Scenes From Opening Night at "The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl"

Heike Wollenweber

​View more photos from "The Record" at Miami Art Museum here.

The Miami Art Museum's new exhibit "The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl" opened Saturday night, drawing a bright mix of artists, art enthusiasts, and collectors to its mixed media group show exploring the intersection between visual art and music in a unique auditory and visual experience.

In tune with the theme, DJ Le Spam was spinning vinyl, and the Smirnoff girls served cocktails on record trays.

Heike Wollenweber

DJ Le Spam, using vinyl for its intended purpose.

​The panel discussion featured MAM curator Rene Morales, exhibition artist Xaviera Simmons, and Trevor Schoonmaker, curator of contemporary art at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. The panel explored the meaning and history of the record and detailed some of the work featured in the exhibition, which comprises 99 works by 41 artists.

The group exhibit includes work by both rising stars and established artists in contemporary art, including names like William Cordova, Ed Ruscha, and Carrie Mae Weems. Showing in a US museum for the first time in their careers are Jeroen Diepenmaat, Kevin ei-ichi deForest, Taiyo Kimura and Lyota Yagi. "Outsider artist" Mingering Mike adds another component with his fake album covers that are part of an alternative universe, featuring himself as a superstar.

Heike Wollenweber

The Smirnoff girls show off their platters.

​New York based artist and DJ Xaviera Simmons participates with an installation combining photography and music. The photography series, taken in North Carolina on a mission to explore "the idyllic," has a rustic feel further enhanced by wooden walls and the acoustic nature of the soundtrack exclusively recorded for the installation by 15 musicians such as Jim James, Tunde Adebimpe from TV on the Radio, and saxophonist Paula Henderson.

Simmons' installation is just one example of the exhibition's inclusive concept. "The Record" truly explores the record from every angle. The record is art and is treated as a treasured object, telling history, expressing identity and bearing witness to changes. "The Record" examines the transformative power of the vinyl record from the 1960s until the present day via video, sound work, installations, sculptures, drawings, paintings, and photography.

Heike Wollenweber

A packed house for the panel discussion.

​"Vinyl records belong to the category of objects that have managed to play particularly significant roles in cultural history. They have established themselves firmly within the cultural consciousness, across generational and geographic boundaries," says Morales. "This exhibition is an homage to a technology that has enriched our lives, expressed through the work of diverse artists who share a deep love for vinyl."

"The Record. Contemporary Art and Vinyl" is a savvy move by the Miami Art Museum, engaging a younger generation and taking art beyond the museum walls. The MAM Soundbomb Bus will take to the streets of Miami and make a stop at various upcoming events such as the Fool's Gold Block Party and Heineken Transatlantic Festival. And that's all in addition to a series of lectures, DJ sessions, and a Sound Clash DJ Battle at the Closing Night Party on June 9th.

Heike Wollenweber

Matthias Woernlein, Vivi Diaz, and MAM's Alexa Ferra

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