Pretty Days: MIA
Michael Assiff
Ice Skating Rink at Scott Rakow Youth Center, Miami Beach, 2017

At the Ice Skating Rink at Scott Rakow Youth Center, Pretty Days will be debuting Michael Assiff’s Rune Collection – a proposal for a three stage mechanism for salvaging potable water from an iceskating rink for utilisation during climate crisis scenarios. The art installation components consists of water collection/reverse osmosis filtering, industrial infrared purification and a series of hand crafted ‘activated charcoal filters’ in the form of talismanic sculptures based on Nordic divining rune stones. 

Michael Assiff was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida. He graduated with his AA from St. Petersburg College and BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. He currently lives and works in Queens, NY. Recent solo shows include Pier 1 at Valentin, Paris; Ozone Flowers at Galeria Mascota; and a presentation at NADA New York with Motel featuring Frankie Friday, Harry Gould Harvey IV, Joseph Girandola & Romolo Simonetti.

Documentation by Harry Gould Harvey IV

Pretty Days is an exhibition series using a group of industrial tents as its primary platform. These structures are set up in various locations and feature opening receptions where visitors can experience works installed inside the tents as well as the exterior environments. The project embraces how artworks can be nuanced and emboldened by location as well as how tents with specific conventions can be repurposed into contextual containers for these works. Using an infrared pain relief tent, a grow tent and a faraday tent, the project enables alternative ways of putting together exhibitions by promoting mobility, experimentation and locational context. This series seeks to engage with how we think about exhibitions and their documentation, and how they can be situated in the world outside of institutional conventions.

For Pretty Days: MIA, a series of exhibitions comes together in Miami set up around the city and will feature the work of both domestic and international artists. Pretty Days: MIA is organized in collaboration with Anna Frost and Bas Fisher Invitational (BFI).