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Oct. 19, 2026

— 12 artists will exhibit site-specific installations at iconic Miami Beach area hotels with $35,000 in prize money up for grabs during Art Week Miami Beach —

Miami Beach, FL — The City of Miami Beach, with the support of the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority (MBVCA) and the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB), is pleased to announce the return of No Vacancy, Miami Beach — a juried art competition that supports and celebrates local artists, provokes critical discourse and encourages the public to experience Miami Beach’s famed hotels as art destinations. For the seventh edition of the competition, No Vacancy, Miami Beach 2026 will include 12 participating artists who will present site-specific works at 12 different hotels throughout Miami Beach. The call to artists received 228 applications, a record amount. The works will be displayed from November 12 through December 19, 2026.

Each selected artist will receive a $10,000 honorarium to create an installation at an assigned hotel. A call to artists was issued by the City and participants were selected by a Committee composed of representatives from the City of Miami Beach Art in Public Places Committee, Cultural Arts Council and MBVCA.

For the seventh iteration, two prizes will be awarded, totaling $35,000: a $10,000 public prize presented by the GMCVB and a $25,000 juried prize selected by a panel of art world professionals.

Participating Hotels and Projects No Vacancy, Miami Beach 2026:

  • Avalon Hotel / Morel Doucet
    Artist Morel Doucet reimagines South Florida’s tropical flora as a nocturnal meditation on resilience, cultural memory, diasporic experience and environmental change.
  • Balfour Hotel Miami Beach / Luján Candria
    Artist Luján Candria transforms hotel windows with translucent photo-based textiles depicting native South Florida vegetation, placing memory, nature and urban transformation in dialogue.
  • The Betsy Hotel / Ricardo E. Zulueta
    Artist Ricardo E. Zulueta presents a video installation mapped onto The Betsy Orb’s glowing surface, combining experimental animation, glitching and ambient sound to evoke change, adaptation and renewal.
  • Casa Faena / Kevin Arrow
    Artist Kevin Arrow draws upon decades of eclectic 35mm collected throughout South Florida to create an immersive installation exploring tangible media, place, time and the codification of memory.
  • Eden Roc Miami Beach / Emmett Moore
    Artist Emmett Moore sculpts a knotted stainless steel exhaust pipe reflecting on gas-powered machines, obsolescence and the relationship between technology and the environment.
  • Hotel Croydon Miami Beach / Justin H. Long
    Artist Justin H. Long reveals a fictional collection of undersea relics in an Art Deco display cabinet, blending maritime history, myth and imagined archaeology.
  • International Inn / Lulu Sanchez
    Artist Lulu Sanchez creates a luminous sculptural arboretum of hand-built palms honoring Miami’s subtropical ecology and the city’s legacy of public art.
  • Kimpton Surfcomber Hotel / Alex Nuñez
    Artist Alex Nuñez transforms South Florida’s landscape into a sculptural environment of printed palms and an iridescent portal evoking memory, change and renewal.
  • Marriott Stanton South Beach / Marlon Portales
    Artist Marlon Portales showcases two monumental paintings examining identity, displacement, memory and the relationship between the body and an imagined Cuban landscape.
  • The Royal Palm South Beach Miami / Diana Eusebio
    Artist Diana Eusebio utilizes textiles, photography and natural dyes to consider displacement, rootedness and the search for safety through the landscape of Miami.
  • The Shelborne by Proper / Yanira Collado
    Artist Yanira Collado uses upcycled paper, wood and textiles to trace geography, material culture and regional histories, unearthing erased narratives of labor, diaspora, spirituality and ingenuity through a layered, site-specific installation.
  • Sherry Frontenac OceanFront Resort / Gonzalo Hernández
    Artist Gonzalo Hernández assembles seven jacquard-woven banners spelling A-M-E-R-I-C-A in colors drawn from South American flags, reflecting on language, national identity, movement across borders and place.

Funding for this project is provided by the City of Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council, Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority as well as the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. For additional information, please visit miamibeachfl.gov/no-vacancy.

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About the City of Miami Beach Art in Public Places Committee
The Art in Public Places Committee is a seven-member City Commission-appointed citizens’ board responsible for the commission and purchase of artwork by contemporary artists in all media. The program allocates funds totaling 2% of hard costs for city projects and joint private/public projects. Funds from construction projects may be aggregated into the Art in Public Places Fund and allocated for artwork at public sites and for collection maintenance.

About the City of Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council
The Cultural Arts Council (CAC) is an 11-member body created in 1997 for the purpose of developing, coordinating and promoting the performing and visual arts in the City of Miami Beach. The CAC serves as arts advocates before governmental bodies, coordinates collective marketing initiatives for the local arts community and funds not-for-profit arts organizations. Since the program’s inception, the CAC has awarded approximately $18 million in cultural arts grants, supporting thousands of performances, exhibits, and other cultural activities in Miami Beach.

About the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority (MBVCA)
The MBVCA is a seven-member authority, appointed by the City of Miami Beach Commission, with the goal of encouraging, developing and promoting the image of Miami Beach locally, nationally and internationally as an outstanding tourist destination. To this end, the MBVCA strategically focuses its funding investments in a balanced manner, fostering outstanding existing programs, stimulating new activities and encouraging partnerships. The MBVCA is committed to a careful, long-term plan for allocation of resources to help Miami Beach thrive as a destination with something for everyone.

About the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau (GMCVB)
The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau is an accredited, independent not-for-profit sales and marketing organization whose mission is to attract visitors to Greater Miami & Miami Beach for leisure, business, meetings and conventions. To get further engaged with Greater Miami & Miami Beach, join the conversation by following us on our social media channels: Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest.

Press Contact

cityofmiamibeach@culturalcounsel.com

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To request this material in alternate format, sign language interpreter (five-day notice required), information on access for persons with disabilities, and/or any accommodation to review any document or participate in any city-sponsored proceedings, call 305.604.2ADA (2232) and select 1 for English or 2 for Spanish, then option 6; TTY users may call via 711 (Florida Relay Service).

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