The Department of Reflection’s De-Code Compliance Team has been assessing publicly accessible outdoor areas since the Spring of 2021. Who does our public infrastructure truly serve and how are these dynamics visibly apparent in our common areas? How can we collectively better address these concerns? DoR’s De-Code Compliance Team (currently Jenna Balfe, Najja Moon, and misael soto) conducts exploratory field research to find out the answers to these and other questions via alternative methods. The public is invited to watch and engage with us as we work. Findings are offered to related institutions afterwards.
Previous De-Code Compliance Assessments:
April 17, 2021
Special Commission on Roads
8th Street & Ocean Drive, Miami Beach
with team members Jenna Balfe, Najja Moon, and misael soto
August 21, 2021
Project Art Distribution (P.A.D.), SoHo, New York City (as part of DoR to Door)
with team member misael soto
Our De-Code Compliance Team was on hand to audit Project Art Distribution’s operations, assessing the project’s relationship to the municipality and beyond as both a DIY institution and member of the community.
August 31, 2021
Dimensions Variable, Miami
with team members Jenna Balfe, Najja Moon, and misael soto
February 2-6, 2022
Deering Estate, Miami (as part of Prelude to 2100)
with team members Jenna Balfe and misael soto
Taking place at the Deering Estate over the course of four nights, team members Jenna Balfe and misael soto conducted exploratory field research along the driveway, pathways, and common areas of the historically preserved estate to unearth layers of usage history, enhancing our understanding of its place in contemporary and future Miami.
August 24, 2023
Poor Farm’s Living in the Play Residency, Monte Castello di Vibio, Italy
with team member misael soto
De-Code Compliance (for Monte Castello di Vibio) continued research and development begun at the start of the year in conjunction with Bridge Deconstruction in Miami. Conducted in and around the small medieval walled village in central Umbria, Italy, particular attention was given to a nearby bridge spanning the legendary Tiber River below and the bridge’s multigenerational hybrid construction. Our research culminated with a performative investigation in situ under an architectural arch feature and threshold within the town’s gallery space and the context of Poor Farm‘s “Living in the Play: Nido II” residency exhibition featuring 17 artists. Over the course of a day, DoR director misael soto used various tools, writing, and found and taken images in order to visually and conceptually layer geographies, bridges, architectural and infrastructural elements, histories, and recent thoughts and theories. misael engaged with visitors to bring in further layers and recordings of their findings were made on the walls and floor as the process unfolded.
December 8, 2023
Bridge Deconstruction Site, The Woflsonian-FIU, Miami Beach
with team members Jenna Balfe and misael soto
The Department of Reflection’s De-Code Compliance Team (Jenna Balfe and misael soto) conducted work in and around The Wolfsonian-FIU’s Bridge Tender House as part of our Bridge Deconstruction. Over the course of an evening, the team used various tools, writing, found and taken images, and bodily investigative techniques in order to visually and conceptually layer geographies, bridges, architectural and infrastructural elements, histories, and thoughts and theories related to Bridge Deconstruction. Visitors were engaged to bring in further layers and recordings of our findings were made as the process unfolded, leading to new communal knowledge.
November 14, 2024
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL
with team member misael soto
The Department of Reflection’s De-Code Compliance Team (Jenna Balfe and misael soto) conducted work in and around The Wolfsonian-FIU’s Bridge Tender House as part of our Bridge Deconstruction. Over the course of an evening, the team used various tools, writing, found and taken images, and bodily investigative techniques in order to visually and conceptually layer geographies, bridges, architectural and infrastructural elements, histories, and thoughts and theories related to Bridge Deconstruction. Visitors were engaged to bring in further layers and recordings of our findings were made as the process unfolded, leading to new communal knowledge.
September 12, 2025
Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI
with team member misael soto
The Department of Reflection is thrilled to announce our Director and founder misael soto will be performing De-Code Compliance (for Northern Michigan University) at the DeVos Art Museum at Northern Michigan University. Adjacent to the context of “Murmurations” an exhibition curated by Emily Lanctot and featuring 30 artists across mediums, soto will perform a special site-responsive edition of the department’s De-Code Compliance.
Accompanying our De-Code Compliance work, DoR Director misael soto scribed a letter to the university, which was handed out to interested parties throughout the afternoon.
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