Miami, FL (November 8, 2023) –– The Historic Hampton House Museum of Culture & Art, the history and cultural art center animating Miami's legendary Green Book Hotel, will launch its visual arts program with Gimme Shelter, an exhibition of works by contemporary artists that draw upon the ethos of the iconic site as a safe space and place of congregation during times of segregation. The exhibition, opening with a preview on December 4, 2023, and on view to the public December 5, 2023, through January 22, 2024, highlights the idea of shelter and safety as integral to cultural production and collective creation. Selected works reflect on America’s history and the importance of building and celebrating sites of refuge, renewal, and reflection for Black Americans, people of color, and migrants today.
The exhibition features over 25 artists, including Derrick Adams, Terry Adkins, Lisa Anne Auerbach, Sadie Barnette, Sanford Biggers, Zoe Buckman, Nick Cave, Charles Gaines, Lauren Halsey, Amanda Ross-Ho, Steffani Jemison, Bronwyn Katz, Maia Ruth Lee, Patrick Martinez, Jared McGriff, Christopher Myers, Howardena Pindell, Paul Pfeiffer, Bony Ramirez, Devin Reynolds, Lorna Simpson, Warith Taha, Naama Tsabar, Fulton Leroy Washington, and Carrie Mae Weems. Co-curated by Beth Rudin DeWoody, Zoe Lukov, Maynard Monrow, and Laura Dvorkin, the exhibition has primarily been drawn from Beth Rudin DeWoody’s unparalleled collection, complemented with select loans.
Gimme Shelter will be expanded upon by six satellite exhibitions exploring related themes, including:
- a new, never-before-seen large public sculpture by Reginald O’Neal, presented by Fringe Projects in collaboration with Spinello Projects;
- an exhibition of Jared McGriff’s paintings presented by Spinello Projects;
- a group exhibition that includes Natalia Arbelaez, Sydnie Jimenez, Moises Salazar and Malaika Temba presented by Mindy Solomon Gallery;
- an exhibition of work by Mark Bradford, Milo Matthieu, Dylan Rose Rheingold, and Henry Taylor presented by Jupiter Gallery;
- a presentation in tribute of Richard Mayhew’s masterful landscapes curated by ACA Galleries and Donnamarie Baptiste; and
- a special announcement and presentation of the upcoming KOBRA Green Book Project by world renowned graffiti artist, Eduardo Kobra.
The only Green Book Hotel museum that exists today, the founding and restoration of The Historic Hampton House speaks to the history of the hotel and its role in the city within the context of its time. Located in Miami's Brownsville neighborhood, the Hampton House Motel and Villas was the place where legends of music, art, entertainment, and political activism and the community could come together to rest, relax, party, and push culture forward. The hotel welcomed leaders including Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. as well as such performers and luminaries as Ella Fitzgerald, Sam Cooke, Sammy Davis Jr., Nat King Cole, Marvin Gaye, Althea Gibson, and Muhammad Ali.
Home to many historic events in the 50s and 60s, the hotel hosted the gathering that inspired the film One Night in Miami, which follows Cassius Clay’s celebration as heavyweight champion of the world in 1964 with legendary contemporaries Sam Cooke, Jim Brown, and Malcolm X. The hotel has also been featured in many historic photographic essays, including Ebony’s cover of Muhammad Ali (formerly Clay) with his wife and baby. Reverend King had a regular room at the hotel where he often stayed on the first floor, which was equipped with an escape door. Additionally, King is known to have practiced his “I Have a Dream” speech for guests at the hotel’s poolside stage before delivering it to the world at the March on Washington. A curation of photographs of the hotel's legendary guests, from the support of Lisa Saltzman on behalf of the Saltzman Family Foundation, will envelope the hotel's courtyard, providing a backdrop for the history and significance of the exhibition.
