My Art Guide Miami Editorial Committee
My Art Guide Miami is a paper guide and digital issue dedicated to Art Basel in Miami Beach and the art week in Miami, available online and on iOS app.
This edition has been developed thanks to an incredible editorial committee formed by Silvia Karman Cubiñá (Executive Director & Chief Curator at The Bass), Books Bischof (Founder of PRIMARY), and Lori Mertes (Executive Director of Locust Projects).
The committee has been working to select the best and most interesting art spaces and exhibitions in town.
Books Bischof founded PRIMARY in 2010. This is a multidisciplinary organization which aims to explore and promote multiple forms of aesthetic expression from established and emerging artists, alike. Utilizing extensive, and wholly specific experience in producing contemporary curatorial endeavors nationally and internationally, the creative forces behind Primary unite the commercial and critical efforts of artists, curators, critics, professionals and patrons; the result is the vital presence of an intelligent, alternative arts environment with a bold urban sensibility delivered through a diverse range of media.
Silvia Karman Cubiñá began her tenure as Executive Director and Chief Curator of The Bass, Miami Beach, in 2008. Previously, she was the Director of The Moore Space, Miami, from 2002-2008. In the past, she held the position of Adjunct Curator at INOVA, the Institute of Visual Arts at University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, and was a curator at The Mexican Museum in San Francisco and the Cuban Museum of Art in Miami. She was the Puerto Rican commissioner to the 1997 Bienal de São Paolo. Ms. Cubiñá has curated numerous exhibitions, lectured extensively, and has participated in grant panels and award selection committees, including serving as a juror for both the Guggenheim Museum’s Hugo Boss Award 2006 and the 2008 Biennale de Lyon. In 2007, she was a finalist for the Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement and a fellow in the Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL) fellowship program. Ms. Cubiñá currently serves on the Knight Foundation National Arts Advisory Board. In 2012, she was awarded the distinction of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. In October 2017, Ms. Cubiñá presided over the re-opening of The Bass after a major two-year renovation, which has expanded the museum’s programmable space by nearly 50 percent, all within the existing architectural footprint.
Lorie Mertes, Executive Director at Locust Projects since May 2017, has more than twenty years of experience as an arts administrator, curator, and educator. Most recently she was Director of Public Programs at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington, D.C. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C., she was Curatorial Consultant and Interim Director of Programs at the McColl Center for Art + Innovation in Charlotte, NC where she oversaw the residency and exhibition programs. From 2007 to 2011, she was the Director and Chief Curator of The Galleries at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, the first and only visual arts college for women in the United States. She was the Assistant Director and Curator at the Miami Art Museum, now Pérez Art Museum of Miami, where, in addition to serving as a curator from 1994 to 2006, she was a senior manager responsible for new programs, publications, and outreach initiatives to increase visibility and engage new audiences. She got her start in the art world in the early 1990s working as Gallery Manager at Jason Rubell Gallery in Palm Beach and Miami Beach.
