Today we’d like to introduce you to Marc Aptakin.
Hi Marc, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in Miami in the early ’90s, right when the art scene started to take shape. I began my career as a fine art photographer and had my first solo show at Dorsch Gallery back in ’94. That experience really shaped me; being able to experiment with friends and have a space that cared for the artists rather than the market was key. It showed me how important it is to have a community that supports you.
Not long after that, I moved into the print and advertising industry. It was right when everything was shifting from analog to digital, and I noticed that brands needed more integrated creative solutions. That insight pushed me to launch Mad Studios in 2001. Since then, we’ve grown into a full-service creative and tech agency with over 120 people on the team and offices in Brazil and Barcelona. We’ve worked with all kinds of clients, from startups to big brands like Verizon, Toyota, Unilever, and even Squishmallows.
In 2020, I bought this 50,000-square-foot building in Dania Beach to be our headquarters, and that’s when the idea for MAD Arts came to life. I wanted to create a space that gave back to the kind of creative community that helped me in my early days. Funded through Mad as a pay-it-forward project, MAD Arts is part museum and part experimental lab where we can explore how art and new technology can shape our environments.
Today, we combine the resources of a creative agency with the experimental energy of a museum. It’s become a space where artists, technologists, non-profits, and brands come together to dream up and actually build big ideas. Over the past five years, we’ve worked with more than 100 artists and arts organizations, and that collaborative spirit is really at the heart of everything we do.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I navigated a business that started with just me and a laptop to one that now employs over 120 people in multiple cities and countries, all while keeping the focus on being creatively led. I do not have a traditional education and have had to navigate scaling, employees, culture, COVID, and a myriad of other challenges over the course of almost 30 years.
With MAD Arts, it all came about pretty naturally. It wasn’t born out of some big idea. I just saw a gap in the community and wanted to create a middle space that could give artists the opportunity, platform, and resources to take their work to the next level. Collaborating with such a wide range of artists, from emerging voices to well-established names, has been a constant learning experience. We lead with the artist and put their success at the center of everything we do. Believe it or not, that approach can sometimes be challenging because it’s a different way of doing business. We place the artist first, which means we often operate differently from other institutions or foundations that tend to focus more on bureaucracy than on direct support. It hasn’t always been easy to fit MAD Arts neatly into the existing arts landscape, but I think that’s exactly what makes our work so special, and why it’s strategically important for artists.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I have become a facilitator and an ideas person. I couldn’t be prouder of our work at the agency and how much we differ from traditional larger agencies. Our JM Family / SET 360º photobooth defines just what makes us so different as an agency. The photobooth takes 360º images of the cars inside and out, as the last step of the manufacturing process. Images are uploaded to the dealerships within seconds of the photos being taken. The special part for us is that not only did we build the software, but also the hardware. We installed 16 of these booths, which capture close to 10 million images a year.
That being said, I’m most proud of opening MAD Arts in 2023 and the pay-it-forward work we get to do with artists and the community. That’s really at the heart of what drives me. In 2025, we celebrated the museum’s second year as a public-facing institution, but along the way, MAD Arts has become so much more than a museum. It’s a creative engine, a place with the resources and expertise to bring complex, large-scale, visionary projects to life from start to finish. We’ve done this in our own backyard for five consecutive years with IGNITE Broward, and we’ve done it nationally as well, like with I Was Here’s Podium at One World Trade in New York City.
I’m also incredibly proud of our growing collection. MAD Arts holds an expanding body of work — much of it immersive, tech-driven, and deeply experiential, pieces that reflect the spirit of innovation and curiosity that defines who we are.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
It’s home. I love the diversity, and when you know where to go, you can be transported out of here even for brief moments. I love how fucked up it is. If you embrace it, it becomes wonderful in all its chaos.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.yeswearemadarts.com/
- Threads: https://www.threads.com/@madarts_space
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=madartsspace01
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/106838863/admin/dashboard/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/mad-arts-dania-beach?osq=Mad+Arts&dd_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yelp.com%2F
