Art Basel Miami Beach Returns with a Constellation of Fairs, Exhibitions, and Events
If you love art and design and don’t mind crowds, head to Miami the first week of December for what’s become known as Miami Art Week. The annual celebration of art and design transforms Miami, an already art and design conscious city, into a place where you can’t pass a fire hydrant without wondering if it’s a signed piece. Organized around Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB), most exhibitions and events take place in Miami Beach or across the bay in Midtown Miami, the Wynwood Arts District, and the Miami Design District.
On the Beach
Ten years ago, Miami Beach may have seemed an unusual choice to host a sister fair for Switzerland based Art Basel, an internationally acclaimed art show for modern and contemporary art running 42 years. But, in retrospect, it was an inspired one, with Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB) becoming one of the most important art shows in the U.S. as well as a draw for more than 40,000 art loving, sun seeking curators, critics, gallerists, collectors, artists, designers, socialites and celebrities from around the globe.
Held in the Miami Beach Convention Center, ABMB presents 20th and 21st century artwork by more than 2,000 artists represented by more than 260 leading art galleries in the U.S., Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Divided into several sections, it presents both established and up and coming artists in a variety of formats. Adding to a heady cultural brew are Art Conversations, Art Salons, Art Positions, Art Video (in association this year with London’s Artprojx and projected on the giant wallscreen of the newly opened New World Center designed by Frank Gehry), Art Film (curated by Zurich connoisseur, This Brunner), and Art Public (sculptures and performances presented in Collins Park in collaboration with the Bass Museum of Art). Art Video and Art Public are free.
Anticipating tired eyes and throbbing feet? The lovely, newly redesigned Miami Beach Botanical Gardens, directly across from the convention center, can provide a welcome respite from your ABMB art immersion. For a physical as well as emotional adjustment, there’s YogArt Fair beginning November 30th at the Loews Hotel Miami Beach. For refreshments and retail therapy, the Lincoln Road pedestrian mall is nearby.
If ABMB is Art Basel’s sister fair, then Design Miami is its’ first cousin. The fairs are located near one another both in Basel and in Miami. The 7th annual Design Miami will showcase 20th and 21st century museum quality, collectible, and often stunning designs from more than 20 world class design galleries as well as four emerging ones. There will be Design Talks hosted by Stefano Tonchi and W Magazine and new design projects by Fendi, Audi and Swarovski. Visitors to the fair will be greeted by an exclusively commissioned installation created by African architect David Adjaye, the fair’s Designer of the Year.
Hotel housed art fairs give new meaning to the expression “room with a view” and present a way to view art that is often private and intimate. It’s not unusual to see shoes tucked under beds or art displayed in bathrooms. Most of these fairs are clustered around ABMB. The Greenwich Hotel, new home for Verge Art Miami Beach, is just half a block from the convention center and will include two juried exhibitions of emerging art. Ink Miami Art Fair, in the Dorchester Suites and sponsored by the International Fine Art Dealers Association, shows contemporary works on paper, including 20th century masters and just published editions. Pool Art Fair in the Carlton Hotel, follows the French tradition of artists’ fairs and is dedicated to unrepresented artists while Art Now, in the Catalina Hotel, is a curated contemporary show.
Arts for a Better World at the Surfcomber Hotel will feature “Tous Ensemble” (All Together), an installation decrying violence by acclaimed French artist Marc Ash as well as The Van Gogh’s Dream, a pavilion in which the room where the artist spent his last days will be recreated. It will also show videos about his life and house contemporary works that pay him tribute. A recreation of another kind is Will Ryman’s twenty-two foot high bed…of sculpted roses at the Sagamore Hotel. Seattle based Aqua Art Miami will showcase forty five exhibitors in the Aqua Hotel. Sponsored by Modern Painter, it will have a VIP opening and include unique collaborations such as one installation created by a Navajo Nation artist working with Miccosukee Nation artists and another by artist Adad Hannah and Oscar winning filmmaker Denys Arcard.
Further south on famed Ocean Drive in South Beach, the Art Deco Welcome Center’s new Burst Art Fair promises emerging artists and galleries and will include mixed media pieces, surreal pop art, indie film shorts, street art, sculpture, and photography. In the historic Deauville Hotel up in North Miami Beach, the 9th NADA (National Art Dealers Association) will showcase emerging art from more than thirty cities worldwide in ballrooms where Frank Sinatra and the Beatles once performed (but not together).
