Snows of exile: Enrique Martinez Celaya’s Schneebett at the Miami Art Museum

The entry into this room at the Miami Art Museum, built specifically for this exhibit and seemingly recessed from the main gallery, is startlingly dark.

A dim light ahead suggests the way forward, but meanwhile a loud humming, or more like a chugging sound, fills the space, emanating from an almost old-fashioned looking machine. Turn the corner, and a bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling reveals a solitary chair, a somber antechamber. The view from the chair is of a bed, also lit by a single light bulb, which in turn has its own view out into a winter forest with trees covered in snow, bereft of leaves. Although the doorway to this third room is blocked by a low fence built of branches, look closely and the bed is covered, literally, in a frozen blanket with pillow.