CONTEXT Talks

Join a gathering of leading artists, curators, and cultural visionaries for live conversations that explore the most important topics in today’s art world. This event provides a platform for dynamic exchanges between influential voices who are shaping the future of art and culture. Through these discussions, participants will gain fresh perspectives on emerging trends, creative innovations, and the key issues influencing the global artistic landscape.

Creative Collaboration: Figurative and Abstract Paintings + Soundscapes

Wednesday, Dec 4, 2024
2pm - 3pm
CONTEXT Talks Booth

Donna Isham, Artist, Los Angeles, CA
Mark Isham, American Musician and Composer, Los Angeles, CA

Join acclaimed fine artist Donna Isham and award-winning composer and recording artist Mark Isham for an exclusive artist talk on Wednesday, December 4, at 2 pm at Booth A8 at Context Art Miami. Donna and Mark will reveal the inspiration and creative process behind Le Cirque and Glass Between Us, their latest collaborative installation that fuses Donna’s powerful figurative and abstract paintings with 3D multi layered animation and projection mapping techniques and Mark’s evocative soundscapes to explore human connection, identity, and the blurred boundaries between illusion and reality. This year marks their third immersive art experience at Art Miami, following their celebrated works We’re All Watching in 2022 and Alchemy in 2023, which captivated audiences with their multi-sensory exploration of transformation and modern life’s dualities. The Ishams will provide an intimate look at Le Cirque and Glass Between Us that invite viewers into deeply layered worlds, transcending the traditional boundaries of fine art and redefining the immersive art experience. Honoring the enduring impact of painting and merging it with modern projection mapping, the installation offers a multi-sensory experience of light, sound, and texture, enhanced by Mark’s original soundscapes to evoke complex emotions and narratives. In addition to these new compositions, Mark’s recent accomplishments include performing alongside Joni Mitchell in her historic return to the stage and has composed over 100 film and television scores, earning Grammy, Emmy, Oscar, and Golden Globe nominations. Donna, meanwhile, will debut her work in her first solo show in London in May 2025. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to engage with the Ishams as they share their artistic journey, discussing the powerful themes woven into their work and how they blend Donna’s striking visuals with Mark’s original compositions and projection mapping for a truly immersive, multi-sensory experience. This talk is a must for art and music enthusiasts eager to explore the fusion of visual and sonic elements that evoke profound emotions and transform the boundaries of fine art.

Human Connection:Filippo Tincolini

Thursday, Dec 5, 2024
3pm - 4pm
CONTEXT Talks Booth

Filippo Tincolini, Italian artist
Alessandro Romanini, lecturer and curator
Alberto Stefano Giovannetti, mayor of Pietrasanta
Franco Senesi, founder of Liquid Art System gallery

In the ancient medieval Tuscan city - a nationally important center for marble and bronze working and a crossroads for sculptors from all over the world - the artist's large-scale marble sculptures will be located for four months (Feb. 15 to May 31 2025) between the iconic Duomo and Carducci squares and inside the 14th-century Sant'Agostino Complex.

The exhibition, in particular, will explore the theme of human relationships, investigating the interplay between individuals, the environment, society, history and time, with the aim of making visitors reflect on topical issues, highlighting the invisible ties that define us, bind us to our past and - at the same time - project us into the future.

Designed to dialogue with the urban space, the exhibition will showcase much of the artist's production from 2008 to the present, touching on various themes and numerous series he has created, bringing together a great knowledge of ancient traditional techniques related to marble working with the potential offered by new technologies.

There will be, for example, works belonging to the Flowered Soul cycle, in which the artist lets flowers “bloom” from the material that take over the forms, whether they are classical like a Venus or pop-flavored like an astronaut in a hyper-technology suit.

There will be works from the Dystopian Animals series, in which animals carved in white Carrara marble in a hyper-realistic manner take over human technology, projecting us into a dystopian future, similar to that suggested by the Black Gold installation formed by empty oil drums carved in white marble.

A large space will be devoted to the Ancient Gods series, which merges the world of classical myths with that of contemporary superheroes, resulting in a series of polychrome and patinated marbles with a high aesthetic, emotional and conceptual impact.

Finally, there will be no shortage of works inspired by the world of childhood, such as Toys and Cartoons, and others marked by a strong commitment such as Swaddle, in which busts and faces of Venuses are wrapped in bandages or ropes, symbols of the social superstructures that have always constrained the individual. Moreover, the exhibition will be accompanied by a series of side events during which visitors will have the opportunity to attend art workshops, guided tours and panel discussions on art and sculpture in particular.

