Noche de Brujas

Ancient cultures were known to entrust the March winds to carry their wishes to the divine, a tradition that Faena Miami Beach honored last month, as mystical artists and guests gathered for Noche de Brujas at Faena Forum, a communal invocation of the esoteric and the spiritual featuring musical, auditory and visual creations.

Dubbed the ‘anti-concert’ during Miami Music Week, the night was dedicated to the exploration of the gray areas between music and art, the scared and the profane, and the traditional and the futuristic. The event–a complimentary experience open to the public–transformed Faena Forum into a contemporary temple for multidisciplinary magic, where artists were celebrated as modern shamans ushering the broader public into higher consciousness.

Producer Suzi Analogue’s blown-out and off-kilter beats captured the audience while Carlos Betancourt’s presentation stirred questions of beauty, identity and communication. Poorgrrrl’s vocals melted in and out of musical landscapes, while Virgo blended space-age synthesis and crystalline vocals for introspective dance tracks. Other mind-blowing performances came from Voila Snow, Georgia Wall, Sandflower, Kalup Linzy, Jen DeNike, and Juliana Huxtable.

I am proud that the Faena Forum can exist as a space for relevant and experimental cultural programming. My vision has always been to create a democratic gathering space for the creation of new communities to explore new ideas and cultural practices. During Music Week, the Forum existed as an accessible and experimental alternative for the experience of new sounds, new movements, and new voices in contemporary art and music.

—Alan Faena said of the event.

Not only do these artistic works spark the desire for internal exploration and the incarnation of society’s divine feminine power, they push our cultural institutions to reconsider their priorities and realign themselves with a connection to the natural and spiritual worlds.