Inside the Opening of Alex Israel and Snapchat’s Exhibition at The Bass Museum in Miami

Last night, the artist Alex Israel and Snap co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel unveiled Alex Israel x Snapchat, a new collaborative installation at The Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach. 

The exhibition features 5 of Israel’s signature self-portraits-in-profile, albeit with an augmented reality frisson: open Snapchat, scan one of Israel’s heads, and you may find a pelican flying from his skull, the man himself painting his contours in neon, and a ride through acid-trippy Los Angeles. Or a dancing avocado.

“We’re all seeming to be dancing on social media right now,” said Israel in a panel with Spiegel, which was moderated by the curator Hans Ulrich Obrist. “I wanted to create an elaborate excuse to make a little dance.” The implication was that Israel is looking to our behavior on social media to fuel his work, and that Snapchat made for an optimal partner in the field. 

Israel and Spiegel delved into some interesting territory during their talk, particularly in regards to our relationships with cameras. 

“We saw that people would ultimately be using cameras and images as a way to communicate,” said Spiegel. “People create and send around 5 billion Snaps a day.” Augmented reality, then, will play an ever-increasing role in this format of exchange; Snap considers AR a core focus, and Israel’s work on view in Miami is a fun teaser of what’s possible (though AR tech is still relatively lo-fi). 

Attendees included Spiegel’s wife, Miranda Kerr, Alexandre Arnault and Geraldine Guyot, and more. The crowd, energized given it was the unofficial first night of Art Basel, filtered out in good spirits after Israel’s sign-off: “I just hope that when Evan is president, I get to do the presidential portrait.” Let’s hope he includes the dancing avocado. 

Alex Israel x Snapchat runs at The Bass Museum of Art until May 1, 2022.