Celebrate the opening of our newest exhibition, Basquiat: Figures, Signs, Symbols, with a high-energy throwback night. Sip on libations while Brainville hosts Carter Jackson-Brown and Kumi Alvarez spin a curated mix of classic punk, hip-hop, and jazz that channel the raw creative pulse of 1980s New York.
Thoughout the evening, explore the galleries, create art, and stop by our waterfront restaurant Verde.
About Brainville
Brainville is currently a live music presentation platform and free-form based “multi-media” educational outreach program designed to bring various communities together in celebration of the avant-garde. A Mister Roger’s Jazz Emporium located on Sesame Street type venture: “A place in the space of your mind…where Sun Ra is the Mayor and Charles Mingus is the Chief of Police.”
About Carter Jackson-Brown
Carter Jackson-Brown was born and raised in Austin, TX, where he studied music/film and produced several radio programs at the community and NPR level before relocating to Miami in 2005. In 2016, he co-founded the radio and live music presentation platform, inspired by the legacy of sonic-futurist and eccentric composer/bandleader Sun Ra, called Brainville, alongside his co-conspirator and creative partner James “Kumi” Alvarez aka DJ Kumi of Rum & Coke fame.
Together they produced Brainville, a well received radio program that initially debuted on Klangbox.fm (2016–2017), and later along with the endless support of Koumba “Kozma” McKinnon aka The Oracle, at local Jazz station WDNA 88.9fm (2018–2025) in tandem with a bevy of now legendary live shows throughout Miami-Dade.
About Kumi Alvarez
For the past two decades, Kumi has earned the reputation of being a uniquely versatile DJ capable of curating a euphoric musical journey fusing genres such as soul, hip-hop, Afrobeat, funk, breaks, top 40 hits, Latin, house, dance classics, and more. Kumi has DJ’d alongside Anitta, Questlove, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Elijah Wood, DJ Yella (from NWA), Peanutbutter Wolf, Madlib, J-Rocc, Maseo (from De La Soul), Quantic, and Ondratropica, and Kid Capri to name a few.
Kumi is the host of “Brainville”, a fan favorite of WDNA 88.9 FM Miami featuring worldly avant-garde jazz. Kumi also co-founded “Rum & Coke Miami”, a monthly vintage Afro-Caribbean Latin dance party as well as the accompanying radio show “Radio Karibe” on Klangbox.fm.
About Basquiat: Figures, Signs, Symbols
Featuring 10 masterworks by Jean-Michel Basquiat from the Kenneth C. Griffin Collection, this exhibition is the largest presentation of the artist’s work to date in Florida. In a brief yet remarkably prolific career, Basquiat emerged as a defining artist of the twentieth century and remains deeply relevant today. Shaped in part by a childhood spent visiting museums in New York City, Basquiat’s work draws on a wide range of references—from world history and Renaissance anatomical studies to broader art-historical traditions. His practice was equally informed by the clubs and vernacular culture of 1980s New York, where he engaged with musicians and artists across the emerging worlds of hip-hop, punk, fashion, and film.
Bringing together the visual vocabulary of the time and his own heritage as the child of a Puerto Rican mother and Haitian father, Basquiat borrowed and remixed imagery from comic books, corporate logos, and graffiti. This exhibition explores his expansive artistic vocabulary, in which portraiture merges with coded language and a dynamic pictorial energy driven by color, line, and gesture.
