Phillip: DACRA seeks to integrate commercial and residential real estate with creative collaborations. What are you most energized by in your role of curator at DACRA?
Claire Breukel: Uniquely, rather than seeking out creative collaborations, creativity has been inherent to the Miami Design District since its inception. As a curator starting out in Miami, I remember visiting artist studios and exhibitions in the Miami Design District including the likes of Bas Fisher and The Moore Space. In 2009, Locust Projects lost its home and chairperson Debra Scholl and I turned to Craig Robins to look for a new home in the neighborhood. Locust remains an integral part of the District’s cultural offerings today. Building on this legacy, the cultural program which I work with at DACRA offers space, an audience and support for the art community at large.
Not only this, the Miami Design District is known for its world‐class, cutting‐edge public art and design collection. Coming from a contemporary art background, the opportunity to crosspollinate art with design and even fashion, expands creative possibilities and thinking that will ultimately lead to ambitious collaborations. I know from my work with corporate responsibility programs that creative projects, with the right partners and supporters, can be infinitely impactful and meaningful. This was evident in the 2018 (RED) auction hosted in the District that I worked on, which raised $11 million in the fight to end AIDS. Everything feels possible. Can you tell I’m excited?
Claire Breukel, curator at DACRA.
P: You are originally from South Africa, have lived in Central America and currently reside in Miami. What might be one of the more significant global influences on you today, as a curator?
CB: I’ve had the opportunity to travel and meet artists in cities unlike any other both in creativity and context, including San Salvador, Nairobi, Nuremburg, Medellin, Kingston, Marrakech, London, New York, and Cape Town. Although we sometimes speak of humanity as a singular unified entity, I’ve learned that no one and no place is alike. In contrast, creativity as a non‐lingual and sensorial expression is unifying. I believe at the core of creative thinking is an appreciation of the unexpected, different, and at times less rational.
I’m in awe of artists and designers who value sustainable production, and who, through their work, endeavor to contribute to our understanding of others—from Olafur Eliasson’s Little Sun lights to Zanele Muholi’s arresting portraits of black lesbian women, to architects David Adjaye’s Mass Extinction Memorial Observatory to Francis Kéré’s Gando school extension in Burkino Faso, to designer Marc Newson’s flowing fence at the DASH school in the Miami Design District.
I’ve learned that no one and no place is alike. In contrast, creativity as a non‐lingual and sensorial expression is unifying. —Claire Breukel
P: As living with art and design holistically has become more accessible, what would be your advice to a budding collector?
CB: I recently listened to an Art Basel Conversation with art fair director Noah Horowitz and Art Economics Founder Dr. Clare McAndrew sharing that there will likely be a move toward more accessible art price points and a need to cultivate new and diverse collector bases. There is also an increasing comfort with online content, spurred on by quarantine’s necessity for increased screentime. I’m hopeful that this will allow for more accessible and creative collecting. Gone is the time of collecting from a checklist. So, my advice for a budding collector is to do more research than ever before – and if you don’t have time, engage an expert to help navigate the immense amount of information that is out there about art and design. I am also a huge fan of online studio visits.
Urs Fischer, Bus Stop, 2017.
P: What artists or designers are you inspired by at the moment?
CB: Teresita Fernandez’s 2019 exhibition at the Peréz Art Museum Miami is an important show both because it was a retrospective of her work, and because it brought a vital dialogue to the city. Teresita is simply fierce, and her critical dialogue is so necessary at a time when divisive rhetoric persists.
I’m obsessed with everything that Southern Guild shows. They are a South African design gallery with delicious creative flair, and their booth at Design Miami is always titillating. My long‐time collaborator, artist Simón Vega, remains an inspiration as he repurposes found materials to recreate “USSR” and USA space craft to scale as a commentary on the intervention of these countries within the Salvadoran Civil War. His installations at the Venice Biennial and Coachella were simply mind‐blowing.
In Miami there are so many wonderful artists and designers from Eduard Duval Carrie’s prolific practice, to Emmett Moore’s furniture/art to Antonia Wright’s performances to Cristina Lei Rodriguez sculptures and wallpapers, to Mette Tommerup’s ocean‐soaked fabrics, which she will be showing at Locust Project later this year. I know I’m forgetting so many.
Tulio Pinto, Complicity Vectors #2, 2017. Piero Atchugarry Gallery.
P: What project(s) are you looking forward to tackling in the next months?
CB: The Miami Design District is in full swing and I had the opportunity to invite five “pop‐up” projects to the District in the coming months. These include a sculpture exhibition by Piero Atchugarry Gallery, a conceptual installation by Miami artist Tom Scicluna, Place Miami Preview Edition, an art and design exhibition, an artist‐in-studio experience with Miami ‘s Pepe Mar, and a satellite of the loved Peréz Art Museum Miami gift shop. I’m also working with Craig Robins on the much‐awaited rehanging of his collection.
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