Anchoring Miami Art Week, the 15th edition of the Art Basel in Miami Beach arrives at the Miami Beach Convention Center from 1-4 December with 269 galleries from 29 countries in tow, including 21 exhibitors who are new to the fair’s US edition. This will be the first edition of the fair under the directorship of Noah Horowitz, the former director of The Armory Show (2011-15) who joined Art Basel a year ago. This year, a spotlight falls on younger galleries, eight of which have been promoted from the fair’s Project sector to the more prestigious main aisles of the Galleries sector. These include Altman Siegel, Pilar Corrias, Labor and Galerija Gregor Podnar.
The late David Bowie is the inspiration for the the fair’s Public sector, organised by Nicholas Baume, the director and chief curator of the Public Art Fund. Ground Control, as it is called, will feature 20 artists including Magdalena Abakanowicz, Camille Henrot, Ugo Rondinone and Erwin Wurm. Presented by the Bass Museum of Art, the pieces will be on show in Collins Park from 30 November.
Meanwhile, the survey sector will feature 14 presentations of work with a more historical edge, made by artists before the year 2000. The diverse selection includes the US artist George Rickey’s early kinetic sculptures from the 1950s and 1960s, on show at New York’s Maxwell Davidson Gallery, and works on paper by the Sudanese artist Ibrahim El-Salahi, the first African artist to be given a retrospective by Tate Modern, back in 2013.
The city’s network of collateral fairs and events is brimming this year, and includes Nada (1-4 December), now in its 14th edition; Untitled (30 November-4 December), which will feature 129 galleries showing cutting-edge, young contemporary art; and X Contemporary (30 November – 4 December), a young fair founded in 2015, which includes private dealers and independent curators as well as regular galleries. Taking place at the Nobu Hotel Miami Beach, it will feature an exhibition dedicated to 16 female dealers who were active in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
Visitors can also see the city’s many private collections and institutions, which include the De La Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space, the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, the Magulies Collection and the Rubell Family Collection, which are all opening their doors, as well Miami’s not-for-profit institutions, such as the Pérez Art Museum Miami and the National YoungArts Foundation.
• For in-depth information on Art Basel in Miami Beach, please see our daily editions and online coverage from the fair
