Navid Nuur (born in Teheran in 1976) refers to his works as ‘interimodules’ and not sculptures or installations. In his view, the latter are too immobile and rigid to form the desired spatial and temporal link with their environment and the viewer. For the same reason, Nuur rejects the term ‘site specific’, which is often applied to his work. Instead, he choses the term ‘interimodules’ composed of the words ‘interim’ and ‘module’ to describe the envisaged intermediate area. With ‘module’ Navid Nuur draws a connection to his way of thinking and conceptualisation, while he uses the word ‘interim’ to allude to the space and the limited temporal period, thus highlighting above all the processual character of his works. 

The relationship between the artistic concept and the form also plays a key role for him. While the form sometimes has to be subordinated to the conceptual idea, it is never only the result of it. Rather, the form develops through artistic specifications or rules in which, for Nuur, intuition is a decisive factor. The relatively simple structure of his works and the choice of virtually trivial materials, which are usually taken from everyday life, including wax, floral arrangement foam blocks, Polaroid photographs, food, a rubbish container and packaging materials, taken from past shows or from the museal institutions, are part of his artistic set of rules. In addition, Navid Nuur always closely links his works and their titles, thus stressing the context and the thematic statement. A graphic example of this is the work I am just an idea between the tape and the wall (2008), which consists of a piece of yellow adhesive tape attached to the wall whose title can be read on the back, in the area between the wall and the adhesive tape. 

For his solo exhibition at the Kunsthalle Fridericianum Navid Nuur will present a comprehensive ensemble of his ‘interimodules’, which with their variety invite the viewer to delve into his artistic world of thought in the in-between realm. The works on view will include Vein of Venus II (2008), which concurrently focuses on the relation between a micro and a macro world. Let us meet inside you (2006-2009) is a work which Nuur redeveloped for THE VALUE OF VOID at the Fridericianum. The work originally consisted of a water dispenser, where a notebook, in which the words ‘let us meet inside you’ were written, was attached to the water tank by a belt of the artist. While looking through the water tank the words could be espied by the viewer. In Kassel this work will consist of a wall composed of 7000 water bottles in crates. These will be filled with Kassel water from a tap which in turn comes from Navid Nuur's studio. As a result, this work additionally takes on the character of a long-term performance. This wall stands across from a wall composed of floral arrangement foam blocks. At the top and on the outside edges, Navid Nuur puts dents with his own fingers in the material, thus he is leaving “more and more emotional marks on the rational block”, according to the artist. 

Furthermore, the work Citysoil and Tentacle Thought Nr. 5 will be on display. The neon piece Tentacle Thought was created in relation to Nuur’s show in Berlin, and its moving to another venue depends on the special conditions of the exhibition space in the matter of light and material as the artist explains: “seeing light as a matter and not just as light, which can display an artwork better.”

The Board of Trustees of Miami Art Museum has appointed John Wetenhall as the museum’s interim director while it undertakes a search for the next director of the institution. Wetenhall will officially start on January 4, 2010, and will oversee the day-to-day operations of the museum and planning for its new home in Museum Park. 

Wetenhall previously served for eight years as executive director of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL where he was responsible for all aspects of operations, and saw the institution through a period of significant growth and expansion including the addition of four new buildings.

Prior to that, Wetenhall served as director of the Cheekwood Museum of Art in Nashville, where he participated in a capital improvement project that included the renovation of the museum, establishment of a new contemporary art and education center, and creation of a 1.5-mile woodland sculpture trail.

Wetenhall was a Smithsonian Institution Fellow and has taught at Stanford, Santa Clara University, the University of Minnesota and Florida State University. He earned his B.A. (cum laude) in English Literature at Dartmouth College, M.A. in the History of Art at Williams College, M.A. and Ph.D. at Stanford University, and his M.B.A. at Vanderbilt University. He belongs to the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) and serves on the Boards of the American Association of Museums (AAM) and the U.S. National Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM-US). 

Miami Art Museum trustee Rose Ellen Greene has been appointed to lead the search committee for a permanent director. The new director will oversee the construction phase of Miami Art Museum’s new facility and continue to build the permanent collection and spearhead the fundraising program. Terence Riley, who stepped down as Miami Art Museum’s director in November upon completion of the design and development phase of the building project, continues to oversee development of Miami Art Museum’s new home at Museum Park as project consultant. 

Herzog & de Meuron’s design for new Miami Art Museum at Museum Park generated critical acclaim when it was unveiled on October 21, 2009. Miami Art Museum is scheduled to break ground for its new, expanded facility on Biscayne Bay in 2010. In October 2009, Miami Art Museum premiered the most comprehensive survey of work by Argentine artist Guillermo Kuitca ever presented in North America. Miami Art Museum is South Florida’s largest provider of arts education outside of the Miami Dade Public Schools.