MOAD MDC Presents The Two-Day Offsite Performance ALTERNATIVE FACTS

Museum of Art and Design (MOAD) at Miami Dade College (MDC) will present Alternative Facts, an interactive public performance by Paul Ramírez Jonas that explores the concept that truth is a social contract. Over the course of two days in two different parts of the city, the artist will engage individual members of the public in a series of actions that call into question commonly understood ideas about facts, authority, exchange, value, and trust. Alternative Facts will take place on Friday, October 18, from 11:00AM-2:00 PM at Kyriakides Plaza in MDC's Wolfson Campus, and on Sunday, October 20, from 11:00 AM-2:00 PM at HARTVEST PROJECT at Pinecrest Gardens in Pinecrest. The events are free and open to the public.

For Alternative Facts, Ramírez Jonas will set up notary stations in public locations. For several hours each day, he will invite passersby to participate in a simple exchange in which they sit at the table and make an untruthful statement. Through a brief but elaborate process, the artist will notarize each statement as a testament to its truthfulness. The participants are then asked to pay for the service with a gold coin, which is made by the artist electroplating their spare change in a gold solution. The exchange results in two drawings: one for the participant to keep and another to be displayed near the notary station.

Ramírez Jonas is a contemporary artist and arts educator whose work challenges the relationship between artist, viewer, and artwork. Through participatory performances, large-scale public installations, monumental sculptures, videos, and drawings, he invites interactions, collaborations, and exchanges that create social contracts between the artwork and the public. Rather than asserting a position or issuing precise instructions, he operates within a set of guidelines, combining humor and sincerity to communicate collective ideals, histories, and dreams. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held at the Museo Jumex, Mexico City; the New Museum, New York; Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo; The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut; and the Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas. In 2004 in the UK, Ikon Gallery in Birmingham and Cornerhouse in Manchester mounted a survey of his work, and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston produced a twenty-five-year survey in 2017. His work has also been included in group exhibitions at PS1, New York; the Brooklyn Museum; The the Whitechapel Gallery, London; the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; and Kunsthaus Zürich; as well as at the 1st Johannesburg Biennale, 1st Seoul International Media Art Biennale (Mediacity Seoul), 6th Shanghai Biennale, 28th Bienal de São Paulo, 53rd Venice Biennale, and 7th and 10th Bienal do Mercosul in Porto Alegre, Brazil. He has been an Associate Professor at Hunter College since 2007 and is represented by Galeria Nara Roesler in São Paulo.

Alternative Facts is part of MOAD's A City of the People series, which will take place at multiple locations throughout Miami from April to December of this year. A City of the People will feature a wide range of art experiences, screenings, readings, and public programs that explore what it means to exist in, and as, an urban community. The cross-disciplinary, cutting-edge programming of A City of the People will contribute to a discussion on art's capacity to reimagine civic life.

Alternative Facts is made possible by the generous support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, and the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, and partly sponsored by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture. It is presented in partnership with Miami Dade College and HARTVEST PROJECT at Pinecrest Gardens.

In April 2018, the Museum of Art and Design, Miami Dade College's flagship museum, reopened with a renewed belief that art and design can change our communities and the world. MOAD offers groundbreaking exhibitions and programs that explore the challenges and opportunities we face locally and globally. Its programming convenes leading artists, designers, and thinkers to address the urgent questions of our time. MOAD strives to be a catalyst for action and a place that empowers people to rethink and remake their city. As the museum of Miami Dade College, MOAD follows its lead in operating throughout the city. Based in Downtown Miami's Historic Freedom Tower, MOAD considers itself a Museum Without Boundaries. Its programming takes place in many neighborhoods, inviting everyone to be a part of the conversation. MOAD's aim is to foster a reimagined Miami, built by and with its citizens.

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