The Honeymoon Miralda Project

Antoni Miralda was born in Terrassa, Barcelona, in 1942 where he grew up in the milieu of a textile manufacturing town. After military service, he moved to Paris in 1962, starting to create sculptural objects and drawings while making a living through his work in photography for fashion magazines. In 1967 he began to create 'food sculptures' working with organic materials and with objects from popular culture. He also started to collaborate with other artists in creating participatory events with colored food and ceremonial rituals. The small-scale work evolved into large constructions in public sites while the private events grew into complex public ceremonial events involving ritual and color.

In 1971 he moved to New York City, and since then he has lived and worked in the United States and Europe creating public art and installations. In 1979 he was a fellow of the Center for advanced Visual Studies at M.I.T. and began to create a series of art videos and other documentary works. From 1986 to 1992 he developed the Honeymoon Project, a multi-site, international art project of the symbolic wedding of New York's Statue of Liberty with the Columbus Monument in Barcelona.

His projects have appeared at Documenta VI, at the XVII São Paulo Bienal (17a Bienal de São Paulo), at his retrospective exhibition organized by the Caixa de Barcelona and Valencia’s IVAM, and at the Venice Biennale in 1990. His street events in New York City, Kansas City, Las Vegas and Aspen, and his exhibitions in Houston, Philadelphia and Miami, among others, introduced Miralda’s work to the public in North America.

Major publications on Miralda's work include Pierre Restany's Une Vie d'Artiste, the monograph Mona a Barcelona of his exhibition at the Joan Prats Gallery, and the catalog of his retrospective at Barcelona's Fundación 'la Caixa' and Valencia's IVAM, MIRALDA Obras 1965-1995. Others include the catalog of his installation at the Spanish Pavilion in Venice, the catalog of Santa Comida at El Museo del Barrio and the catalog of his retrospective of drawings, ME NUS at the Palau de la Virreina in Barcelona and Sa Nostra at Palma de Mallorca.

Spanish conceptual artist Antoni Miralda conceived of a multi-year, multi-event project marrying the Christopher Columbus Monument in Barcelona to the Statue of Liberty in New York, which would culminate in a wedding ceremony is Las Vegas in 1992. Miralda contacted the Nevada Arts Council (then known as the Nevada State Council on the Arts) in 1990 to seek sponsorship and logistical support for the wedding, which was finally held in the Calico Basin portion of the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The Council agreed to take on the project, and assigned Kirk Robertson, then Director of Program for the Arts Council, as project manager in Nevada. The Honeymoon Project received international attention. Materials include correspondence, project ephemera, and press materials.

• 1 Correspondence Planning: 1991
• 2 Project Materials: 1988 – 1992
• 3 Press Materials: 1988 – 2016

• CAE1206: Nevada Arts Council: Save Outdoor Sculpture!