TALKS: Artist and Curator Speaker Series

Locust Projects is proud to announce the return of its acclaimed CURATOR TALKS speaker series and the inaugural season of a new ARTIST TALKS series. Launching this spring, this FREE programming series brings some of today's most significant curatorial and artistic voices directly to Miami audiences.

CURATOR TALKS kicks off on Wednesday, March 25, marking Locust Projects' relaunch of the celebrated series it originally founded in 2013. ARTIST TALKS follows on April 8, inviting past Locust Projects exhibition artists back to Miami to reflect on their experience at the space and the evolution of their work and careers. CURATOR TALKS and ARTIST TALKS are made possible with a CreARTE grant from The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation at The Miami Foundation, and CURATOR TALKS are presented by Vivant with additional support from the Grob Gift Fund, The Wege Foundation, and The Vagabond Hotel Miami.

Together, the two series deepen Locust Projects' long-standing commitment to expanding access to contemporary art and ideas in Miami — connecting local audiences with leading voices shaping the field, and providing Miami-based artists with invaluable direct feedback through studio visits with visiting curators.

“We’re delighted to bring back CURATOR TALKS and launch an exciting new ARTIST TALKS speaker series,” says Lorie Mertes, Executive Director, “these dynamic speakers representing leading voices in contemporary art will activate our space as a hub for gathering and build lasting networks between artists and audiences across Miami looking for access to relevant, thought-provoking talks on new art and ideas.” 

Since its founding in 2013, Locust Talks has become one of Miami's premier platforms for engagement with contemporary curatorial thinking. Now returning home to Locust Projects, CURATOR TALKS presents four curators per season — a mix of emerging and established voices — who share their curatorial vision and practice, the artists and ideas that fuel their work, and how they support artists across institutional and non-traditional contexts.

A defining feature of the CURATOR TALKS series is its commitment to meaningful local exchange: each visiting curator participates in studio visits with Miami-based artists, offering vital critical feedback and professional visibility to the city's creative community. This direct artist engagement remains central to the series' mission of broadening access to contemporary curatorial practice beyond major art centers.

In its inaugural season, the new ARTIST TALKS series invites past Locust Projects exhibition artists back to Miami to reflect on their time at the space and trace the arc of their practice and careers in the years since. Each talk offers Miami audiences a rare, in-depth conversation with artists whose work has been central to Locust Projects' programming — and whose practices continue to shape contemporary art.

ABOUT THE HISTORY OF LOCUST TALKS

Locust Talks was founded by Locust Projects in 2013 with support from the Knight Foundation as a curatorial speaker series with studio visits for local artists. From 2013 to 2017, the series presented talks by Michael Darling, Fairfax Dorn, Peter Eleey, Lauri Firstenberg, Massimiliano Gioni, Louis Grachos, Jens Hoffmann, Tina Kukielski, Anne Pasternak, Jenelle Porter, Mary Ceruti, Nancy Spector, Franklin Sirmans, Ali Subotnik, and many others, with Miami artists benefiting from curator studio visits throughout.

From spring 2018 to spring 2024, Talks was co-produced and presented with Oolite Arts, featuring 36 talks that supported more than 180 Miami-based artists with studio visits. Speakers during that period included Wassan Al-Khudhairi, Naomi Beckwith, Valerie Cassel Oliver, Erin Christovale, Lynne Cooke, Adrienne Edwards, Rita Gonzalez, Deana Haggag, Rujeko Hockley, Helen Molesworth, Humberto Moro, Diana Nawi, Larry Ossei-Mensah, Jose Roca, Nato Thompson, Olga Viso, Hamza Walker, Julie Rodrigues Widholm, Heidi Zuckerman, and critic Jerry Saltz, among many others.