Germane Barnes’ Rock | Roll: The 2022 Miami Design District Annual Commission

Each winter, the Miami Design District commissions a creative studio to reimagine the environment of the neighborhood through a public installation. Woven through the Design District’s main passageways, the installation engages the native trees, architecture, and outdoor sculpture to create a unique experience for visitors.

Following a competitive, invitation-only proposal process directed by Anava Projects, Miami-based architect Germane Barnes was awarded the 2022 commission. His winning concept, Rock | Roll, was conceived as a multifaceted, multi-scale installation that draws on the vibrant visual language of Miami Carnival to honor the BIPOC communities that have substantially contributed to Miami’s one-of-a-kind, polyethnic culture, from the city’s earliest foundations to today.

For the neighborhood’s central pedestrian corridors, Barnes designed a series of whimsical, larger-than-life seating capsules that rock back-and-forth when activated by users and feature colorful, shaggy surfaces reminiscent of Carnival’s hallmark feathered costumes. With a nod to steel drums and the infectious joy of Soca music, Barnes also designed brightly hued wind chimes, hundreds of which hung like melody-making ornaments in the lush native trees and palms planted throughout the neighborhood. Rock | Roll included an architectural-scale, free-floating dome recalling a giant disco ball in both form and function. Suspended far overhead and animated by light and sound, the shiny, faceted structure served as a programmatic marker to an outdoor gathering space enlivened by multiple events and Carnival-inspired playlists.

As Barnes explains: “I saw this project as an opportunity to celebrate the unique character of the city that has become my adopted home and the subject of much of my most prominent research. Rock | Roll is an ode to the joyful spirit that persists in Miami’s Black communities—a spirit of self-care that is so perfectly embodied in Miami Carnival culture. This city would not be what it is today without significant contributions from people who, on the one hand, look like me, and on the other reflect deep ties to places beyond Miami, especially the Caribbean and Latin America. The moral to the story is that there is space for everyone here.”

On view Fall 2022 to Summer 2023. Rock | Roll was also presented at the Design Miami/ fair entrance from November 29-December 4, 2022.

Read more about the project and Germane Barnes’ practice here.