Revised Dates — City of Miami Beach to Present Very Moving by Jillian Mayer as Latest Commission for Elevate Española

Visual Arts

Miami Beach, FL (April 20, 2023) — The City of Miami Beach is pleased is to present Very Moving, a newly-commissioned installation by Miami-based artist Jillian Mayer. Very Moving is the second installment of Elevate Española, a public art program launched by the city in 2022 that biannually commissions contemporary artists to create installations suspended in midair over the East Corridor of Española Way, located between Washington and Collins Avenues. The opening reception will take place on Thursday, May 4 at 5:30 p.m. as part of the city’s Culture Crawl program.

Jillian Mayer’s work explores how technology affects our lives, bodies, and identities by processing how our physical world and selves are impacted by a digital landscape. Above Española Way, Very Moving will feature a system of mobiles to create a kinetic sculpture and painting installation that is representative of our increasingly fractional rapid-fire intake of online images. A grid of painted abstract metal shapes perpetually twirl in the work, seemingly on the verge of collision but saved by their synchronization. The viewer is never able to see the entire choreography of the piece at once. Mayer states that “the movement of the artwork is the art piece.”

Very Moving is the second installment of Elevate Española as a dedicated art installation site, and the fourth installation to be presented over Española Way. In 2021, Carlos Betancourt presented a hanging installation titled Milagros! on the West Corridor of Española Way and simultaneously, the art collective FriendsWithYou presented Little Cloud Sky, consisting of eight inflatable cloud sculptures, hanging over the East Corridor of Española Way. In November 2022, Edouard Duval-Carrié debuted the inaugural installation of Elevate Española titled Trapeze Contortionists. Commissions at the site will continue biannually, with a fifth installment by Assume Vivid Astro Focus expected to be unveiled during Art Week Miami Beach, 2023.

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About the City of Miami Beach Art in Public Places Program
Art in Public Places is a city board responsible for the commission and purchase of artwork by contemporary artists in all media. The program allocates funds totaling 2% of hard costs for city projects and joint private/public projects. Funds from construction projects may be aggregated into the Art in Public Places Fund and allocated for artwork at public sites and for collection maintenance. The fund is administered by a City Commission-appointed citizen’s board of seven members, the Art in Public Places Committee.

About the Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council
The Cultural Arts Council (CAC) is an eleven-member council created in 1997 for the purpose of developing, coordinating and promoting the performing and visual arts in the City of Miami Beach. The CAC serves as arts advocates before governmental bodies, coordinates collective marketing initiatives for the local arts community and funds not-for-profit arts organizations. Since the program’s inception, the CAC has awarded approximately $18 million in cultural arts grants, supporting thousands of performances, exhibits, and other cultural activities in Miami Beach.

About Jillian Mayer 
Jillian Mayer is an artist and filmmaker living and working in Miami, Florida. Through videos, sculptures, online experiences, photography, performances, and installations, Mayer’s work explores how technology affects our lives, bodies, and identities. Mayer was born in Miami and studied at Florida International University. She has presented work in solo and group exhibitions widely, and has exhibited, screened films, and performed at institutions including MoMA PS1 MoMA, and the Guggenheim Museum. Recent commissions include a full-room installation of large-scale works for Frieze Los Angeles 2022 and a hanging glass and metal sculpture for Art in Public Places at the Port of Miami for Virgin Voyages.  Mayer is a fellow of the Sundance Institute’s New Frontiers Lab and New Narratives on Climate Change Lab. She is represented by David Castillo Gallery. For the creation of Very Moving, Mayer had the technical support of MGG Studios, LLC and VS Coatings.

Media Contact
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Blue Medium
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