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Miami, Meet Detroit: Library Street Collective’s Pop-Up at the Wynwood Walls

Artsy Editorial
Dec 5, 2014 3:02PM

This December, the Miami Beach edition of Art Basel has a flipside, a second act, a yin to the yang—one that has nothing to do with Switzerland, but with the gritty streets of Detroit. Urban art has long been an important thread in the cultural fabric of the so-called Motor City, with outdoor installations like the Heidelberg Project and initiatives like CAMP Detroit supporting street artists and creative visionaries alike. Library Street Collective, a gallery focusing on modern and contemporary art developed in public spaces, and the driving force behind some of the city’s largest public murals, is one of the scene’s major players. So it’s only fitting that the gallery will represent Detroit in a pop-up gallery going up in Miami Beach in conjunction with Art Basel.

As befits the urban art medium, the Library Street Collective pop-up will occupy a sprawling space—4,000 square feet, to be exact—inside the Wynwood Walls, in the heart of Miami’s emerging arts district. Both physically and ideologically, it’s an ideal locale: as its late founder, the storied community revitalizer Tony Goldman, said of conceiving the project in 2009, “Wynwood’s large stock of warehouse buildings, all with no windows, would be my giant canvases to bring to them the greatest street art ever seen in one place.”

On display alongside the Wynwood Walls’ current outdoor mural programing, the Library Street Collective’s exhibition will include the work of globally acclaimed artists Shepard Fairey, Pose, Swoon, Cleon Peterson, How & Nosm, Revok, Kelsey Brookes, Vhils, Maya Hayuk, Tristan Eaton, Smash137, HUSH, Sam Friedman, Roids, Mad C, AJ Fosik, Dave Kinsey, Hacer, HENSE, and Faith47, with artist talks and book signings on schedule to encourage interactions with the public.

Library Street Collective partner Anthony Curis wrote of the fitting collaboration between the gallery and Wynwood Walls: “It’s a space where the best artists in the world coalesce to publicly demonstrate the relevance and power of their work, and Library Street Collective is humbled to introduce a new physical venue for that collective demonstration at Wynwood.” A worthy detour from the glamorous Art Basel scene, to be sure.

—Bridget Gleeson


Library Street Collective at Wynwood Walls is on view at 217 NW 25th St., Miami, Dec.1-10, 2014.

Follow Library Street Collective on Artsy.

Artsy Editorial