The exhibition will be accompained by a video and a selection of black-and-white photographs by Laura Veschi, to tell through an unedited and privileged look at the backstage of the realization of the entire exhibition project.

Special Projects will also be realized for the occasion, including the social project “Rebirth from Waste,” an artistic initiative in collaboration with ANFFAS MS that involves young people with disabilities in the creation of sculptures made from recycled materials.
Finally, Tincolini will donate the work “Spaceman,” a 3-meter-high marble sculpture, to the city of Pietrasanta.

Merging Performance & Technology

Thursday, Dec 5, 2024
5pm - 6pm
CONTEXT Talks Booth

Lisa Rockford, Independent Curator, Artist, and Educator, FL
Tiffany Trenda, Performance and New Media Artist, Los Angeles, CA

Explore the fusion of technology in the work of award-winning performance artist and digital creator, Tiffany Trenda. Trenda will first share her innovative approaches to performance art, which adapt advanced technologies as interactive elements which invite audience participation. Curator Lisa Rockford will dialogue with Trenda on how her work embraced changes in technology and transitioned into collaborations with AI. Trenda will specifically shed light on her mixed media works that are on view within Context, Special Projects, and the Art Miami fair, including the series’ “Digital Metamorphosis,” “Soft Interfaces,” and “Refractions of Materiality.” These works span the evolving landscape of contemporary technology, merging painting with AI and performative actions. Trenda invites us to confront the limitless potential and ambiguities of artmaking as it is continuously redefined by technological innovation.

Tiffany Trenda is a Los Angeles-based performance and new media artist with a career spanning over two decades. Her works have been showcased at prestigious venues including the Broad Art Museum, LACMA, the Exploratorium, and the World Expo in Shanghai. Trenda was notably featured in the performance program Metamorphoses of the Virtual during the 55th Venice Biennale. Her work has also been exhibited internationally, with presentations at the Faena Art Center in Buenos Aires, Art Center Nabi in South Korea, and the Barbican in London. Her pieces are part of permanent collections at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and Yale University’s Beinecke Library. Trenda holds a BFA from Art Center College of Design, Los Angeles and an MFA from UCLA’s Design and Media Arts program, Los Angeles. Her artistic practice explores the intersection of the human body and emerging technologies, focusing on how digital constructs mediate human experience and identity. Trenda challenges traditional notions of embodiment by creating immersive works that blur the boundaries between the physical and virtual. Through her performances and new media pieces, she encourages reflection on how technology reshapes our understanding of reality, prompting viewers to reconsider their relationship to both the material world and the digital age. Trenda's work opens critical conversations around the evolving nature of presence, perception, and the body in a technologized society.

Lisa Rockford is an independent curator, artist, and educator. As founder of Rockford Projects, Lisa has curated over 30 projects over the past 12 years with over 400 artists, by partnering with venues like Torrance Art Museum, L’space gallery NY, Doral Contemporary Art Museum, FAU University galleries, Bailey Contemporary Arts, and Whitespace-The Mordes Collection. Lisa earned an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2001, and is currently an Associate Professor at Broward College, where she has taught since 2006, and awarded Endowed Teaching Chair 2018 and Professor of the Year 2023. Lisa has provided public lectures at The Perez Museum of Art, The Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Girls Club-The Francie Bishop Good & David Horvitz Collection, Young at Art Museum, Bowling Green State University, Dillard School of the Arts, and annually provides educational tours for ArtNexus Magazine at the official Art Basel Miami Beach and The Armory Show NYC.

Painting Society: The Artistic Journey of Marie Chloé Duval

Friday, December 6, 2024
2pm - 3pm
CONTEXT Talks Booth

Marie Chloe Duval, Artist and Academic
Nicolas Auvray, Owner and Director of Nicolas Auvray Gallery, NY

3 series will be presented. One passed, one current, one coming: Human jungle, Overthink, and Bouquet of People.

The Human Jungle series delves into the complex web of societal constructs and human connections, exploring how individuals navigate the chaos of modern life. Through vibrant, layered compositions that balance figuration and abstraction, the work reflects the tension between individuality and collective existence in a fast-paced, fragmented world. Through these paintings, the idea emerges that people, when joined together, create something greater than the sum of their parts—an intricate, shared beauty.

