MIAMI.- From December 4 through 7, 2008, Miami Beach, Florida, USA, will host the seventh edition of
Art Basel Miami Beach the celebrated international art show. More than 250 leading galleries from the USA, Canada, Europe, Latin America, and Asia will be taking part. Chosen by the Art Basel Miami Beach Selection Committee from over 800 applicants, the galleries – which include 25 new participants – will be showing works by more than 2,000 artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Special sectors are devoted to recent artworks, curated exhibitions, video- and sound-based works, performances, and art in public spaces. Furthermore, 20 young galleries will present cutting-edge projects in converted shipping containers on the beach, while another 20 exhibit within an experimental collaborative space.
Art Basel Miami Beach promises to be one of the highlights of the international cultural and social calendar. The Art Basel Conversations panel discussions again feature prominent art-world personalities, while the more intimate framework of Art Salon gives leading figures from the international art scene an opportunity to present their current and forthcoming projects. Visitors can also look forward to an exciting program of special exhibitions, visits to private art collections, and events linking art and music, film and architecture. Finally, the museums and collections of South Florida have scheduled impressive exhibitions in parallel to Art Basel Miami Beach.
On the eve of the opening, invited guests from around the world will attend the exclusive Vernissage. Over 40,000 art lovers are expected to visit the international art show, where carefully selected galleries from 33 countries will be showcasing all forms of artistic expression (including paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, photography, editions, and videos). Prices range from a few hundred dollars for multiples and works by younger artists to millions of dollars for museum-quality masterpieces.
New Galleries
The Selection Committee has picked more than 250 galleries for this year’s show. More than 10 percent of the galleries are new this year.
The following galleries in the Art Galleries sector are exhibiting for the first time or returning after a brief hiatus: Air de Paris (Paris), Greenberg Van Doren Gallery (New York), and Eleni Koroneou Gallery (Athens).
The following new galleries entered in the Art Nova sector: Carl Freedman (London), gb agency (Paris), Alexander Gray (New York), Urs Meile (Luzern / Beijing), ProjecteSD (Barcelona), Sfeir-Semler (Hamburg / Beirut), Michael Wieshöfer (Köln).
The following new galleries are present in the Art Supernova sector: Miguel Abreu (New York), Casas Riegner (Bogota), Cherry and Martin (Los Angeles), Lawrence Eng (Vancouver), Nogueras Blanchard (Barcelona), Moisés Pérez de Albéniz (Pamplona), SKE (Bangalore), Nils Staerk Contemporary Art (Copenhagen), Sutton Lane (London), The Third Line (Dubai).
And the following galleries are new in the Art Positions sector: Blow 111 (London), Broadway 1602 (New York), David Castillo (Miami), Andreas Huber (Wien), Iris Kadel (Karlsruhe), Mary Mary (Glasgow), Monclova (México D.F.), Newman Popiashvili (New York), Redling Fine Art (Los Angeles), Franco Soffiantino Arte Contemporanea (Torino), T293 (Napoli), Steve Turner Contemporary (Los Angeles), Eva Winkeler (Frankfurt/Main).
Art Kabinett
This year’s Art Kabinett program at Art Basel Miami Beach promises to be an exciting mix of tightly focused exhibitions within the art show, including group and solo shows from both emerging artists and historical figures. For Art Basel Miami Beach 2008, the Selection Committee has chosen 17 galleries to present Art Kabinetts - separate sections within the booths of the Art Galleries sector, providing a space to investigate single artist’s works in greater detail or thematic group exhibitions, and spotlighting the curatorial skills of the gallerists. The 17 projects in this sector feature a wide array of artists, ranging from young artists such as William Cordova and Tomasz Kowalski to historical figures like Meret Oppenheim, Francis Picabia, Robert Smithson and Marcel Duchamp. Group shows include exhibitions titled “Text and Image in 20th-Century Art” and “Kusama and Her Contemporaries.”
Art Positions
At this year’s Art Positions, 20 young galleries present their special exhibition projects in converted shipping containers, located by the beach at Collins Park between 21st and 22nd Streets. Art Positions counts participating galleries from the USA, Italy, Mexico, Germany, Austria, Great Britain, Norway, Spain and Denmark, who were chosen by the Selection Committee from over 100 submitted applications. Many of the artists have dealt directly with the architecture of the shipping container, using it as a starting point for their projects. In cooperation with Art Radio WPS1.org, Art Basel Miami Beach will also present the futuristic structure ULTRA by Federico Diaz and the Czech design collective E-Area at the entrance of the Art Positions site, redefining the public space and presenting a topology shaped for sitting, relaxation and interaction.
Art Perform
Since 2005, Art Basel Miami Beach has spotlighted artists working in the sphere of performative and live art through the Art Perform program. Curated by Jens Hoffmann, Director of the CCA Wattis Institute in San Francisco, this platform features a selection of international artists who are invited to conceive and present specially commissioned siteand context-specific artworks. All presentations will take place on the Art Perform stage at Art Positions. This year’s participating artists are Christian Jankowski (Germany), Adriana Lara (Mexico), Yoshua Okon (Mexico/United States), and Jordan Wolfson (United States).
