Erik Smith‘s recent work focuses on urban sites and the landscape, developing a line of research between mediums and strategies. In a project realized last fall in Berlin, where he has lived and worked since 2003, Smith slowly excavated a section of the former “dead zone” of the Berlin Wall, digging with a shovel, and unearthed a large spiral staircase which served as a kind of found/revealed public sculpture. Smith brings this line of investigation to his residency in Miami, turning his attention toward transitional or disused sites and the processes remaking them.

Serving as the point of departure for AABBCCDV is the imminent demolition of the building that was home to Dimensions Variable since its inception, and which functioned both as an exhibition venue as well as studio space for its organizers. Located in a part of the city that has seen significant growth in commercial traffic over the past decade, and recently vacated to make way for new development, the soon-to-be-demolished structure can be read as a marker for urban transformations in general, a process that is as much about speculative growth and renewal as it is negation and fragmentation.

Erik Smith (US) studied comparative literature and art in the US and Italy and has lived and worked in Berlin, Germany since 2003. Selected solo exhibitions include Test Dig No. 1, Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum, Berlin (2011), The Ghost of James Lee Byars Calling, de Appel Center for Contemporary Art, Amsterdam (NL) (2007), and New Conceptual Sculpture, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA (1999). His work has also been shown in numerous group exhibitions including Black Mirror, Arsenic, Lausanne (CH) (2010), In Practice Projects, Sculpture Center, LIC, NY (2008), and Redistribution of the Sensible, Magnus Müller Gallery, Berlin (2005). Smith is a 2012 visiting resident at LegalArt.

Per Nyström is part of our current exhibition called Unit. He is a Swedish musician involved in various different musical projects and bands in his hometown of Stockholm. He plays the keyboard with The Concretes and is also a member of the organ based progressive instrumental duo Mackaper. Diagnos and Storm are the names of some of Pers other musical projects in Stockholm. Per has also composed music for various different Swedish theatre plays. This year the underground label Moptaco Dics will put out an album with some of his theatre compositions as well as some solo tracks including the song Miami made for this exhibition.

Misael Soto explores communal, shared experiences and participatory performatives. Many of his works are contextually and project-based.

Soto has been carrying out works which allow for the possibility of sharing something intimate and cherished with whoever takes the initiative to participate, oftentimes complete strangers. Frequently, his work takes the shape of somewhat utopian gestures, the giving of ones resources and time—for example, like sweeping or giving tours. He positions himself in and out of an arts context, be it in an institutional setting or a more everyday context. The novelty, ephemerality and communal nature of his practice, refocuses peoples’ attention on the present through ideas of collectivism and universality.

Funding for Dimensions Variable is provided by various donated funds. We welcome your support.

“Site-specific” works, however, are made to address the space in particular.  While they have recently been popularized as the basis of street art, projects of this kind are a rarity in the traditional arts scene.  One Miami organization called Dimensions Variable wants to blur that line and bring these unique projects into the gallery.

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As one of the two visitors at a time, you will encounter an eclectic collection of artworks made by people Raymond met and collaborated with over the years and across continents. There isn’t a particular theme per se to the artworks, it’s more about the ideas and mindsets behind the individuals that are important to the end result. According to Dimensions Variable, “Instead of decisions about materials, Raymond is interested in social choices influenced by her travels and everyday encounters.”

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Castillo set up a makeshift karaoke bar in the space. But only friends (plus one guest) were invited. The other rule inside DV: Participants could only sing duets. The whole experiment unfolded neatly at times and messily at others.

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We’d like to thank the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for their support.

Considering them as part of herself and partly responsible of her work, Alice Raymond invites friends and colleagues she has encountered throughout her travels, to build an eclectic collection. This collection is offered to visitors within the confines of a unique structure. The structure is asymmetrical in shape with a raw and unfinished exterior. Inside, the walls are finished and create an intimate environment to offer these works as a private collection to two individuals at a time for the duration of their stay.

Behind the rough walls, we can see the formation of relationships between the participants and the artist—relationships built over time and by chance. Raymond uses the act of choice in her practice to bring together people and their offered objects for one installation. Instead of decisions about materials, Raymond is interested in social choices influenced by her travels and everyday encounters. This project brings up collective pluralistic ideas and questions the individualistic tendencies popular in the art world.