Across the Bay
Art Miami, now going strong for twenty-two years, found a new 125,000 square foot home in Midtown Miami several years ago and moved its dates to coincide with ABMB. With plentiful parking, restaurants and shopping nearby, the area’s just a short ride across the bay from Miami Beach. Art Miami will showcase modern and contemporary art from more than one hundred art institutions and galleries in Europe, Asia, Latin America, India, the Middle East and the U.S.
Other art fairs have also located in Midtown. Across the street from Art Miami, ten year old Scope Miami will include eighty international emerging art galleries with solo and thematic shows as well as film, music, installation and performance art. Pulse, located closer to downtown Miami, has a similar range of art, but edgier. Art Asia features Southeast Asian, Near and Middle Eastern art. At the Rotunda, a pop-up location in Midtown, the SushiSamba Restaurant Group dishes up the exhibition “Graffiti Gone Global” with French architect Marc Fornes’ 30 foot wide structure.
Just north of Midtown Miami is Wynwood Arts District, home to more than fifty cutting edge galleries, artist studios, art complexes, museum collections, restaurants and lounges. It’s also home to more than 200 murals, making it a veritable outdoor art museum. Both car and pedestrian traffic increase exponentially during Miami Art Week. A popular destination is Wynwood Walls, an urban park displaying twenty murals by international artists. Neighboring restaurants decorated with street art will be filled with art lovers, revelers, and art-loving revelers. Some neighborhood fairs have both indoor and outdoor venues, such as Multiversal Art Fair, which offers art, music, and live performances and Seven, organized by seven galleries in a 15,000 square foot warehouse.
At the western end of the Miami Design District, a stone’s throw north of Midtown and Wynwood, is the de la Cruz Contemporary Art Space which will have a special exhibition of local artists Justin Long and Robert Lorie. It Ain’t Fair, with 20 artists, including acclaimed local artist Daniel Arsham, will be organized around the timely theme of materialism. The Buick Building on the eastern end will house The Craig Robins Collection of Art & Design while in the nearby Moore Building on the second floor, Haiti Art Expo II will raise money for housing for hurricane victims. Also there will be “Architecture and the Air” by Christopher Janney, whose new “Harmonic Convergence” interactive art installation will debut at Miami International Airport for Miami Art Week.
Miami Art Museum, the Bass Museum of Art, the Wolfsonian Museum, and MOCA North Miami Beach are among the local museums hosting special events and exhibitions during Miami Art Week. Some of Miami’s renowned private collections are housed in museum-like buildings and open to the public; the Rubell family collection, COIF (Cisneros Fontanas Art Foundation), and The Margulies Collection in Wynwood will have extended hours as well as special exhibitions. Art incubators, The Bakehouse in Wynwood and the Art Center/South Florida on Lincoln Road in South Beach, will also host special exhibitions.
If you have the time to venture further, ahem, afield, you can visit Fairchild Tropical Garden to see Will Ryman’s giant flower sculptures or Viscaya Museum & Gardens to see Naomi Fisher’s video and installation. On December 4, from 9:30 to 12, The Frost Museum at FIU will host its annual free Breakfast in the Park, which includes brunch, lecture by noted sculptor Joel Perlman and tour of the sculpture garden – a delicious, refreshing way to conclude Miami Art Week.
Where to View Miami Art Week’s best:
Art Basel Miami Beach
December 1-4
Miami Beach Convention Center
1901 Convention Center Drive
www.Artbaselmiamibeach.com
Arts for a Better World
November 30 – December 7
Surfcomber Hotel
1717 Collins Avenue
Miami Beach
www.Artsforabetterworld.com
Aqua Art Miami
December 2 – 5
The Aqua Hotel
1530 Collins Avenue
Miami Beach
www.Aquaartmiami.com
Art Asia
December 1-5
2901 North Miami Avenue (entrance on Midtown Boulevard)
Miami
www.Artasiafair.com
Art Miami
December 1 -5
Midtown Boulevard (NE lst Avenue) between NE 32 & NE 31 Streets
Miami
www.Art-miami.com
Art Now
December 1 -4
Catalina Hotel
1732 Collins Avenue
Miami Beach
Burst Project Art Fair
November 30 – December 5
Ocean Drive at 10th
Miami Beach
www.Burstartfair.org
Design Miami
November 30 – December 4
Meridian Avenue & 19th Street
Miami Beach
www.Designmiami.com
Fountain Miami
Dec. 1 – 4
2505 North Miami Avenue
Miami
www.Fountainartfair.com
Graffiti Gone Global
December 1 -4
3252 NW lst Avenue
Miami
www.Gggexhibit.com
Haiti Art Expo II
December 1 – 4
4040 NE 2nd Avenue
Miami
Ink Miami Art Fair
November 30 – Dec. 4
Suites of Dorchester
1850 Collins Avenue
Miami Beach
www.Inkartfair.com
It Aint Fair
December 1 -4
81 NE 40th Street
Miami
www.oh-wow.com
Multiversal Art Fair
December 1 – 4
193 NW 24th Street
Miami
www.Multiversalmiami.com
NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance)