The Overthink series visualizes the relentless flow of thoughts and emotions that define the human experience in an overstimulated world. Through dynamic compositions blending abstraction and figuration, the works convey the chaos of perpetual mental activity, highlighting the tension between clarity and confusion. At its core, the series embraces the idea of limitless possibilities—a flow state where growth and freedom coexist, stripping away identity to reveal the shared essence of humanity, simply us as human beings.

The Bouquet of People series merges human forms with organic, floral elements, creating vibrant compositions that celebrate connection and individuality within a shared social fabric. Inspired by the intersection of natural and urban life, the works explore themes of growth, fragility, and the deconstruction of societal norms. By blending portraiture with playful, surrealist elements, the series invites viewers to reflect on the beauty and complexity of human relationships, blooming with life and collective identity.

What is Today’s Institutional Art System?

The Art Market and the Struggle for Power between Artistic Agents
Friday, Dec 6, 2024
4pm - 5pm
CONTEXT Talks Booth

Paco Barragán, Int. PhD

Harrison C. White and Cynthia A. White argued in the much quoted Canvases and Careers: Institutional Change in the French Painting World (1965) that after the demise of the French Arts Academy and the Salon since 1870 a new distribution system came into place framed as the Dealer-Critic System: the dealer presented the artwork and the art critic promoted it and contextualized it. On her turn, Isabelle Graw in High Price: Art between the Market and Celebrity Culture (2008) affirmed that today’s art structure is embodied by the Dealer-Collector System. Is that so? And in that case, what is the role of the artist, the art critic and the curator in today’s system? And what if White & White and Graw’s hypothesis are wrong? We will take a close and bold look at the institutional art system around 1870 with the Impressionists and the advent of the modern art market, the Post-war years, and finally the 21st-century.

Paco Barragán holds an International PhD by the University of Salamanca (USAL), Spain with a residency at the Alvar Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland. Barragán is an art theorist, curator, and exhibition designer. Between 2015 and 2017 he was Head of Visual Arts of Cultural Centre Matucana 100 in Santiago de Chile. In 2005 he was one of the co-curators of the International Prague Biennale (IBCA), the Lanzarote Biennial in 2009, and Nuit Blanche Toronto in 2016. Prolific curator, between 2002 and 2024 he has curated 98 international exhibitions in four continents: Europe, USA and Canada, Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand. Some of his essays about have appeared in readers like A History of the Western Art Market: A Sourcebook of Writings on Artists, Dealers, and Markets (2017) published by the University of California Press. Among his books are included The Art to Come (Subastas Siglo XXI, Madrid, 2002); The Art Fair Age (CHARTA, Milan, 2008); and From Roman Feria to Global Art Fair, From Olympia Festival to Neo-liberal Biennial: On the Biennalization of Art Fairs and the Fairization of Biennials (Artpulse Editions, Miami, 2020). He has participated at conferences and imparted seminars among others for Sotheby’s Institute of Art (SIA), New York; New York University (NYU); Al Zayed University (Abu Dhabi); Art Basel Hong Kong (ABHK); Kings College (London). Barragán was director of the seminar Global Art Fairs (2022), organized by Sotheby’s Institute of Art (SIA).

Visions 2024: Experiments with Art and Technology

Saturday, Dec 7, 2024
2pm - 3pm
CONTEXT Talks Booth

Meaghan Kent, Independent Curator and Professor of Art History
[dNASAb], Artist

Be part of a conversation with curator Meaghan Kent on Visions 2024: Experiments with Art and Technology and artist [dNASAb], where they discuss the exciting fusion of art and innovation. Learn how [dNASAb] and Visions artists leverage digital tools, AI, and cutting-edge technologies to push boundaries and redefine visual storytelling. This discussion will uncover how these advancements reshape the art world and influence its future direction. Don’t miss this chance to gain valuable insights into the transformative impact of technology on contemporary art and its evolving role in creative expression.

The Art of Continuous Strokes: A Live Exploration of Creative Expression

Saturday, Dec 7, 2024
4pm - 5pm
CONTEXT Talks Booth

Carlos Peñalver, Artist and Architect
Nicolas Auvray, Owner and Director of Nicolas Auvray Gallery, NY

Engage in a conversation with gallerist Nicolas Auvray and artist Carlos Peñalver as they discuss the artist's creative process and his distinctive black-and-white line drawings, spanning works on paper, large murals, animations, digital art, and architectural visuals. A self-described performance artist, Peñalver draws from memory using continuous strokes. His inventive, psychological work blends irony and critique with a playful yet unpredictable style, making each piece uniquely unreplicable. Peñalver will also be painting live during the conversation, offering a rare glimpse into his dynamic process.