Design Miami 2023 has appointed Anna Carnick to the role of Curatorial Director for the fair: nurturing emerging talents and community in the belief that design can and should make a positive social impact
Anna Carnick appointed as Curatorial Director for Design Miami fair, 2023 edition – to make a positive social impact
Design Miami has appointed Anna Carnick to the role of Curatorial Director for the upcoming 2023 flagship fair. Carnick is an American-born, Berlin-based independent writer, editor, and design curator. She curated and produced international design presentations and events. She contributed at venues like 5VIE during Milan Design Week, Miami Design District, Carpenters Workshop Gallery, EDIT Napoli and more.
Anna Carnick’s mission has aways being nurturing emerging talents and community. Her belief is that design can and should make a positive social impact. She strongly believes in the storytelling power of design to not only reflect on the issues of our day, but to also inspire and connect.
Anna Carnick is also co-founder of Anava Projects, a creative agency devoted to supporting design-for-good through curation and storytelling. She launched the project in 2019 with Wava Carpenter, co-Editor In Chief for Design Miami’s Forum Magazine. Carnick herself is also co-Editor In Chief for the magazine and the author of two books, Nendo: 10/10 and Design Voices.
Where We Stand: the curatorial theme for the 2023 edition – humanity and environment ‘bring us together’
After looking both at the past and at the future in the previous edition, the 2023 Design Miami focuses on the present. The curatorial theme for the upcoming edition is Where We Stand. Its aim is to spotlight the role design plays both in reflecting and responding to the world around us, throughout history and in the present. It is a celebration of objects inspired by place, identity, and heritage, as well as of the beauty and power that can be drawn from our most intimate, rooted connections.
The theme will be interpreted by Carnick according to her perspective: «There’s a quote I return to often. Activist and novelist Elif Shafak wrote: ‘Stories bring us together. Untold stories keep us apart.’ Storytelling is how we access one another’s humanity. At pivotal moments such as this, an exchange of stories feels all the more urgent. Stories – whether crafted in words or wood – matter».
Where We Stand aims at promoting a reflection on how our relationship with the environment and people surrounding us inform our sense of belonging, the obligations we have to one another, and our paths forward. At the same time, it is «an invitation to consider design objects from around the globe as anthropological markers that reveal an array of narratives about the world in which they were made. Particularly now – at a complex moment marked far too often by polarization – it highlights the storytelling power of design, and, in turn, its potential for nurturing connectivity».
Design Miami/Basel fair – the Collectible Design Fair at its nineteenth edition in December 2023 at Miami Beach
Design Miami, one of the Art Basel’s international fairs, is ready to open its nineteenth edition. Running December 6-10, 2023, with Preview Day on December 5. It will be located in Pride Park, opposite the Miami Beach Convention Center.
Design Miami connects the world through collectible design, with live fairs and experiences on three continents. It brings together galleries, designers’ studios, brands, experts, collectors, enthusiasts, and a digital marketplace. Each edition of the fair features Twentieth and Twenty-first century furniture, lighting, and art objects from a variety of international galleries. Design Miami is also accessible all year round through designmiami.com. The website features shoppable works from Design Miami’s galleries, virtual programming, and storytelling with Forum Magazine.
Over forty galleries and Curio shows at the Miami Beach Fair 2023, after the inaugural Paris edition of October 2023
Design Miami Fair will feature this year over forty galleries and Curio shows. Curio is an exhibition platform that invites designers, curators, innovators, and gallerists to present ‘cabinets of curiosity’ throughout the booths. Each of these temporary exhibitions is curated around a variety of creative concepts designed to provoke and inspire.
After returning to its roots in Basel in June and the inaugural Paris edition in October, for Design Miami this feels like coming home. «The upcoming nineteenth edition of our Miami Beach flagship fair this December will continue the momentum of this landmark year, following our inaugural Paris edition this October, and looking towards our twentieth anniversary in 2024: two milestones for Design Miami. This year, we welcome a line-up of exhibitors across our gallery, Curio, and partner programs. It is a pleasure to see returning exhibitors, such as Galerie Patrick Seguin, Friedman Benda, Moderne Gallery, and R & Company, alongside first-time exhibitors including Adrian Sassoon, Atelier Ecru Gallery, Aequo Gallery, Galerie Melissa Paul, and Marta within our Curio program», reports Jen Roberts, CEO of Design Miami.
