MOCA Announces An Open Call To South Florida Artists For Its 2022 ART ON THE PLAZA And April Artist Revealed

After a successful unveiling in 2021, the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami has announced an open call to South Florida artists for a commission opportunity for its 2022 "Art on the Plaza."

The museum inaugurated "Art on the Plaza," a series of temporary public art installations on MOCA's plaza, to invite artists to activate the space and connect the museum to the community. The 2021 series featured South Florida artists Reginald O'Neal, Morel Doucet and Stephen Arboite, Najja Moon, Nice n' Easy, and Studio AMLgMATD.

Opening the 2022 season, MOCA will feature artist Onajide Shabaka starting on April 22. Shabaka has lived in California and Florida where his art practice is connected through historical/biographical themes related to geography that include African diaspora and Native American cultures. Using ethnobotany and the performative as aesthetic vehicles for making those references and their historical reconstruction, his art practice comes into being through the complex effects of institutions, histories, and human experiences. Shabaka's writing and curatorial practice focuses largely on contemporary art and culture, and subject specific research.

New this year, MOCA is offering the opportunity for local artists to submit their work through an open call. MOCA is requesting qualifications from professional artists in an effort to promote temporary installations on its public plaza and inspire the community and museum visitors. The museum will host a series of programming to coincide with the art installations throughout the year. Selected artworks include but are not limited to: the building façade or architecture, interventions within or incorporating the fountain, free standing elements, light-based artworks/projections, participatory artworks adhering to social distancing guidelines, or landscape-based artworks or earthworks.

"After a successful debut in 2021, we are thrilled to launch 'Art on the Plaza' again this year. Offering South Florida artists the opportunity to submit through an open call supports MOCA's goals of facilitating cultural engagement and fostering a connection with the community and beyond," said MOCA Executive Director Chana Budgazad Sheldon. "'Art on the Plaza' offers a boost of creative energy accessible to visitors and passersby. We are very pleased to commission and support local artists for these temporary installations."

Interested artists are invited to make proposals for temporary public art installations spanning three to four months in duration, with projects opening in July and September 2022. Each selected artist can be awarded up to $13,000.

Aspiring artists can apply by submitting work samples, up to five images of completed projects, by Monday, March 28, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. Images must be labeled image files 1-5 and be in JPEG format. Artists must create a caption list for each of the five work samples with the following information: artist name, title, year, medium, dimensions, and brief 1-2 sentence description (PDF). The artist must include their CV - Resume (PDF) and an artist statement up to 200 words (PDF). To submit, files must be converted into PDF files and JPEG images and uploaded to a file hosting service such as Dropbox, WeTransfer or Google Drive, then email the sharable link to curatorial@mocanomi.org using "2022 Art on the Plaza" as the email subject line.

After the review process with a MOCA-appointed selection committee, two finalists will be chosen. From March 29 - April 1, 2022, the selection committee will review artists' qualifications and recommend a shortlist of artists. Shortlisted artists will be invited to create full proposals and paid an honorarium for temporary artworks on MOCA Plaza in a competitive process. Then artist proposals will be reviewed by a selection committee. Two selected artists will implement projects with the support of Art on the Plaza Project Manager and Creative Director. The first commission's installation will be on view from July 2022 through mid-September and the second commission's installation will be on view from late September 2022 through January 2023.

Amanda Sanfilippo Long, who currently serves as Curator and Artist Manager for the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, Art in Public Places program, is organizing the program.

"I am honored and excited to partner with MOCA once again to host 'Art on the Plaza,'" said Sanfilippo Long. "This program brings imaginative contemporary art exhibitions and programming to a wide range of audiences, while bringing diverse cultural and thought-provoking subjects to the forefront."

Completed in October 2018, the MOCA Plaza renovation was made possible due to a grant from the North Miami Community Redevelopment Agency (NMCRA) to cover construction costs of nearly 33,000-sq.-ft. of brick pavers, new landscaping, new LED lights and necessary equipment. MOCA's "Art on the Plaza" program is made possible with major support from the NMCRA.

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