The Tribune

WITH the vision to exclusively use Bahamian visual art across Baha Mar’s $3.5 billion campus, the curatorial art team at the luxury resort has created a brand of its own, The Current, which will define and present dynamic art programming.

Electrifying the intersection between the Baha Mar brand and the Bahamian art community, The Current gives agency to the presence of Bahamian art within the development and creates a hub for the compelling experience of Bahamian visual culture for both guests and Bahamians alike.

The Current - a name chosen by the team itself - is the perfect symbol for the driving force behind the creative experience, said Creative Arts Director John Cox.

“Everything that The Current stands for symbolised through metaphor could really be seen as a great enhancer to the property,” said Mr Cox. “I feel like the art programme at Baha Mar for the moment is a significant driving force of the brand, and there is a driving force to the current in terms of water, as well as the local reference to electricity.

“I think my favourite reference of the title beyond its aquatic one is the ‘now’ reference - the contemporary one,” he added. “Now is the time. I love that it’s our voice - the current voice - and it’s the current place, and it’s the current thought. In contemporary art, there is a big emphasis on the now.”

The Current will be the unifying force behind the collective art moments across Baha Mar, from distinguishing the special and sophisticated vibes of the public and private spaces within each hotel brand to launching and maintaining a network of art spaces across the development with provocative programming.

Three art galleries, under the umbrella of The Current, will create special and sophisticated experiences of visual art for its guests as well as broaden opportunities for visibility for the thriving local art community, said Mr Cox.

“My goal is to have The Current develop a creative community that revolves around visual practice - we want to make our space the centre of the art experience,” he explained. “We want to invite people into the creative environment. Then we will grow naturally.”

At the centre of this creative community is the self-titled gallery and studio space, The Current, which will be located at the foot of the Convention Centre Bridge in December. With a fully-stocked art studio for residencies and workshops, a gallery space for exhibitions and lectures, and a retail space to offer a range of Bahamian art products to Baha Mar guests, The Current provides an opportunity for exciting contemporary creative exchange between Bahamian artists and the global artistic community.

In The Glass Window, the gallery which will be located in the Convention Centre, The Current will hold exhibitions that explore the depth of Bahamian visual creativity and history through their partnerships with the Dawn Davies and D’Aguilar Art Foundation collections.

Meanwhile, The Glass Bridge suggests a significant connection with its sister gallery, but offers a departure by focusing on contemporary, project-based exhibitions by emerging artists. Located in The Melia, it will offer candid examinations of creative ebb and flow while also providing a significant platform for up-and-coming artists to present their work to a wider global audience.

Already The Current is launching its first artist-in-residence programme as Piaget Moss and Veronica Dorsett work in the temporary studio space towards the inaugural exhibition in The Glass Bridge which will take place in late July.

This inaugural exhibition not only promises to set a high bar for future art programming at Baha Mar, but will also debut the team working with Mr Cox in The Current: Project Manager Christina Hermanns, Project Coordinators Cydne Coleby, Khia Poitier and Richardo Barrett, and Art and Archive Collections Coordinator Sonia Farmer.

Moving forward, Cox is excited to see how the team can help elevate Bahamian art in the global discourse.

“The team is extremely important - The Current is nothing without the team,” said Mr Cox.

“The team is made of people who have the artistic intelligence to understand the bigger picture, the bigger moment, and the minute we reside in.”

“But I kind of feel like The Current is a whole and it involves the creative community in the Bahamas as much as it involves the team,” he added. “The team is here to support, create opportunity, expose and project all of the efforts of the artists. You need both sides in order to work.”

For more about The Current, e-mail art@bahamar.com.