Unit consists of :
Jenny Brillhart, Annie Hollingsworth, Jet Sargent, Stephanie Marie, Chad Cunha, Jacqueline Soir, Domingo Castillo, Leyden Rodriguez, Frances Trombly, Randolph Gonzales, Paul Steen, Per Nyström, Adler Guerrier, Jayme Gershen, Emmett Moore, Larry Newberry, Sabine Herrmann, Carol Jazzar, Misael Soto, Alice Raymond.

Alice Raymond was born in Paris, partly raised in Germany, has worked and lived in France, Sweden, then Miami since August 2009. She attended the Master programs in Art at University of Visual Arts in Bordeaux, and in Science of Language at the University of Grenoble, France.

Her work, based on social and cultural research, has been shown in cultural and educative venues in Europe and in USA, as the Hungarian Multicultural Center in Budapest (Hungary), the Harper College Gallery in Palatine (IL), the collective Projektraum Kunst in Potsdam (Germany), the Miami-Dade Public Library, the Alliance Française Gallery in Miami, the Castle of Châlus in France. She received a European Grant for the German Art Residency Art Aspects. Focused on socio-cultural issues, she started her photography series about urbanism and space occupancy.

Unit is her second solo project in Miami, reviving the collective attitudes in her work.

Endgame No. 1, Performance No. 7 is rooted in the question: when does art/philosophy/theory/etc. end? Höglund’s proposed response to the question is that we cease to think of these higher things when physical urgency draws us away from them. Basic human needs like I am hungry, I am tired, I am horny, I must piss or shit—I am afraid for my life, or of physical harm all take precedence over theory. Endgame No. 1, Performance No. 7 is a very simple mise-à-l’épreuve of this contention. The performance is designed to place the spectator in a situation in which it becomes increasingly difficult to sit and listen to the reading of important theory-based texts.

Richard Höglund has been living in Europe since 2001. He grew up in New York, and was educated at Northeastern University, Univerzita Karlova in Prague, The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the École Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg. Awarded the prix Jeune Création Paris 2006 and several grants from the French government, Richard has been invited as Artist-in-Residence at diverse institutions in France, Iceland, Switzerland, Germany, Bulgaria and the United States.  Most recently his work has been exhibited at the Mamco in Geneva and La Spirale in Lyon.

As the ice-cream van, once lost behind a thronging kaleidoscopic snake of queuing people, now stands alone and the tombola stall boasts only shampoo bottles and garish ornaments to lure in the stragglers, the time has come to draw things to a close.

Whether it’s a village fete, a conference, or a major charity ball, closing any event properly is an important part of the proceedings – and it can be a tricky one to get right. If it’s your job to give that essential final speech, you’ll need to do a bit of a balancing act between making all those involved feel suitably valued, highlighting the successes of the day and inspiring people for the future – without talking for ever. It’s been a long day and everyone has had their fun. Although they want to hear how well things have gone, and maybe even a complimentary mention of their name, by now home – or perhaps the local pub – is definitely beckoning. If there’s one maxim to bear in mind for this kind of thing it has to be KISS – Keep It Short and Simple!

Born Domingo Castillo on October 31st, 1967 in Dallas, Texas. His father left him when he was 4 years old and since then, has had many stepfathers. In his teenage years, he was a poor student who got dismal grades and skipped school often. He was 18 when he was in the 10th grade, and dropped out of school. During the late 80s Domingo made a living by washing cars. He observed the culture and dancing of some of his peers, and later signed up at a local nightclub as a performer. He was a natural at rapping and dancing and needless to say, the audience loved him.

Gean Moreno is a writer and artist based in Miami. He has contributed texts to various catalogues and anthologies, including Uncertain States of America! (Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo), Round-Leather Worlds (Martin Gropius-Bau, Berlin), Catastrophy? What Catastrophe!? (Quebec Biennial), 2009 e-flux Reader (Sternberg Press, New York), Eat the Frame! (DFI Publishers, Amsterdam), The Rapted Island (Sala de Arte Contemporaneo, Tenerife), and Peter Friedl: Secret Modernity (Sternberg Press, Berlin). He is currently contributing editor of Art Papers magazine, and has published in e-flux journal, Monu-A Magazine for Urbanism, Flash Art, Art Nexus, and ArtUS. His work has been exhibited at the North Miami MoCA, Miami Art Museum, Kunsthaus Palais Thum and Taxis in Bregenz, Institute of Visual Arts in Milwaukee, Haifa Museum in Israel, Arndt & Partner in Zurich, and Invisible-Exports in New York. In 2008, he founded [NAME] Publications, a platform for book-based projects. He is adjunct professor at Florida Atlantic University.

Formal attire recommended.