The Estate as the Aleph

The Estate as the Aleph - Drawing on Borges's short story and concept of "a place where, without admixture or confusion, all the places of the world, seen from every angle, coexist," this workshop will ask participants to write short ekphrastic poems or fragments of flash fiction in conversation with the works in the 2025 Deering Contemporary, Unraveled Tales. Featuring both international and Miami-based artists, this exhibition presents site-specific works that invite viewers to reflect on our connection to the land and the stories of the past that shape our present. "Every language is an alphabet of symbols the employment of which assumes a past shared by its interlocutors," Borges wrote. "How can one transmit to others the infinite Aleph, which my timorous memory can scarcely contain?"

We will visit different sites over the course of two hours and read poems and short excerpts, and respond with an eye towards bending time and space and embracing the ability of art to soothe and interpret during moments of change and overwhelm.

Participants should bring their own notebooks and writing utensils.

Sunday, March 9th, 2025

3:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Begins at the Richmond Cottage and Stone House courtyard.

This event is a part of the monthly Meet the AIRs program. Meet the AIRs takes place on the second Sunday of each month.

About the Artist-in-Residence:

Francess Archer Dunbar is a writer, poet, and amateur fortune teller. Her work is place-based, and often draws on her hometown's strange history, as well as collective anxieties about microplastics, algorithms, rising tides, and other forces of everyday invasion. She teaches and archives student poetry with O, Miami’s Sunroom program in public schools, and previously worked with the Miami Book Fair and served on the screening committee for the 41st Miami Film Festival. She is a 2025 AICA Fellow and is working on a novel about a flooded art fair.

About the Deering Estate:

Deering Estate, located at 16701 SW 72 Ave. in Miami, is a 21st Century house museum, cultural and ecological field station, and a national landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places, owned by the State of Florida and managed by Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department. Deering Estate is designated as one of seven Miami Dade County “Heritage Parks” which have a vital role in our community’s history, environment and in providing recreational and cultural experiences.

Cultural Arts Programming at the Deering Estate is made possible with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, and The Deering Estate Foundation, Inc. Programming in the Deering Estate theater is also possible thanks to The Jorge M. Perez Family Foundation at The Miami Foundation.

About the Deering Estate Foundation:

For those who treasure the Deering Estate, who advocate for its preservation and wish to invest in its future, The Deering Estate Foundation provides opportunities for individuals and corporations alike to partake in membership, signature events, and one-of-a-kind experiences, all in service of providing vital funding and support to the Deering Estate. Through these efforts, the foundation fulfills its mission to uphold the legacy of Charles Deering's cherished 1920s-era property, to provide funding for the cultural, educational and recreational experiences it offers, as well as its significant scientific and archaeological endeavors to conserve its diverse flora, fauna and the eight native ecosystems that thrive on its 450 acres, and to ensure its longevity as a prized American heritage site. Established in 1989, The Deering Estate Foundation, Inc. is a community-based charitable 501(c) 3 Florida Corporation and the philanthropic partner of the Deering Estate.

To request materials in accessible format, sign language interpreters, and/or any accommodation to participate in any County-sponsored program or meeting, please contact Miami-Dade Parks ADA Coordinator at 305-755-7848 or email, [email protected], five days in advance to initiate your request. TTY users may also call 711 (Florida Relay Service).

Photography by Ryan Holloway

Host or Publisher Deering Estate