These photos were taken more or less from the same spot on the handrail. The photos are roughly in chronological order.

Miami – San Juan – St. Thomas – St. Martin – Miami

Miami

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San Juan

St Thomas

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St Martin

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Miami Beach

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Back to Miami.

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Cvi.che 105, Miami

While in Miami, we (Chris especially) loved the food served in this Peruvian restaurant, Cvi.che 105. We went twice during our stay in town !

The restaurant’s name is derived from its speciality, ceviche and street number on N.E. 3rd Ave in downtown Miami.

Started with a dish of crunchy, roasted corn nuts (ever so slightly salted) – cancha made from a special variety of corn called maiz chulpe. Don’t remember eating it anywhere before. Addictive. Great with drinks.

I(Chris) like ceviche and the restaurant Sushi Samba where one can reliably find some variations of ceviche.  This is part of our dinner on the first night.

Ceviche is typically made from fresh raw fish marinated in citrus juices, such as lemon or lime, and spiced with ají or chili peppers. Chopped onions, salt, and coriander, may also be added.

My ceviche main course for the second night.  White wine sangria !

At Cvi.che 105, boiled sweet potato(the orange cube on the plates) was served as an accompaniment. I did not expect sharp tasting raw fish could be paired so well with sweet root vegetable. More corn.

It is very well known locally. There appears to be a line outside the restaurant all the time. We had to wait on both visits, each on average for about 15 minutes. They placed benches outside the restaurant where the waiting customers can study the menu. Ranked #24 of 3,534 restaurants in Miami by Tripadvisor.

The chef Juan Chipoco is young and he walked around the restaurant amidst all the chaos, birthday celebrations, and loud music. He also owns another restaurant next door called Pollo & Jarras – it is less popular but I(Chris) think it has potential. Too bad we did not have time to try it. It was quite highly rated online. This is our starter for the second night – it looks a bit murky but the stir-fried squid/octopus was great tasting.

The restaurant has a bar and an open kitchen where the ceviche dishes are being assembled. The dish with the pink sauce is octopus carpaccio with an olive dressing – we will order it when we return next time.

We also tried tiradito which is a traditional way to serve very thinly sliced raw fish (with roasted and fresh corn).  According to Wikipedia:

Tiradito is a Peruvian dish of raw fish, similar to sashimi and carpaccio, in a spicy sauce. It reflects the influence of Japanese immigrants on Peruvian cookery, and differs from ceviche in the way in which the fish is cut, and in the lack of onions.

Apart from fishes and crustaceans, it also offers a variety of Peruvian food including many stir-frys as well as potato-based dishes.

We cannot judge the authenticity of the recipe as some may be the Peruvian chef’s own invention using traditional ingredients such as corn and a Peruvian grape liquor called Pisco 100.

The restaurant walls are decorated with plaques won by the chef and framed magazine pages about the restaurant. There are some traditional handicrafts hung on the walls too.

We definitely will go back to Cvi.che 105 when in Miami.

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Epic, Miami downtown

For our 2013 Winter break, we booked a 7-day Caribbean cruise departing from Miami. The vacation began in Miami a few days before we boarded the ship. Sue booked us into the Epic Hotel located in the downtown business district.

The hotel is quite new and the building also contained some residential apartments. It is epic !

The front of the hotel was always busy and crowded with some of the residents’ or visitors’ exotic cars.

The hotel is located right next to the Miami River and apparently, one can rent a boat on the bank of the river just steps from the front entrance of the hotel.

The Epic belongs to the Kimpton chain of hotels. We are not familiar with the chain except that R & B’s wedding was held in an Epic Hotel in Manhattan in May 2013.

We had a room on the 20-something floor. All rooms have a terrace.

After the cruise, we stayed a couple more days at the same hotel except that Sue booked a room with ocean view.

The views from our terraces were unobstructed. The hotel has several swimming pools on the 16th floor.

The ocean view is a misnomer really because our room faces a channel that leads to the ocean but not the ocean itself. Geographically speaking it is almost impossible to see the ocean unless the hotel is located in Miami beach.

Condos on Brickell key, a small island (same view as above at night).

Views down Brickell Avenue. Normally a busy commercial thoroughfare. There was hardly any traffic on the weekend before the New Year. It was weird to see no cars on a street with so many buildings.

Brickell Avenue at night.

The hotel is recommendable.

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Our 2013 trips – part 1

* H A P P Y  *  N E W  *  Y E A R  *

W i s h i n g  – y o u – a l l – t h e – v e r y –  b e s t – i n – 2 0 1 4  ! !

As the end of 2013 is upon us, we are taking a look back at some of the places we visited. The places are organized in reverse chronological order and there is a part 2 to come tomorrow. Some of the trips are business trips and some are vacations.

Click on the link to jump to the posts – there are usually a series of related posts per location, they are uploaded around the same time – you can discover them easily in the calendar at the bottom of the post.

December 2013

We just came back from a cruise in the Caribbean sea on Celebrity’s Reflection. This was taken in San Juan, Puerto Rico – one of the ports of call. The pictures will be up here soon.

The cruise started and ended in Miami – we spent a few days at the Epic Hotel, downtown Miami

Barcelona, Spain in October 2013

Sao Paulo, Brazil in October 2013

Jungfraujoch, Switzerland in September 2013  (posts to come in 2014)

Near Interlaken, September 2013

Lavaux, Switzerland with VL in July 2013

Glacier 3000, Switzerland with YS – July 2013

Lac Liosin, Switzerland with YS – July 2013

Chambery, France with IT in July 2013

There were 7 separate trips in this second half of 2013, and another 7 trips in the first half – see next post.