The Golden Age: a reminder of the previous Miami fair edition
Recapitulating the previous edition of Design Miami allows to understand the path and development of the fair, which led to the 2023 edition. Starting from the theme, chosen as a red thread and inspiration for all the fair exhibitions and initiatives.
In 2022 the curatorial theme had been The Golden Age. Maria Cristina Didero, the Italian curator of that edition, thought of it as a wish for the future. A concept capable of bringing people together and reboot the artistic world. It was a vision that called for a peaceful world. A world where advances in art and technology allow for the flourishing of partnerships between Earth and the creatures inhabiting it. The Golden Age is an idyllic concept. Throughout history it has always been part of a variety of cultures and narratives all around the world. It speaks upon the idea to live in harmony with humans, animals – it’s heaven on earth. Didero chose to revive such concept from the past to point a way towards the future.
The 2022 edition in Miami: the curatorship of Maria Cristina Didero
The concept of story, playing a key role in Anna Carnick’s vision, is also central for Maria Cristina Didero. When she got appointed as curator for the 2022 edition, Didero was already no stranger to international fairs. She had previously designed exhibitions for international institutions and fairs around the world, from New York to Paris, Lisbon, Tel Aviv.
For years, Didero had been a fixture at Design Miami. She and her husband made it a family tradition to visit Design Miami every December. Thus, she became familiar with the fair’s organizers. «The fair has always been open to culture and exchange. It is a square, a meeting point, and it’s relevant to meet new people, it’s one of the main points of Design Miami», reported Didero. A certain sensitivity to style and design was already in her blood. She collaborated with various brands, such as Lexus, Fendi, and Valextra, to create installations and exhibitions.
Didero’s approach to design is humanistic. She is more interested in the process that led to the result, rather than the final object itself. She tries to combine humans with objects in a way that tells a story, not to get confused with storytelling as a process. «I have two babies and I love telling stories», declared Didero. Within her shows, she often plays on human feeling, empathy, and struggle, the human hands that created a certain object. Why it was created, for whom, and what was its purpose. She is interested in finding out how and from what creative needs is an object born.
Design Miami 2023: designers to tell their personal stories through objects
At the 2023 fair both emerging and established international designers will answer the call for connectivity. They will tell their personal stories through objects. Thus, they will share their perspectives on a variety of topics, such as social and environmental justice, spirituality, cultural preservation, and community building.
Marina Abramović will make her debut at Design Miami with the presentation of her first furniture works. The works were conceived as a meditation on the metaphysical qualities of objects. Another debut will be that of Nigerian designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello. He will exhibit a collection of sand cast metal furniture resulting from investigations into Lagos’ micro craft community. He will also showcase a separate work reflecting on the immigration crisis.
A number of ceramics will explore identity, race, gender, sexuality, and community. Examples are Portuguese-British designer Toni De Jesus, South African ceramicist Zizipho Poswa, and American ceramicists Donté Hayes and Roberto Lugo.
Hot themes will be dealt with in the works by Viktoria Yakusha and design duo Rive Roshan. Ukrainian designer Yakusha will showcase a new handcrafted furniture collection inspired by the spirit of her people, still at war. Amsterdam-based designers Ruben de la Rive Box and Golnar Roshan will present The Space In-Between, a Curio that offers visitors a peaceful environment in which to contemplate different perspectives. This includes the Voices Vessels, 3D printed in sand that pays a tribute to the Iranian women’s voices calling for freedom.
Several galleries will also exhibit historic works to homage our predecessors’ contributions to the present-day design landscape. Among them are George Nakashima, Joseph Hoffman, and Suzanne Ramie.
Design Miami – under the direction of Anna Carnick
Design Miami is an American design company that holds two annual flagship collectible design fairs in Miami, Florida and Basel, Switzerland. The fair also holds fairs in Paris and Shanghai.
The upcoming edition of the Miami Beach flagship fair will take place on December 6-10, 2023, with Preview Day on December 5. Located in Pride Park, opposite the Miami Beach Convention Center, the fair will include over forty galleries and Curio shows from all over the world, featuring both emerging and established designers. Under the direction of Anna Carnick, this year’s curatorial theme will be Where We Stand.
