The Contemporary Arts Program (CAP) is a commission-based exhibition series that provides artists with the creative challenge to develop original, site-specific work in response to a historic site.

Since 2006, CAP has provided our visitors with new ways of seeing the historic estate and strengthened relations with contemporary artists. Projects range from long-term installations by individual artists to one-night-only programs featuring the work of several artists. All CAP projects explore themes related to Vizcaya and provide new ways of viewing the estate.

CAP was inspired by the dynamic, creative spirit that characterized Vizcaya’s inception one hundred years ago, and it continues James Deering’s tradition as a patron of the arts. From John Singer Sargent, a house guest who painted watercolors of the estate, to A. Stirling Calder, who sculpted the figures on the Barge, and Robert Winthrop Chanler, creator of the Swimming Pool Grotto ceiling mural, Vizcaya continues a dialogue between the historic and the contemporary.

As was the case one hundred years ago, Vizcaya’s singular sense of place remains the point of departure for artists.