Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami Is in Turmoil

Babacar M’Bow, right, and the publisher Noor Blazekovic, in the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami. CreditAngel valentin for The New York Times

In a somewhat bizarre arrangement, scholars gathered at the Museum of Contemporary Art here this weekend for a symposium led by a man whom city officials view as the museum’s director and who museum officials regard as an impostor. It was scheduled despite objections from the museum’s board, which ultimately gave up its effort to cancel the event inside the museum’s city-owned building.

So the symposium, sponsored by the Florida Africana Studies Consortium, went forward, even though part of the program, “What Happens When Politics of Class and Culture Collide,” featured blunt criticism of the board and its actions. Welcome to the circus that is the Museum of Contemporary Art these days.

The symposium, held on Friday and Saturday at the museum, was led by the African scholarBabacar M’Bow, formerly the international programs and exhibit coordinator for the Broward County Libraries Division and the man appointed by the City of North Miami to lead the museum as director. But his appointment has been rejected by the museum board, and the symposium began just days before a court-ordered mediation meeting on Monday that could determine the future of the museum here.

The Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami. CreditAngel valentin for The New York Times

The dispute between the city and the museum, in which each side has sued the other, erupted when the museum’s trustees proposed a merger with the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach. Museum of Contemporary Art officials said they are considering leaving North Miami, with the 600-piece collection, because it has outgrown its tiny home in the heart of the downtown business district. Hopes to stay put were dashed in 2012, trustees said, when North Miami residents rejected a $15 million bond proposal to finance an ambitious expansion of the city-owned building....Continue Reading

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