December 1 – 4
The Deauville Beach Resort
6701 Collins Avenue
Miami Beach
www.nadaartfair.org/about
Pool Art Fair
Dec. 2 – 4
Carlton Hotel
1433 Collins Ave.
Miami Beach
www.Poolartfair.com
PULSE
December 1 – 4
Ice Palace
1400 North Miami Avenue
Miami
www.Pulse-art.com
Red Dot
November 30 – December 4
3011 NE lst Avenue at NW 31st Street
Miami
www.Reddotfair.com
Scope Art Miami
November 29 – Dec. 4
3055 North Miami Avenue
Miami
www.Scope-art.com
Seven
November 29 – Dec. 4
2637 North Miami Avenue
Miami
www.Seven-miami.com
Verge Art Miami Beach
December 1-4
Greenview Hotel
1671 Washington Avenue
Miami Beach
www.Vergeartfair.com
Zone Art Fair Miami
Nov. 30 – Dec. 3
47 NE 25th St.
Miami
www.Zonesartfair.com
Additional helpful info:
*SUGGESTIONS FROM THE TRAVEL SQUIRE EDITORIAL STAFF
Where to Sleep
Hotel Victor- This hotel sits right on famous, art deco Ocean Drive and overlooks the beautiful white beaches of Miami. Can’t get more in the scene than this. (See related story- https://travelsquire.com/ts/columns/en-suite/item/143-hotel-victor-miami-beach) 1144 Ocean Drive; (305) 428-1234; www.hotelvictorsouthbeach.com
Z Ocean Hotel- This hotel is perfectly positioned between Collins and Ocean Drive in the heart of all that is fabulous and glamorous. The breezy passage way is the perfect place to relax and escape the summer sun. (See related story- https://travelsquire.com/ts/columns/en-suite/item/295-miami-florida) 1437 Collins Avenue; (305) 672-4554; www.zoceanhotelsouthbeach.com
The Raleigh Hotel- Their famous, picturesque pool is a must see and provides an amazingly exotic atmosphere. (See related story- https://travelsquire.com/ts/columns/en-suite/item/447-miami-florida) 1775 Collins Avenue; (305)-534-6300; www.raleighhotel.com
National Hotel- it doesn’t hurt to hole up at a glorious South Beach landmark especially when you’re hanging with the high rolling art crowd. 1677 Collins Avenue. (305) 532-2311. www.nationalhotel.com
Lords Hotel- the dazzling lobby bar says it all, bring your dress up duds. Good location for heading to Barney’s for something to tweak your outfit. 1120 Collins Ave. (305) 674-7800. www.lordssouthbeach.com
Where to Eat
Red, The Steakhouse- Come here for a hearty meal, with excellent flavor and wash it down with a ½ oz. pour of Remy Martin Louis XIII from the bar. (See related story- https://travelsquire.com/ts/columns/taste-of-the-town/item/428-miami-beach-florida) 119 Washington Avenue; (305) 534-3688; www.redthesteakhouse.com
1500 Degrees- This five star experience in the Eden Roc Hotel is just steps away from the pool and beach, great setting to throw a large party! (See related story- https://travelsquire.com/ts/columns/taste-of-the-town/item/688-miami-beach-florida) 4525 Collins Avenue; (305) 674-5588; www.1500degreesmiami.com
Quattro- smack in the vortex of SoBe (South Beach). Come here for amazing Italian cuisine and desserts prepared by award winning chef Antonio Bachour. (See related story- https://travelsquire.com/ts/columns/taste-of-the-town/item/687-miami-beach-florida) 1014 Lincoln Road; (305) 531-4833; www.quattromiami.com
Michy’s- possibly the most creative comfort food in Miami. Portions are big and delicious, you will not leave hungry. (See related story- https://travelsquire.com/ts/columns/taste-of-the-town/item/410-miami-florida) 6927 Biscayne Boulevard; (305) 759-2001; www.chefmichellebernstein.com
Sugarcane Bar & Grill- Midtown’s new hot spot with a way cool vibe. Kick back and enjoy a beet mojito on the terrace then sample some of their fabulous tapas. This place is cozy and fun, decorated with ‘found objects’ and graffiti art. 3252 NE 1st Ave #115; (786) 369-0353; www.sugarcanerawbargrill.com