“The inaugural exhibition celebrates the ethos of this legendary hotel, not only as a sacred space of shelter and hospitality within an historically segregated city, but its ongoing role as a catalyst of communion and creativity,” said Historic Hampton House, Chief Strategy Officer and Creative Director of the Exhibition, Curb Gardner II. “Historic Hampton House is a place of education about challenges we had to overcome in the past and advocacy to advance the work that still needs to be done to realize the promise of the Constitution to ensure equity for all. We use art and culture for understanding to bridge the divide.”
“Gimme Shelter places contemporary artworks in syncopation with the site’s history of music, rest, intimacy, and resistance. Resonating and echoing within the space are concepts of home, shelter, softness, intimacy, musicality, instrumentation, silence, and noise, while serving as a tribute to the creators who continue to make new work and new sounds even in the face of institutionalized violence and segregation,” said exhibition co-curator Zoe Lukov. “The exhibition foregrounds creativity, care, and community in the face of political struggle, and in particular recognizes how music as an art form engulfs us, tells our stories and encompasses us; creating a dialogue with the legendary musicians who would have crossed the threshold of this sacred space to gather, play music together, and find rest and restitution.”
“I'm so happy to collaborate with The Historic Hampton House and help launch their new vision,” said Beth Rudin DeWoody. “One of seven still existing Green Book Hotels, The Historic Hampton House is now a museum and performing arts space. The new cultural programming brings well deserved attention to the significance of this extraordinary place. While we are there, we can imagine Martin Luther King Jr. or Ella Fitzgerald holding court and making their mark on history. It's magical.”
Select works from the satellite exhibitions will be for sale, with a percentage of the proceeds being donated to the non-profit The Historic Hampton House Museum of Culture & Art for future programming and ongoing development.
Gimme Shelter opens with a private preview reception the evening of Monday, December 4, which will feature an inaugural dinner curated by culinary powerhouses, James Beard Award Winner, Chef Jernard Wells and Chef Martin Rodrigues. A special presentation will be made by legendary artist George Clinton with a dance party to follow.
About The Historic Hampton House
The Historic Hampton House is the only Green Book museum in the world dedicated to sharing this unique experience of the segregated era. The restoration and vision are clear and intentional. Our mission is to improve perspectives in race, gender, socio-economic and religious discrimination in America and throughout the world. For more information, visit historichamptonhouse.org.
About Beth Rudin DeWoody
Beth Rudin DeWoody, art collector and curator, resides between Los Angeles, New York City, and West Palm Beach. She is President of The Rudin Family Foundations and Executive Vice President of Rudin Management. Her Board affiliations include the Whitney Museum of American Art, Hammer Museum, The New School, The Glass House, Empowers Africa, New Yorkers for Children, and The New York City Police Foundation. She is an Honorary Trustee at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and on the Photography Steering Committee at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach. DeWoody has curated numerous exhibitions, and the Collection has been the subject of exhibitions featured at the Rebuild Foundation, Chicago; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach; Parrish Museum, Southampton; and the Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, among other institutions.
About The Bunker Artspace
The Bunker Artspace opened in December 2017 as a private art space in West Palm Beach, Florida. Presenting rotating exhibitions and viewable storage of the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, The Bunker showcases a vast range of contemporary art, iconic pieces of furniture, and other curiosities. Built in the 1920s as a toy factory and utilized as a munitions armory during World War II, the Art Deco building now provides the ideal stage to show a considerable amount of work outside of DeWoody’s domestic spaces, and to a wider audience by invitation and through scheduled private tours. Through DeWoody’s passion, vision, and continuing support of emerging artists and galleries, she has redefined the boundaries of collecting. By championing emerging, and at times, overlooked artists, especially in the early stages of their careers, she has amassed a truly unique collection. From a significant amount of work in the Collection, DeWoody and co-curators, Laura Dvorkin and Maynard Monrow have assembled a selection that includes works by leading contemporary artists, while always pushing beyond “the greatest hits” to deliver a more complete view of contemporary art today. |
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