8 X 5 Miami Art Week

ARTISTS AGAINST MASS INCARCERATION, CALLING FOR JUDICIAL REFORM

During Miami Art Week 2022, artworks addressing mass incarceration and failures of the U.S. justice system patrolled the streets of Miami Beach via truck-mounted digital billboards and stationary billboards throughout the city. This public art intervention is the result of 8X5, a project named in recognition of the size of an average prison cell, organized by Art at a Time Like This in partnership with For Freedoms and Save Art Space. Launched in Miami on June 13th, 8x5 returned to Florida during Miami Art Week when an international audience gathers together to attend art fairs, museum exhibitions and special events. 8x5 is a multi-city project traveling across the US.

8X5 Miami Art Week features works by a diverse range of artists, from those who are internationally known for political art such as Glenn Kaino, Dread Scott, Reginald O’Neal and the Guerrilla Girls to artists with firsthand experience of the incarceration system, including Russell Craig, Sherrill Roland and Kellen Stuhlmiller, a young man currently awaiting trial at a Miami detention center. Miami artists/activists, including Chire Regans, Judith Mistor, Jessica Helsinger, Rosa Naday Garmendia and Emily Velez Nelms add local power to the mix.

“End Mass Incarceration!” has become a widely repeated political slogan,  yet change and reform has stalled time and again.  This exhibition does not just repeat the well-known fact that the U.S. is the leading incarcerator in the world.  It delivers an indictment of the  judicial system,  a system that prevents many from receiving a fair trial.  By placing comments and images in the public sphere–in close proximity to the offices of judges,  prosecutors and administrators –this project can instigate a conversation with the chief activators engaged in practices contributing to  mass incarceration. 

Art at a Time Like This believes that artists and the power of visual images can inspire a rethinking of the incarceral process which has criminalized entire communities through plea bargaining, mandatory sentences,  judicial biases and prosecutorial misconduct.  

By interjecting these issues into an art-viewing experience, 8x5 raises awareness about a broken justice system, hopefully inspiring the crowds in Miami to engage in debate and take action. 

8X5 Miami Art Week is brought to you by the generosity of Art for Justice Fund, For Freedoms, the Barton Family Foundation,  the law firm of Willkie Farr, Jorge Mora and the Mimi Saltzman Family Foundation.