Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/603573
ust two years after the Herzog & de Meuron-designed Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) opened, it has a newly appointed director: Franklin Sirmans. Previously the curator of contemporary art at LACMA and at the Menil Collection in Houston before that, Sirmans, 46, is joining PAMM at a time when the institution's identity is something of a tabula rasa. "I would imagine most people think of the beautiful new building as the museum's identity," says Sirmans. "And that's one way to suggest that the museum can be a focal point for people to come together. It's about how to incorporate art into an experience and not just going to look at something on a wall." Beyond the building, Sirmans points to PAMM's Latin America-focused collection—of which works by Wilfredo Lam and Teresita Fernández number among his favorites—as a distinctive feature. "There are aspects of the collection that speak to it being located in Miami and not anywhere else," he says. "There is a good representation of art of the Caribbean as well, and that's part of its identity. I want to build upon the collection in a way that honors the foundation and represents the art that comes out of our geographic space in a way that no one else can." Sirmans, who was once the U.S. Editor of Flash Art and has also edited and written several exhibition catalogs and artist monographs, believes the museum should be a focal point for both entertainment and education. "They are equally important and they can live together on the same plane. There is the potential for it to be a place where people can come for more than the art. It's not only a space for thinking, but also a space for playing." According to artist Glenn Ligon, about whom Sirmans wrote a catalog essay for his 2011 Whitney Museum exhibition "AMERICA" (which also traveled to LACMA during Sirmans' tenure there), Sirmans "has thought hard about how artworks function in communities or outside of institutional settings." "I think Franklin works well with artists, even those that are hard to work well with," Ligon says. "Directors sometimes have to be reminded that living artists are not just problems to be solved and I think he will bring that respect and ability to work with artists to his directorship. I think the PAMM is the anchor for an enormous groundswell for culture in Miami and Franklin is the perfect choice to lead the institution at this moment." Beyond his work with artists, Sirmans is expected to tackle fundraising and bring the museum's $20 million endowment up to the declared target of $70 million. "I am just as interested in that aspect. That's part of the job and that can be just as fun and interesting," says Sirmans. "If you really believe in what you're doing and it's about supporting the curators whose ideas you believe in, and the educators who are doing programs you believe in and it all goes back to supporting the art that you love and believe in, then it should be fun to get people to see what you see." Sirmans says there's no doubt that Miami is an art destination beyond Basel. "It's less a concern to demonstrate that than it is to make the museum a place where the people who live in this city want to come to all the time," he says. "People live around the museum, they walk their dogs in the park. I want to create a space that becomes a central square." 274 CULTURED J "I think the museum is the anchor for an enormous groundswell for culture in Miami and Franklin is the perfect choice to lead the institution at this moment." —Glenn Ligon