Faena
Arts| Miami

Faena Festival “The Last Supper”

From December 2 through 8, 2019, Faena presented its highly anticipated second annual Faena Festival during Miami Art Week.

film showing floating screen off shore of Miami Beach

The Faena Festival encompassed the entire Faena District and extended into Miami Beach’s public spaces, waterways and beaches. These diverse venues were activated alongside Faena Hotel’s theater and screening room, as well as the Faena Forum—the cultural centerpiece of Faena District. “Faena Festival exemplifies my vision to create a platform that supports artists to realize their dream projects, fosters new talents and new ideas that inspire me. I created the festival to be an incubator, a space for connectivity, pushing the limits and blurring the boundaries across artistic disciplines. I have always been fascinated by the way that art and spirituality have been historically intertwined and this year the second annual festival will engage with these concepts and connections in order to create new dialogues, narratives and experiences”, said Alan Faena.

Haitian artist Myrlande Constant was called upon to create an intricately-beaded Vodou flag that hung in the Cathedral lobby of Faena Hotel. Her hand-sewn flags, imbued with dynamic iconography, are both an artwork and a religious object to which one might leave an offering or dedicate a prayer. Drawing on his own indigenous ancestry and using anthropological and theological imagery, Argentine artist Gabriel Chaile created a six large-scale adobe sculpture installation in the hotel’s patio, inspired by pre-Columbian totems, one of which also functioned as an oven to bake bread. Chinese artist Zhang Huan presented his installation Miami Buddha on Faena Beach featuring two Buddhas sitting face to face, one crafted from an aluminum mold, the other composed from incense ash collected from temples across China. Camille Henrot presented her latest video installation Saturday in the Faena Forum, while Yael Bartana was part of the open cinema film series that took place on the beach with her film Inferno. Nigerian artist Emeka Ogboh created a new beer specially commissioned for The Last Supper, informed by his connection to the city of Miami. “Art and spirituality have been linked forever—objects have always been made with intention and imbued with symbolism. We have often turned to the shared chant or shared meal for solace and healing, and the Festival invites us to break together” said Zoe Lukov, Chief Curator for Faena Art.

Faena Festival
Took place December 2 – 8. Faena District Miami Beach
All programs were free and open to the public
For more information, follow Faena Art on Instagram (@FaenaArt)

Boat with a large screen showing an art exhibit on the water
shadowed person looks at screen showing person in black laying in greenery
beaded tapestry of people and god-like figured
various statues are viewed through holes in wall
group of people with fruit on their heads walk toward camera
buddha statue with hand lifted sits in front of ocean

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