黑料不打烊

Art Basel Miami Beach may not be the fair’s namesake location, but it’s the version North Americans care about most, and, as countless attendees would imply, the only one they know of. When you hear “Art Basel” as a standalone, it means one of two locations – Basel, Switzerland or Miami Beach, Florida – and never the other two iterations, Hong Kong and Paris. While this could be chalked up to Art Basel being North America’s largest and most prestigious international contemporary fair, it also has something to do with the visitor demographics. Beyond the usual art fair audience, Art Basel attracts a larger scale of what can most easily be defined as the “non-art” crowd – an expanded pool of entrepreneurs, celebrities, and influencers who have come to see simply being in Miami during Art Week as a networking opportunity and proof of any event attendance as a status symbol. With tens of thousands more attendees than similar fairs, like Frieze, with its various locations and subsidiaries (The Armory Show, EXPO Chicago), there are more kinds of people to factor in: people who want to see art in public spaces at little to no cost as a means of engaging with others; people who are focused on content creation, looking for big flashy experiences that translate well to social media; people whose priority is finding a trendy yet comfy, and somewhat exclusive place to sit around. At Art Basel, there needs to be something for everyone because everyone will be there. Seldom, if any other fair, has those kinds of stakes. Yet, somehow, Art Basel found a way to deliver.

Bird’s-eye-view of The Spanish Moss Sanctuary by Paloma Teppa. Photo by Maya Garabedian.

Since the first Art Basel in Miami in 2002, the fair’s success has had much to do with Miami Art Week. Each year, as Art Basel grew, so did the number of surrounding events – satellite fairs, gallery and museum shows, invite-only gatherings, expensive and exclusive dining, brand collaborations, exhibitions at hotels, sponsored events, yacht parties, public installations, and activities – resulting in what is now known as Miami Art Week. Often, the week’s events as a whole are what people are referring to when they talk about Art Basel, despite the fact most Art Basel tickets don’t grant you access to anything beyond the fair itself at the Miami Convention Center. Because of that, there is a sense of underlying unity across what goes on, and this year, that was in the realm of diverse community-building. On many levels, it’s subtle, from general goals to overarching themes, but noticeably intentional, like the universally free transportation offered this year, featuring trolley and shuttle rides around Miami Beach and a water taxi to cart people to and from the city of Miami. There was a flow of exhibition spaces, encouraging movement that would naturally funnel people towards areas of shared space. The fair is comprised of sectors: Galleries (self-explanatory), Meridians (large-scale works), Nova (works created in the last three years by one, two, or three artists), Positions (young galleries, solo presentations of emerging artists), Survey (artistic practices of historical relevance), and Kabinett (thematic exhibitions and historical showcases, some group, some solo). By selecting these areas of emphasis, lesser-known artists were spotlighted, and new takes on traditional craftsmanship gave a historical twist to the prestigious contemporary fair.

Marcus Jahmal’s Kabinett showcase. Photo by Maya Garabedian.

A total of 286 galleries from 38 countries were featured this year, and while two-thirds were from the Americas, and that may not sound like a particularly expansive reach, new director Bridget Finn still had an inclusive vision. This year, more new galleries were featured than at any point since 2008: Carmo Johnson Projects (São Paulo, Brazil), Gallery Baton (Seoul, South Korea), Gallery Vacancy (Shanghai, China), ILY2 (Portland, OR, US), Jan Kaps (Cologne, Germany), Martos Gallery (New York City, NY, US), and Tim van Laere Gallery (Antwerp, Belgium). These galleries added 34 first-time participants to the list, including one group that was incredibly moving, MAHKU (Movimento dos Artistas Huni Kuin), a collective of Indigenous artists from Brazil. A seemingly endless rotation of people stood at the gallery’s front-facing wall that read: SELL PAINTING TO BUY LAND. For MAHKU, selling their art directly contributes to protecting their land, ecosystem, and ancient traditions. Through conversations at the Carmo booth, MAHKU’s larger goal emerges, to establish an independent research center dedicated to preserving the Amazon rainforest and its Indigenous communities. Art Basel is clearly aware of the power and value in this kind of dialogue, as their longstanding Conversations sector (live debates and presentations on key topics in art and culture) returned for another successful year.

MAHKU’s Ayahuasca’s emergence myth (2024). Photo by Maya Garabedian.

Across from where the Conversations are held is the Collector’s Lounge, a VIP area that was the subject of some drama, thanks to a glitch in the app advertising extra access to press, but with all the gossip that followed about what was behind the black curtain, I had to see myself. A fashionable TOV-furnished space with a bar in the center and sales-focused rooms around the perimeter, from Samsung to Sotheby’s International Realty, Nordictrack, and more, toeing the line on kitschy, but the star of the space was the Chubb lounge. Adorned by the work of student artists, the Chubb post-graduate fellowship is the highest honor a student can receive at the New York Academy of Art.

Chubb room of the Collector’s Lounge. Photos by Maya Garabedian.

Chubb Fellows can serve as teaching assistants and mentors to newer artists, while also receiving exhibition opportunities, studio accommodations, and a stipend. The real star of the room was the breathtaking interior design, curated by Chubb’s partner, New York designer Sasha Bikoff. My personal obsession, the BonBon backgammon table, provided by Elevate Home x Sasha Bikoff Collection, is the perfect example of how the room was built to encourage interpersonal connection. In that room, sitting on a gorgeous Eclectic Patina sofa, I faced two strangers in a pair of Glo Ponti Armchairs (Model 512). Within minutes, the three of us were chatting, which led to all five of us in the room sitting in that nook together – between us, our ages spanned a decade, our ethnic backgrounds covered five continents, and we each lived in different states with different careers. This experience, while unusual for most art fairs, fell perfectly in line with the rest of Art Week, opening the door to more informed, meaningful takeaways.

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