Museum of Ice Cream Set To Open Permanent Location In Miami Worldcenter In Early 2024

Get ready to satisfy your sweet tooth, as Museum of Ice Cream (MOIC), an inclusive and interactive environment dedicated to all things ice cream, is gearing up to open a permanent Miami location in early 2024. Known for its whimsical exhibits that energize the senses, MOIC will return to the Magic City at the new Miami Worldcenter development in the heart of Downtown Miami, located steps from Miami’s Kaseya Center, home of the Miami Heat.

In 2017, MOIC appeared in Miami Beach as a limited-time pop-up that was scheduled to last only two months, but created such high demand that it was extended several times, lasting a total of six months. In November 2022, it returned for one weekend as an ice cream paradise pop-up pool party at the adults-only boutique property, Hotel Greystone.

MOIC’s new 14,000+-square-foot permanent location at Miami Worldcenter will be designed by the MOIC in-house team, along with the use of AI technology, bringing the same sense of child-like joy and wonderment experienced at MOIC’s previous highly successful pop-ups.

The multi-platform, immersive experience will span two floors transporting guests into a world of surprise and delight, fostering human connection through the shared love of ice cream. It will feature 10 unique, interactive installations inspired by the energy and vibrancy of Miami, including the Cream Liner, a luxury airliner experience inspired by the 60s and 70s; Mary-E’s Diner, a retro-futurism inspired hub and gathering place for ice cream-themed drinks and food; and The Hall of Freezers, an exploratory space filled with dozens of mysterious refrigerator doors that are sure to peak curiosity; and of course, MOIC’s iconic sprinkle pool. A feast for all the senses, guests will enjoy unlimited sweet treats from five stations during a 60-90 minute journey, led by talented #TeamMOIC performers.

“We’re thrilled to have a permanent home for Museum of Ice Cream in Miami,” said Museum of Ice Cream Co-Founder and CEO, Maryellis Bunn. “Miami is a vibrant city known for its culture, love of fun, and artistic creativity. We’re excited to join the city’s growing Downtown, surrounded by popular destinations like the Wynwood Arts District, the Design District, and the Brickell Financial District. It is such a natural fit for us as we continue to grow and expand, and we can’t wait to share our playful and interactive exhibits with the local community and visitors from around the world.”

Miami Worldcenter is a new $6 billion mixed-use destination in Downtown Miami. The 27-acre development spans ten city blocks with a diverse mix of residential, commercial, and hospitality uses complemented by an array of retail, restaurant, and entertainment options.

“Such a fun and unique concept like Museum of Ice Cream will without a doubt be a treat for Downtown Miami locals and visitors alike,” said Nitin Motwani, Managing Partner of Miami Worldcenter Associates. “The Museum will not only enhance the city’s status as a global arts and culture destination but will also be a wonderful complement to Miami Worldcenter’s various entertainment options. We are thrilled to become the home of Museum of Ice Cream’s first permanent Miami location.”

“Museum of Ice Cream has set a new standard for creative experiences at a time when people are drawn to places where they can find innovative and memorable activities,” said Shaul Kuba, Co-Founder and Principal, CIM Group, partner in Miami Worldcenter and leader of CIM’s leasing platform. “Through our work with Museum of Ice Cream at other locations, we have seen first-hand the allure of the Museum and its contagious positive energy.”

Slated to open in early 2024, MOIC will debut at Miami Worldcenter at 851 NE 1st Avenue (Unit #134) along the development’s pedestrian promenade between 1st and 2nd Avenues.

Renderings via Museum of Ice Cream and Miami Worldcenter

Artist Julio Larraz is Celebrated at the Coral Gables Museum with a Retrospective Exhibition and Related Events

On Wednesday, December 1st, the Coral Gables Museum opened the exhibition, ‘Julio Larraz: The Kingdom We Carry Inside’ in collaboration with the Julio Larraz Foundation. Taking over the main three temporary galleries of the Museum, the show is the first museum retrospective of Larraz in the United States and will be on view through April 30th, 2022.

On that evening, a special viewing of Larraz’s latest video, Astral Flight (2021) by Ari Larraz, Laura Furcic, and Las Animas Films was held in the Museum’s courtyard.

As part of Art Basel Miami Beach morning schedule of events, the Museum hosted a Brunch and Book Launch of Rizzoli’s retrospective publication ‘Julio Larraz: The Kingdom We Carry Inside’ on Saturday, December 4th. With 200 paintings, 50 works on paper, and 10 sculptures ranging from the 1960s to the present, this is the most comprehensive book on the artist to date.

“As it is customary now, the Museum organizes a brunch on the last day of Art Basel Miami Beach as part of the Fair’s morning schedule of events. For us, this collaboration is very important as it attracts other people than our regular public, and doubles the impact of our show,” said Jose Valdes-Fauli, Coral Gables Museum’s Chairman.

