Back in 2014, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, presented their very first exhibition: an installation by Mexican artist Pedro Reyes called “Sanitorium.” In the exhibit, visitors were guided by volunteers who had been trained by the artist to act as “therapists,” and they participated in a variety of exercises based on methods such as Gestalt psychology, hypnosis, theater warm-up techniques, and conflict resolution exercises.
It was, in short, very far from the typical museum experience.
“It really set the tone for the organization in terms of how experimental and performative it was,” says Alex Gartenfeld, the ICA’s artistic director, of the exhibit’s impact on the museum. “It was the rare artwork where you have a real, physical expression of anxiety, vulnerability, or even violence, in the case of one particular piece where you were hitting a therapeutic puppet. It introduced a new way of engaging with art within our museum.”
Read the full story at Miami New Times.
Photo by Iwan Baan, via Miami New Times
