ICA Miami Buys de la Cruz Collection Building for $25m

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Institute of Contemporary Art Miami (ICA Miami) has acquired the neighbouring building that formerly housed the now closed de la Cruz Collection.

The U.S. $25 million acquisition was fully funded by private contributions, including donations from Miami Design District developer, Craig Robins. Post renovations, the building will add 30,000 square feet (2,800 square metres) to the museum upon completion next year.

ICA Miami will use the new site to display more of its permanent collection, most of which has been in storage, according to ICA’s artistic director, Alex Gartenfeld. The museum also intends to increase public programming, educational initiatives, and open a media gallery.

‘It happens to coincide with the close of our ten-year anniversary,’ Gartenfeld told the Miami Herald. ‘It coincides with us welcoming over one million visitors,’ Gartenfeld said. ‘It really does feel like an affirmation of our mission, which is free access to the best in arts and education.’

The de la Cruz Collection was run by Cuban-born businessman Carlos de la Cruz and his late wife Rosa, who made their holdings available to the public for 15 years. After Rosa’s death at age 81 in February, the collection, which featured works by renowned artists such as Mark Bradford, Ana Mendieta, and Christopher Wool, went to auction at Christie’s in May. The first sale netted U.S. $34 million.

The sales of Rosa’s collection drew criticism from the local art community as Hyperallergic reported, noting some viewed it as ‘an invaluable loss’. Questions were raised around the viability of relying on private art collections to support Miami’s cultural ecosystem.

The de la Cruzes, who fled Fidel Castro’s Cuba to Miami in the 1960s, were known to support local artists and dedicated part of their collection to contemporary Latin American art. Works by Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Mendieta notably broke records at Christie’s May auctions.

From 2009, the Collection served as a crucial exhibition space and a regular stop for visitors to Art Basel Miami Beach (6–8 December 2024). In a statement to the Herald, Carlos said he was ‘really happy to have helped the ICA to grow’.

‘Of course, it took an unhappy occasion for the opportunity to arise,’ said Gartenfeld.

He notes, nonetheless, that the acquisition will allow ICA Miami to ‘carry on, in some way, the great legacy that the de la Cruzes have created as pioneers in the Design District’. —[O]

Main image: ICA Miami, Exterior. Courtesy Miami Design District. Photo: Jill Peters.