“This exhibition has been much-expected. We have received amazing feedback from the public, and the numbers speak by themselves - even when there was a lot to see in the city during Miami Art Week we had over 500 attendees on those two days alone. We are looking forward to many more successful events in the months to come,” said John R. Allen, Coral Gables Museum’s Executive Director.

The Museum has announced a series of Curator Tours led by Chief Curator Yuni Villalonga that will take place during Gallery Nights (the first Fridays of the month,) starting on January 7th, 2022.

“These tours will offer an additional insight on the artist. Beside interesting anecdotes and stories that couldn’t be captured in the exhibition, we will have available facsimile copies of important catalogues in Larraz’s career that the public will be able to check out during the tours,” says curator Yuni Villalonga and adds, “We will soon announce other upcoming related events.”

Artist Julio Larraz (b. Havana, Cuba, 1944) is one of the most influential figures in Latin American art today. Throughout a career of six decades, institutional recognition has gone hand in hand with the admiration and following of colleagues and many younger painters from all over the world that praise his mastery of technique, color and light, and the poetry and subtlety of his work.

The show gathers works that span from Larraz’s early days in New York, as a caricaturist for major newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Vogue, to the drawings, paintings and sculptures realized in New Mexico, Paris and Florence, as well as in Miami, where the artist currently lives and works. Pieces are drawn from private and public collections, as well as from the Larraz family collection and archives, to represent all themes, mediums and key time periods of the artist’s life and oeuvre.

“Among the selection, there are important works in the artist’s life and career, such as his 1969 depictions of spacecraft Apollo 11’s launch from Cape Kennedy, while being one of the few selected artists to witness the moment when humans first landed on the moon; or the painting that represents Larraz in the CINTAS Foundation’s collection after a 1975 Cintas Award,” says curator Yuni Villalonga.

Coral Gables Museum is located at 285 Aragon Avenue, Coral Gables, Florida.

Berkowitz Contemporary Foundation Reveals New Rene Gonzalez-Design Coming To Edgewater

The Berkowitz Contemporary Foundation has revealed new plans for their proposed Edgewater location at 2626 Biscayne Blvd., replacing a previous Arquitectonica-design with one by Rene Gonzalez Architects. The 45,000 SF foundation, which will be open for free public access, will feature its contemporary art collection on display in addition to a selection of sculptures indoors and in the outdoor plaza. The building will be built from cast concrete with a modern, cantilevering design. On display with be Richard Serra’s 180-foot-long “Passage of Time,” which will be placed in the outdoor plaza and will be visible to pedestrians and motorists. The building is also specially designed to house James Turrell’s “Aten Reign” light sculpture with uses a skylight above. The Berkowitz Contemporary Art Foundation is still in talks with the city and plans have not yet been submitted for review following the city’s rejection of the Arquitectonica-design on the grounds it did not adhere to Miami 21 Zoning Codes. A tentative groundbreaking is slated for 2020 with completion in 2023.

“The Berkowitz Contemporary Foundation’s announcement signals Miami’s ongoing evolution into a world-class destination for art and culture,” said Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. “This innovative space will serve as a valued addition to Miami’s rich creative landscape, and make extraordinary works of art accessible to the community.”

Check-Out Miami Beach's Museum of Ice Cream In The Faena District

Miami Beach now has its very own Museum of Ice Cream (MOIC) in the Faena District, offering residents and visitors alike a chance to escape back to their youth. The 4-story building was designed by OMA showcasing iconic art deco elements and contemporary interiors along with stunning ocean views. The Musuem of Ice Cream in Miami Beach features 7 rooms designed to engage all five senses through physical, digital and experiential dialogues. The MOIC aims to be a place where "ideas are transformed into real life experiences" and serves as a safe environment for visitors to embrace their imagination and creativity, building an environment where people can check their fears, anxieties and social norms at the door and have fun. According to MOIC Founder and Creative Director Maryellis Bunn, the museum chose Miami for its 4th location due to the city's culturally diverse and inclusive environment. The museum's first location in New York opened in the summer of 2016 to huge success before expanding to other cities. The Miami branch is located at 3400 Collins Avenue, the museum also has locations in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The Museum of Ice Cream in Miami will officially open to the public on December 13, 2017 unless you were lucky enough to get an Art Basel preview and tickets are available for purchase online.

