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If you’ve wandered through Miami Design District lately and felt like you were being quietly watched, don’t worry, it’s art (very good art). J’OUVERT, a new open-air installation by British-Trinidadian artist Zak Ové, has taken over Jungle Plaza with a dramatic, museum-scale scene—and it’s completely free to experience.
At the center of the plaza rises the Mothership Connection, a nearly 30-foot-tall totem that stacks architectural forms into something that feels like both a monument and a spacecraft. It pulls visual cues from African iconography, civic arches and sacred geometry, then tops the whole thing with an oversized female Mende mask. (The title is a nod to Parliament-Funkadelic.)
But the real goosebump moment comes when you look around. The tower is encircled by 40 identical graphite figures, each just over six feet tall, with their arms lifted in a declarative stance. These sculptures, part of Ové’s Invisible Man and the Masque of Blackness series, form a ring that transforms Jungle Plaza into a closer approximation of a ritual ground. Their presence is intentionally repetitive and confrontational, asserting visibility and stillness in a public space that usually prioritizes movement.
This is Ové’s first solo presentation in Miami, continuing the Design District’s habit of dropping museum-caliber work directly into the city’s daily flow. The installation is on view through February 9, but it doesn't exist in a bubble: it’s also paired with a lineup of free public programming that includes guided art tours, Caribbean-inspired dance classes, live music, workshops and an artist talk in collaboration with the Pérez Art Museum.
You don’t need a ticket, a reservation or an art history degree to take it in. Just walk into Jungle Plaza and let the scale do the rest.