PAMM, the new Perez Art Museum Miami formerly known as MAM (Miami Art Museum) until they needed a bigger better facility (seriously, they did) and Jorge Perez swept in and donated enough money to score the naming rights, is open for business right in time for Miami Art Week. The interior galleries are looking spic and span and the outside is atonishingly beautiful, it was only more fun that there were still workers putting up the finishing touches, literally planting plants, while last night's member preview was going on. The workers at work added a kind of je ne sais quoi to the opening of something so new that the paint practically still smelled (it didn't).

Inside, the art was more than I could have asked for or expected. With all the chatter about the outside of the building, I kind of forgot to take time to remember that I would be visiting a real museum, with galleries full of work focused on contemporary artists with a Latin American slant. The main exibit, however, hails from far from LatAm, China. Ai Weiwei's become an iconic, if not infamous, Chinese artist over the past few years and we're lucky to have his installations, large and small, for the opening of PAMM.

Not to state the obvious here, but the art work at the PAMM is compelling. It's not too frou-frou to wrap your head around, there's no sense of "I could do that" modern art, and it's not too traditional that it feels like you've seen everything (is my art-world ignorance showing?). The PAMM is the perfect museum for Miami, it's chic and beautiful it has depth and cultural substance. One exibit shows Cuban coffee cups with sketched silhouettes in optical illusions from Cuban artist Amelia Pelaez. Another memorable space is the very impressive and very large collection of "concrete and visual poetry," billed as the largest in the world.

But it's the work of Herzog & de Meuron that steals the show. The architects of this grand space have truly outdone themselves. Coming from fans of their other work in Miami (1111 Lincoln Road), this building is remarkable and so beautiful we found ourselves taking pictures of detials like the doors and trying to capture the landscaping details to copy in our own home. Everything from the cafe's safari chairs to the built in lounge areas scattered throughout the gallery spaces feel totally - nice. It's everything we're into, stark white, concrete, sleek wood custom furniture, lots of green and high-end art.

There's so much to say about the PAMM that we think you should go see it for yourself and we'll just give you this little teaser of a slideshow of images.

seating outside the museum.

some unfinished hanging gardens and Ai Weiwei's zodiac animals in the background.

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Close up on Weiwei's rooster head.

More information on the zodiac installation. Notice how it's in English and Spanish, the entire museum is bi-lingual.

Some finished hanging gardens. These things are so damn cool, and we love how they are inspired by Stiltsville.

a look, through slits in the door and glass walls, at the museum's cafe.

just a worker hard at work in the middle of the party. I wonder if they told him it's performance art?

these steps off the museum serve as both stairs and seating. The view is the McArthur Causeway and the PortMiami.

Another Ai Weiwei piece.

A local artist!

the screening seats. Remember when it was under construction and we got that great picture of the guy sitting here taking a break from our hard hat tour?

at The PAMM, Workers Still Working During Preview