Remembering Rauschenberg’s decades in Florida Rauschenberg's presence during Miami Art Week
By J. Cabelle Ahn
From Munich to Hong Kong, this year has been crowded with centennial tributes to Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008), whom the critic Robert Hughes described in 2006 as “the most important American artist of the last century”. Even with this global influence, Florida remained the artist’s centre of gravity for four decades, as materials and collaborators from the Sunshine State powered many of his breakthroughs—from his experiments with cardboard and scrap metal to the Rauschenberg Overseas Cultural Interchange (Roci), a seven-year programme that positioned art as cultural diplomacy at the tail end of the Cold War.
As Miami Art Week again convenes the art world in Florida, Rauschenberg’s presence in the state both widens and narrows. Beyond the presence of his work on the stands of Gladstone Gallery and Thaddaeus Ropac at Art Basel Miami Beach, two projects here mark the moment. Robert Rauschenberg: Real Time at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale (until 26 April 2026) is one of the artist’s final centennial exhibitions, while the book Out of the Real World: Robert Rauschenberg at USF Graphicstudio will be published later this month to highlight the artist’s extensive collaboration with the Tampa print workshop.
Yet the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation announced this past summer that it would end its prestigious artist residency on Captiva Island and sell Rauschenberg’s home and studio there. Coming amid the year-long celebration of the artist’s legacy, this decision warrants a look back at how Rauschenberg’s Florida years shaped his ambitions and accomplishments.
