Video as an art form has come a long way. Although artists started seriously working with the medium at least a half century ago (some will pinpoint Nam June Paik’s German exhibition in 1963 as its official arrival on the scene), it remained somewhat the stepchild, not getting a lot of respect until the last couple decades. And in Miami, video art – good video art – was late in taking hold with local artists and in shows. That’s changed dramatically in recent years, and yet there have been few outlets dedicated to highlighting the form.
Enter The Screening Room, just opened by local filmmaker Rhonda Mitrani, which aims to exclusively host curated video and film programs to help progress the genre here.
The inaugural exhibit (opened on May 16) is from Venezuela-born artist Carola Bravo, “We Are Where We Are Not.” She’s also an architect and thus works with space and visual representations. It’s a nice hybrid of where contemporary video art is; mixing site-specific performance with video, it’s real time and recorded time.
Mitrani has been active in the film and video world, having had works in film and art festivals. This new space is located in the Wynwood Mitrani Warehouse, which also houses her sister Dina’s gallery, one of the few places in the city dedicated to photography alone. Fun fact: it was converted from the Mitrani family’s clothing factory.
On Thursday, The Screening Room will hold a panel discussion addressing the appropriation of space through video art and site-specific pieces. It includes curator Roc Laseca (who curated the amazing MOCA show from Bill Viola last Art Basel Miami Beach) and the artist herself.
“We Are Where We Are Not” runs through July 12 and the panel discussion takes place on Thursday, June 7 at 7 p.m. at The Screening Room, 2626 N.W. 2nd Ave., Miami; www.thescreeningroommiami.com.
