Every Sound is a Shape of Time

(MIAMI, FL)— Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) is pleased to present Every Sound Is a Shape of Time, a multidisciplinary exhibition featuring over 20 works by 17 artists including painting, sculpture, and lightwork. Curated by PAMM Director Franklin Sirmans, the exhibition showcases works from the museum’s collection made between 1958 and 2020—half of which will be presented for the first time

The title of the exhibition, Every Sound Is a Shape of Time, alludes to Cuban artist Glenda León’s work, inspired by “the space where sound and the visual merge. ” The exhibition speaks to the interconnectedness between universal elements through the various multimedia artworks on view, centered around the core elements of beauty and humanism, and grounded in the strength of a plurality of voices.

“With Every Sound Is a Shape of Time, we’re excited to bring together works that reflect on the common threads that emerge from our collection.”

— PAMM Director Franklin Sirmans

Morris Louis. Delta Eta, 1960. Acrylic resin on canvas. 105 1/4 x 231 inches. Collection Pérez Art Museum Miami, gift of the Estate of Morris Louis. © Pérez Art Museum Miami

Core to Every Sound Is a Shape of Time is Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar’s neon lightwork, I Can't Go On. I'll Go On. (2016). Two other works by Jaar further ground the show, including Europa (1994), his monumental installation responding to the Bosnian War and the indifference in response to this crisis in the early 1990s. Also of note in the exhibition is an entire gallery space showcasing several of the first acquisitions made by the museum, which include works by leading figures in Post-Painterly Abstraction of the 1950s and 1960s such as Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis. This group of artists strived to create something new in a moment of tumult and friction between abstraction and representation, as well as the parallel divide between inner and outer worlds in contemporary art’s subject matter.

Installation view: Every Sound is a Shape of Time: Selections from PAMM's Collection, Pérez Art Museum Miami, 2024–25. Photo: Oriol Tarridas

Participating artists include Abraham Cruzvillegas, Alfredo Jaar, Ellsworth Kelly, Glenda León, Helen Frankenthaler, Jennie C. Jones, Jules Olitski, Julie Mehretu, Lawrence Weiner, Luis Camnitzer, Lydia Okumura, Mark Bradford, Morris Louis, Nicole Cherubini, Richard Serra, Richard Dupont, and Robert Morris. Every Sound Is a Shape of Time: Selections from PAMM's Collection is organized by PAMM Director Franklin Sirmans with PAMM Curatorial Assistant Fabiana A. Sotillo.

Jennie C. Jones. Constant Structure, 2020. Acrylic on canvas. 12 x 90 inches, overall. Collection Pérez Art Museum Miami, museum purchase with funds provided by PAMM’s Collectors Council, with additional funds provided by Alexander Guest and Camille and Patrick McDowell. ©Jennie C. Jones. Courtesy the artist and PATRON Gallery, Chicago. Photo: Pierre Le Hors

ABOUT PAMM

Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), led by Director Franklin Sirmans, promotes artistic expression and the exchange of ideas, advancing public knowledge and appreciation of art, architecture, and design, and reflecting the diverse community of its pivotal geographic location at the crossroads of the Americas. The nearly 40-year-old South Florida institution, formerly known as Miami Art Museum (MAM), opened a new building, designed by world-renowned architects Herzog & de Meuron, on December 4, 2013 in Downtown Miami’s Maurice A. Ferré Park. The facility is a state-of-the-art model for sustainable museum design and progressive programming and features 200,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor program space with flexible galleries; shaded outdoor verandas; a waterfront restaurant and bar; a museum shop; and an education center with a library, media lab, and classroom spaces.

Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) is Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture. Support is provided by the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners. Additional support is provided by the City of Miami and the Miami OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency (OMNI CRA). Pérez Art Museum Miami is an accessible facility. All contents ©Pérez Art Museum Miami. All rights reserved.

. The exhibition opened on August 8, 2024, and will be on view through March 16, 2025.

For more information about this exhibit and other exhibits currently on view and upcoming, please visit the Pérez Art Museum website here. PAMM can also be found on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook.

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