The Aranguren + Gallegos Arquitectos-Designed Institute of Contemporary Art Miami Opens In Miami Design District

Miami's brand new Institute of Contemporary Art has officially opened its doors in the Miami Design District right in time for Art Basel. The metal-faced building was designed by Madrid-based architectural firm Aranguren + Gallegos Arquitectos, their first project in the United States. To create the facade the architects used geometric metal panels to create a "magnetic" appeal to attract visitors along with a cove lighting system to illuminate the metal-clad face at night. Each gallery features double-height ceilings and overlook the sculpture garden via floor-to-ceiling glass. The sculpture garden will also be used to host events and talks. The back of the museum features a sculpture garden. The museum has a free-admission policy. ICA Miami previously operated from the historic Moore Building, also located in Miami Design District which is being developed by Craig Robins as a neighborhood that fuses high-end luxury shopping with art, culture and eduction. ICA Miami sits on land donated by Robins adjacent to the De La Cruz Collection on NE 41st Street. Norman Braman, the iconic Miami car dealer, and his wife Irma, who chairs the board of trustees at ICA Miami, provided the funds to cover most of the cost of the museum. The museum will first feature over 100 works by more than 50 artists with a show called "The Everywhere Studio." The institute joins a group of privately-owned museums in Miami including the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, the Rubell Family Collection, the Cisneros Fontanels Art Foundation and the adjacent De La Cruz Collection. 

Photography is by Iwan Baan.

Gary Nader to Sell $100 Million of Art to Fund The Nader Art Museum Latin America

Art dealer Gary Nader has decided to sell $100 million of art from his private collection to fund the Nader Art Museum Latin America. Nader's journey to construct the full scale museum has not been without drama as we reported in March 2017 that Nader was still interested in bringing the Nader Art Museum Latin America to Downtown Miami, it is currently in an interim space located at 62NE 27th Street. In 2015 Nader submitted a bid to develop Miami Dade College's 520 Biscayne Boulevard property in a mixed-use project that would feature the museum and condos. Miami Dade College chose Related Group as the winning bid and fell into a legal battle with Nader before canceling the project. Nader has now set his sights on selling over 100 pieces of art, valued at over $100 million, during Art Basel. The offered pieces will be one of the largest masterpiece collections ever offered at Art Basel and will feature a $15 million Picasso. Works offered for sale include pieces by Pablo Picasso, Fernando Botero, Damien Hirts, Robert Indiana, Roy Lichtenstein, Henri Matisse, Matta, Mario Carreño, Sandro Chia, Carlos Cruz Diez, Nan Goldin, and Enio Iommi, amongst others. The Nader Art Museum Latin America collection will not be included in the sale, which features a permanent collection of paintings, drawings, sculptures, photography, installations and other media, the museum’s audience can experience Latin America's Contemporary art scene. The museum’s collection originates from Gary’s private collection. 

“We are currently curating an exclusive collection of great masterpieces from very important artists that we’ll offer during Art Basel Miami Beach this December”, said Gary Nader, founder of NAMLA. “We own many important works by the same artists including the largest and most important collection of Maestro Fernando Botero in the world and by selling some of those pieces we will be able to bring other important artists’ works to the museum as well. I’ve been tiredly promoting and champion our art for nearly 40 years and even though we have seen much progress and many international museums and galleries have followed our lead, I strongly believe this much-needed museum will definitely give Latin American art the importance and relevance that have long deserved”.

Frost Museum of Science to Take Over Operations at Museum Park's Science Barge

The Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science will take over operations of Museum Park's floating Science Barge when they open on May 8. The barge will undergo extensive renovation throughout the summer as it will be transformed into an environmental lab where it will supplement the museum's Aquarium and science exhibits with the surrounding marine life. The 120 foot Miami Science Barge opened in 2016 after it won the 2015 Knight Cities Challenge. It was designed by Nathalie Manzano and Dr. Ted Caplow and cost $1.2 million. 

Patricia & Phillip Frost Museum of Science to Finally Open May 8

The years of waiting and watching are beginning to come to end at Miami's Museum Park as the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science has finally announced an opening date of May 8. The museum will be the second museum delivered following the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) which has been received by the public as a major hit and help complete the cultural and art initiatives in Miami's Arts and Entertainment district which also includes the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts and YoungArts.

The Frost Museum of Science has been a 5 year project, began construction in 2012 and has overcome many obstacles and roadblocks along the way including a $350 million price tag. Phillip and Patricia Frost had to help cover the rest of the cost of the construction after fundraising efforts failed to raise the necessary funds, missing the expected 2016 completion date. The Frost Museum of Science was designed by Grimshaw Architects, sits on 4 acres and features 4 different buildings in one, divided based on their field of study. There will be a planetarium, aquarium and feature 2 exhibit wings spread over 250,000 SF. The planetarium is 1-of-8 in the world featuring 8K resolution in 3D along with seating for 250 people. The museum claims on its website that it will take guests on a "journey from the ocean to the Everglades, from the human cell to outer space, investigating life as we know it." The building is working toward LEED Gold certification as part of their initiative to create a better planet. Tickets for the May 8 opening day are available on the museum's website.