LEFT: Collins Park: sez: Much Too Much, Just Too Much. RIGHT: Jeffrey Deitch at the Moore Building explaining Art Basel REALISM show in conjunction with Gagosian. Photos by Irene Sperber.
"People don’t like contemporary art, but all art starts life as contemporary — I can’t really see a difference." — Damien Hirst, English artist.
New York University Department of Art and Art Professions defines Contemporary artists as using “.....a dynamic combination of materials, methods, concepts, and subjects that challenge traditional boundaries and defy easy definition. Diverse and eclectic, contemporary art as a whole is distinguished by the very lack of a uniform, organizing principle, ideology, or 'ism.”
By that definition South Beach is its own canvas as a contemporary art installation.
LEFT: Artist and MOCA board member Milcho es Milcho with Irene Sperber. RIGHT: Artist Milcho at MOCA opening of Carlos Salas with Colombian artist Pia Bernal and music producer Loco Bedoya. Photos by Irene Sperber.
Miami Beach has been hosting Art Basel since 2002. The original fair was, and still is, in Basel, Switzerland every June since 1970. Yet another rendition of Basel opened in 2013 to capture the Asian market with Art Basel Hong Kong.
This week, 267 blue chip galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa will grace the boards of the Miami Beach Convention Center.
See miamiartzine.com's Go Everywhere Guide to Miami Art Week
You must visit the Art Basel web site to access talks, performances, film, video, photography and digital art with galleries featuring new artists, established, etc. There are nine different sectors devoted to the many areas of contemporary art. Whether you love it, are appalled by it or somewhere in between, just to witness the leading edge of this art genre is fascinating to contemplate.
LEFT: Carole A. Feuerman work at the National Hotel. RIGHT: Craig Robins, Larry Gagosian and Jeffrey Deitch in the Design District. Photos by Irene Sperber.
Design Miami, Meridian Avenue and 19th Street, is in a separate venue to the west of the Convention Center’s main show. It is considered a sanctioned satellite show and billed as inviting “designers, businesses and institutions to create unique exhibitions with strong curatorial and educational perspectives.”......”reflecting a contemporary view onto what’s happening in the design world at large.”
DM has it’s own talks that must be factored into the equation: www.miami2015.designmiami.com/design-talks
Averse to the great indoors on a picture perfect Miami winter day? Can’t miss Collins Park Sculpture Garden (2100 Collins Ave.) and film on the wall at Soundscape Park at the New World Symphony (500 17th St., Miami Beach). The Bass Museum is partnering with Art Basel Miami Beach for the fourth consecutive year with this sector including 26 works from around the universe. Wednesday will open the exhibition with pecial live evening performances by Ryan Gander, Christian Falsnaes, Liz Glynn and Dawn Kasper, and Alix Pearlstein in Collins Park. Events will boggle the mind and your ability to organize on the fly.
Visit the official Art Basel web site’s events calendar and, at the very least, nail down a few must-dos and other must-see venues; www.artbasel.com. The above link is chock-a-block with info you need to have. Keep it handy. There's even an Art Basel app you can download to your smartPhone.
LEFT: DACRA Founder Craig Robins in front of FENDI in Design District. RIGHT: The Moore building with Deitch and Gagosian's exhibition: REALISM. Photos by Irene Sperber.
One important issue to seriously factor in is traversing from one place to another and return without having a meltdown. The city has organized a free Art Week Shuttle service, which I plan to take full advantage of (it’s either that or I put a bathroom and hotplate in my car. Better yet, I resurrect that old walking on water talent.) There is a shuttle map at the Miami Beach website which includes a water taxi route. www.miamibeachfl.gov.The art fairs also have shuttle service to and from Miami Beach, and between downtown and Wynwood.
Even if you never visit a fair, the traffic will most definitely effect you. Make life easy on yourself and postpone any beach activity until after the Dec. 6.
Practical Information
Art Basel Miami Beach
Dec. 3 - 6, 2015
Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami Beach
www.artbasel.com/
There are three different openings by invitation only:
- First Choice, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Preview, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 3 to 8 p.m.
- Vernissage, Thursday, Dec. 3, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.a
Days Open to the Public
- Thursday, Dec. 3, 3 to 8 p.m.
- Friday, Dec. 4, noon to 8 pm.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, noon to 8 pm.
- Sunday, Dec. 6, noon to 6 pm.
- Admission
- Day Ticket, $47.
- Permanent Ticket, $100.
- Students and Seniors with ID, and Groups of ten or more $30.
- Combination Ticket for Art Basel and Design Miami $60.
- Tickets available on line: www.messe-tickets.ch
Other fairs on Miami Beach include;
Scope Miami, Miami Project, PULSE Miami Beach, NADA, Fridge, Art on Paper, SATELLITE, Untitled, Ink and Aqua Art Miami.
Check out miamiartzine.com's Everywhere Guide to Miami Art Week.
On the Miami side, we have a plethora of art fairs both new and old. The grand original of Miami art fairs is Art Miami (Wynwood) and accompanied in Miami by Context, Pinta, X-Contemporary, Conception Miami, Spectrum, Red Dot and ArtSpot International, PRIZM, Miami River Art Fair, Superfine House of Art & Design will erupt in Miami's Little River District.
Good luck with all this. Remember you’ll have 360 days to recover before Art Basel 2016.
