Art Basel Week 12/12
Music for our Ears
Pop Up Piano Miami artists 2011 - photo PUPM“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” - Albert Camus
South Florida’s endless invincible summer is in for the annual rocket launch of activity, so get your calendars fired up for a new season of delicious overload.
Information is starting to trickle in for our most momentous of winter events, Art Basel Miami Beach 2012 (Dec 6-9th) and all the surrounding hoop-la. The trickle will soon become a deluge, so let’s get an overview on a few snippets that have come my way before we are drowning in info.
Not all souls wiled away the past few months. As we’ve been lounging about enjoying the last dregs of summer, the elves of all things Art Basel have been busily working to ensure a well planned and action-packed week of cultural import and diverse entertainment.
Myriad euphonious tastes will be sated as satellite events fill in the much needed breaks between visual extravaganzas with arts of various stripes.
This will be the first year a music festival will exist during ABMB. Ur-1 (weekend of December 8 - 9, 2012, 11:00 am - midnight) can be experienced at Bayfront Park, 301 North Biscayne Boulevard. Expect EDM, pop, hip-hop and rock to be on the varied agenda. Rumor has it this is to be the real deal in music festivals. The line-up is not fully solidified as yet, but rock-raggae singer Kevens will be releasing his latest dubstep beat (bass-driven 
Kevens - Photo by Veronique Vial electronic music from South London), a single called My Baby-Boo. Kevens may be familiar to locals because he began spinning records in South Florida clubs. Notably, well connected Kevens formed a raggae group called Le Coup with Bob Marley’s brothers. Kevens expects UR-1 to be an exceptional experience: "What I find most intriguing about this event; like a big storm coming, this one has a special and unique energy, different from any big Florida events I have been a part of thus far. The intention from a name like UR1 is obviously to bring unity and I love that. I look forward to being a part of this event with my new all live dub step project."
In a different scale, Pop-Up Piano will make its second appearance in as many years during ABMB. Steinway & Sons Miami will donate five to seven pianos that will pop-up, oddly enough, in Wynwood, the Design District and Midtown. Internationally renowned musicians pumping out melodies are to be announced October 9th. Each piano will be re-fashioned by artists and sculptors. If you are an artist interested in submitting an application for piano design...times awastin’...deadline is September 5th at noon. http://popuppianomia.com/2012/08/call-for-artists-submission-guidelines/ You will need to visit social media outlets for times and dates of the “Pop-Ups”.
Most importantly, Pop Up Piano will not be a mere moment of entertaining frivolity. The events will leave a lasting tune floating on the breeze as the PUPM joins a global initiative, hosting a fundraiser with Friends of the New World Symphony on Wednesday, December 5th, complete with Silent Auction. All funds will go to “Central Africa's only symphony orchestra, Kimbangus Symphony Orchestra, located in Kinshasa (the heart of the Congo) to help them meet their goal of building a music school particularly for the Street Children which is Kinshasa’s leading issue.” according to official information. While a wonderful idea, how, you might ask, did PUPM come up with such an obscure, albeit worthy goal. Interesting story: Maestro, conductor, and founder Armand Diangienda, an ex-commercial pilot got the symphony off the ground. His house became the school. The tale was brought to light on CBS’ 60 Minutes program in April.
Pop-Up Pianos concept was the brainchild of New Sing for Hope, (NYC), which couples professional artists with volunteer programs to benefit schools, hospitals and communities.
Pianos will ultimately be donated to local charities; PUPM will not just deliver and run, but continue to work on music programs and workshops for the charities.
Remember: “Life is like a piano... what you get out of it depends on how you play it.” Yup, all of life can be reduced to a helpful platitude.
Many other new and intriguing fairs and activities will pepper the Miami landscape come December. Untitled Art Fair is the new, er title, of an event Dec 5-9 on the sand at 12th Street and Ocean Drive in a Terence Riley design of architectural wonderfulness. Florida’s Art Fairs Unlimited group (Jeff Lawson) promises their fair will a more intimate experience. New York-based Omar Lopez-Chahoud will curate fifty committee-chosen galleries. You’ll be able to assuage your pulsating tootsies in the ocean and view the art all in one seamless activity...and we’re all about multi-tasking.
More info:
UR-1 Festival: http://www.ur1festival.com
Kevens: www.kevens.com
Dubstep history: http://www.udubstep.com/the-history-of-dubstep
Kinshasa Symphony Orchestra: http://www.kinshasa-symphony.com
Pop UP Piano Miami: http://popuppianomia.com
Untitled Art Fair: http://www.art-untitled.com