By Coral Gables Gazette staff
Visual artist and researcher Amalia Caputo will turn memory and personal objects into sources of creativity during an interactive Open Studio at the Coral Gables Museum. The free session, part of The Summer of THINGS series curated by The Things Lab, takes place on Wednesday, September 10, from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
A gathering of the creative community
Every other Wednesday, the Coral Gables Museum hosts participatory mixers designed to shift the experience of art from viewing to making. The Summer of THINGS invites visitors to step into the creative process, connecting personal histories with broader cultural themes.
For this session, Caputo encourages participants to bring three to five personal objects—treasured keepsakes, found items, or belongings they may be ready to release. These objects become the foundation for reflection, storytelling, and artistic exploration. The format is hands-on, designed to create a relaxed, collaborative environment where art emerges from everyday possessions.
The series is also a lead-up to the museum’s fall exhibition, 100 Years of Coral Gables Through Objects. By engaging with personal artifacts, visitors contribute to a citywide dialogue about the power of objects to hold and transmit meaning across generations.
Caputo’s approach
Caputo’s work bridges visual art, art history, and research. Born in Caracas and now based in Miami, she has established a practice that blends scholarship with artistic innovation. Her focus includes the intersection of womanhood, nature, and feminism, as well as photography’s transformation in the digital age. She is particularly interested in historical omissions and how memory is constructed and reimagined.
A signature element of her practice is the creation of large-scale visual atlases—constellations of photographs, videos, and objects that capture the fragile but generative nature of memory. These projects explore how fragments combine to tell larger stories, reminding viewers that recollection is never static but always in flux.
Caputo has held solo exhibitions at the Deering Estate, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo del Zulia in Venezuela, and the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood. With a studio based in Coral Gables, she remains deeply connected to the local community, making her Open Studio an especially resonant program for the museum.
What attendees can expect
The evening begins with an open bar hour featuring LALO Tequila from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., followed by a cash bar offering wine and beer. Young Associate Members of the museum receive an additional complimentary drink ticket, reinforcing the social atmosphere of the event.
From 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Caputo will lead participants through a series of storytelling and art-making exercises centered on the objects they bring. The program emphasizes sharing stories, reflecting on memories, and considering how ordinary things can spark extraordinary narratives. The activities are designed for adults 18 and older and prioritize inclusivity, collaboration, and creative discovery.
For many attendees, the appeal lies as much in the social component as in the artistic one. The Open Studio creates space to connect with other participants, meet artists, and experience the museum in a new way—less as a gallery and more as a communal studio.
The larger frame
The Things Lab, which curates the Summer of THINGS, seeks to activate creativity through everyday objects. By situating this work within the Coral Gables Museum, the program reinforces the institution’s role as a site where cultural history and personal experience converge. The fall centennial exhibition, 100 Years of Coral Gables Through Objects, will extend this theme to the entire community, connecting individual lives to the shared story of the city.
This programming underscores a larger transformation in how museums function. Increasingly, they are not only keepers of history but also incubators of creativity. In Coral Gables, the museum has become a venue where audiences participate directly in shaping meaning, strengthening the bond between local residents and cultural institutions.
A night out with meaning
For those who attend, Open Studio: Amalia Caputo offers an evening that combines reflection, artistic experimentation, and social connection. It is an opportunity to pause midweek, reconsider the role of personal objects in shaping identity, and engage with a leading voice in contemporary art.
In Coral Gables—a city built on both architectural heritage and cultural imagination—the event reminds us that history is not only preserved in buildings and archives but also carried in the things we choose to keep, display, or release.