Art Projects
This year’s Art Projects sector features seven public art projects by international artists. For the first time, most of the Art Projects will be presented in a single site: Lummus Park, on Ocean Drive between 10th and 14th Street; one will be on view at Island Gardens, Watson Islands, (888 MacArthur Causeway, Miami). Displayed in the public spaces of Miami Beach, the sector places art in the urban context and encourages participation by the general public. Most of the seven works are site-specific and commissioned for Art Basel Miami Beach - including works by Olaf Breuning, Dora García, Thomas Houseago, Tadashi Kawamata, Jiří Kovanda and Ana Linnemann at Lummus Park. Occupying a huge site at Island Gardens, Ai Weiwei’s one 100 blue shimmering bubbles will be spread over an area of 600 square meters (more than 6,500 square feet). The Art Projects sector is sponsored by Flagstone Island Gardens.
Art Nova
Art Nova is a platform for galleries to present new works, produced in the last two years, by a maximum of three artists. 58 international galleries have been chosen by the Selection Committee from a record number of applications. Works by 132 emerging artists from around the globe are on display. The galleries include both emerging and established galleries with young and innovative programs. This year a record 12 solo presentations appear in the Art Nova sector, presenting works by Ai Weiwei (Urs Meile), Edgar Arceneaux (Vielmetter), Luis Camnitzer (Alexander Gray), Alexandre da Cunha (Vilma Gold), Michael Fullerton (Freedman), Cao Guimaraes (Nara Roesler), Zheng Guogu (Vitamin Space), Yukinori Maeda (Taka Ishii), Naofumi Maruyama (Shugoarts), Kris Martin (Sies + Höke), Aïda Ruilova (Salon 94), and Sturtevant (mezzanin).
Art Supernova
Last year, Art Basel Miami Beach introduced the new sector Art Supernova. This platform again offers 20 galleries the opportunity to present recent works by their emerging artists. The section aims to reinvent the traditional form of gallery presentation at art fairs, with a collaborative approach that links the participating galleries in a new way. The exhibitors in Art Supernova have interconnected exhibition spaces, a common storage room, and shared facilities for presenting works on paper, videos, performances, artist files, books and catalogs.
Art Basel Conversations
The Art Basel Conversations forum promises to be intellectually exciting this year, as panelists include such renowned artists, collectors, curators, and critics as Chuck Close, Vik Muniz, Richard Flood, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Thelma Golden, Glenn Ligon, Billy Al Bengston, and Paul Schimmel, to name only a few. Panel topics include: “The Future of the Museum: Africa, America and the World,” “Public/Private: The Artist as Philanthropist” and “Artistic Production: Los Angeles, an Alternate Art World Model?”
Art Salon
Art Salon is an open platform for discussion with an emphasis on current themes in contemporary art, running daily in the Art Guest Lounge. Informal in its format and international in scope, Art Salon encourages experimental discussions with an array of speakers ranging from artists and curators to authors and writers. It also features book launches, artist talks, and lectures. Participants include prominent artworld personalities such as Harald Falckenberg, Francesco Vezzoli, Dan Graham, Christine Macel, Scott Rothkopf, Dan Cameron, Olga Viso, Alanna Heiss, Richard Feigen, Josh Baer, Jerry Saltz and Shirin Neshat.
Art Loves….
Art Basel Miami Beach this year incorporates three crossover events: Friday’s Art Loves Film, honoring art collectors Herbert and Dorothy Vogel, and presenting the documentary about their artworld experience, “Herb and Dorothy”; Art Loves Architecture’s evening on Saturday honoring David Adjaye, with artists Matthew Ritchie and Teresita Fernandez; and Art Loves Music, the Wednesday concert that is open to the public, with free admission.
Art Video Lounge
This year’s Art Video Lounge, titled “HONEY, I REARRANGED THE IMAGE…!“ presents an extensive overview of the latest work in video art by some of today’s most exciting international artists. Curated by Rike Frank, the selection targets the interest of artists in investigating how images operate and construct our understanding of the world. They explore aesthetic concepts, everyday narratives, and sociopolitical realities and utopias. The daily film program is accompanied by special screenings and an exhibition. Videos include works by Omer Fast, Roman Signer, Sean Snyder, Ines Schaber, Keren Cytter, Rosemarie Trockel, Trisha Brown, Harun Farocki and Hito Steyerl.
Art Sound Lounge
Art Sound Lounge at Art Basel Miami Beach is curated by P.S.1 curator David Weinstein. It offers visitors the opportunity to take in music and audio pieces and will be situated at the Art Positions site, integrated into the E-area installation.
Museums and Private Collections
Once again, the museums of South Florida will be staging important exhibitions to coincide with Art Basel Miami Beach, including Yinka Shonibare at the Miami Art Museum; Anri Sala at the Museum of Contemporary Art; “Possibility of an Island” (Mungo Thomson, Peter Coffin, and others) for MOCA at the Goldman Warehouse; “Russian Dreams…” at the Bass Museum of Art; and both “American Streamlined Designed: The World of Tomorrow” and “Democrazy: An Installation by Francesco Vezzoli” at The Wolfsonian-FIU. Miami’s leading private collections – among them the Margulies Collection, the Rubell Family Collection, CIFO, the Mora Collection, the Scholl Collection, the Shack Collection, and the Robins Collection – will be opening their homes and warehouses to guests of the international art show.
Design Miami
This year also marks the third edition of the Design Miami fair, featuring more than 20 leading design galleries from around the globe. The program includes: a series of Design Talks covering the current design culture; satellite exhibitions curated by leading design institutions; design performances showcasing the creative processes of rising-star designers, and the Designer of the Year Award, recognizing an outstanding visionary in the field and this year received by Brazilian designers Humberto and Fernando Campagna.
