ArtNomads have traveled to take in the artapalooza overload that is Art Basel Miami Beach / Miami Art Week several times, and have exhibited there at least twice. We recap our experience from December 2023, below and share some general truths, tips, and expectations to help you plan your own art travel to Miami and maximize your art fair experience. Part 1 of 2.

Art Basel / Miami Art Week: What, Where, When

Usually held the first weekend in December each year, Miami Art Week revolves around the massive Art Basel fair which fills the Miami Beach Convention Center to overflowing (and realistically, should take two days to enjoy, if you’re really going to look at the art), and Design Miami, its offspring.

You should know that between 50,000 and 70,000 people descend on Miami to take it all in (or for some, a very small slice), and spend some $500 million dollars to do so. That’s an average of $7k per person; hotel prices get ridiculous! If you plan to go, book your hotel a year in advance. In fact, make reservations *everywhere*. Now.

Combined, those two fairs feature the product of some of the best, brightest, most sought-after, and most cutting-edge artists and designers in the world.  You’ll find thousands of artworks and objects by thousands of artists and designers and presented by hundreds of galleries from throughout the globe.

Art Basel is king. In fact, the whole thing is often referred to as ABMB or Art Basel Miami Beach (to distinguish the fair from its other locations: Basel, Switzerland and Hong Kong). Art Basel is revered as a “collector’s fair” with a predominance of blue or near-blue chip artwork. It’s also heavily attended by the academic crowd; professors and students alike keeping an eye on the now, and the future of now in art.

MORE art fairs!

Just across the bay, there’s Art Miami, a companion fair that’s grown so much that some folks call the whole week ‘Art Miami”. Art Miami has also spawned another fair, CONTEXT, which is held in a connecting tent (and honestly, we don’t see much difference between these two any more). See our quick first-impressions post HERE. We’ll do a deeper dive elsewhere.

Orbiting the three (four?) main fairs are numerous other “satellite” fairs, special exhibits, and quite often, guerilla art projects both spontaneous and planned. The museums will all do something special. The Design District will, too. Oh… and the parties… celebrity chefs pair with hotels and restaurants to create one-of-a-kind evenings that sadly, we’ve never really been hip enough to experience. 

Understand now that you will NOT get to see everything. There’s simply too much. As you’ll read later, time management is key (and we sadly weren’t great at it this year). Just look at this ridiculous map of to-see’s:

7/20/2024: Important Update!! For 2024 (and beyond?) There will be water shuttle service between the Beach and ArtMiami/Context on the mainland. This is HUGE!

Art Miami + CONTEXT Art Miami will now be serviced by a water taxi that connects our shows to Miami Beach! Announcing a new water taxi service providing a quick and convenient transportation option across Biscayne Bay during Miami Art Week. The water taxi will offer a unique way to travel between Miami Beach and the Art Miami + CONTEXT pavilions, allowing visitors to enjoy beautiful views of the city while avoiding traffic congestion.

The 18-minute ride will begin at the north side of Maurice Gibb Memorial Park (18th Street and Purdy Avenue, Miami Beach) and end at the Venetian Marina & Yacht Club (1635 N Bayshore Drive, Miami), just a short 5 minute walk to Art Miami + CONTEXT. Tickets and info at www.poseidonferry.com.

But let’s get back to that supporting cast, the satellite fairs. For 2023, there were officially 20 such fairs, with more unofficial ones than we could count. We managed to see 10 of the 20.

As you see on the map, all this art action has two main concentrations: Miami Beach and ‘mainland’ Miami. The remainder of this article deals with Miami Beach; don’t forget to catch our mainland post.

Once upon a time, there was a pretty clear hierarchy to the December fairs in Miami. Meaning, you could expect certain levels and types of art at each fair, from emerging to masters.

Over the years, some of the fairs have dropped off (RIP Pulse, Objects, ArtMrkt, Select,) while other have debuted: Untitled, Prizm, Gateway. We can’t really say the pecking order is still firmly in place, but each fair does have its own character.  Read on for what to expect from each art fair.

Miami Beach

Art Basel & Design Miami

We feel a little silly writing a big article about Art Basel and the fairs surrounding it, when we did not, in fact get to Art Basel this time. I mentioned that time-management thing; see our mistakes at the end.

We’ll make up for it in future, we promise. We’re excited to share we’ll be covering actual Art Basel in Switzerland in June of 2024, so watch for THAT!

Meanwhile, have a look at the official 2023 ArtBasel fly-through:

We have attended before, and can tell you it’s best to buy a multi-day ticket and do it in a couple half-days so you don’t get burnt out.

We DID get to Design Miami, which is literally across the street. Priorities, I guess, as we had a couple gallery friends who were exhibiting there and we’d promised to stop by.

Design Miami

If you’ve read our About Us, you know we once owned a couple galleries; we have a bias toward objects. Some call them applied arts, some the plastic arts, some craft.  Design Miami represents a definite high point, regardless which label you use.

It’s not a huge fair, and unless you’re seriously shopping, can be done in an hour or two. If you like leafing through Architectural Digest or magazines about the homes of celebrities and the ultra-wealthy, you’re gonna love Design Miami.

PRO-TIP: For ArtBasel week, the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, next door to Design Miami, gets transformed into an open air lounge, complete with bubbly, wine and beer stations, designer seating. It’s the perfect spot to relax & recharge before your next fair.. Hydrate, people, hydrate!

ON the beach

Untitled Art Fair

Untitled, which is mounted in a (very large) tent on actual Miami Beach, once again presented a strong showing of artwork that is often both think-y and approachable. It’s clear that Amy and I had different experiences at the fair; we have very few common photos. What IS common is a sense of quality, of attention to detail, and a high level of skill/craft evident in the art, no matter the medium. There was thought-provoking work, but most was still something you could live with. Too often, socially-conscious work is used as a sledgehammer; most such work at Untitled was more subtle.

Not counting our time recharging in the AmericanExpress/Delta/Resy VIP lounge, we spent a fairly rushed 3 hours. More would have been better. Regarding that pecking order: in our humble opinion(s), Untitled has long taken the quality throne from Art Miami. Read our deep dive on Untitled Art Fair here.

SCOPE 

Next door, also housed in a large tent on the beach, is SCOPE Art Show. This fair has gone through many changes over the last decade and has absorbed some of the galleries which used to do Pulse before its demise. As a result, the fair seems to have a mix of edgy / emerge-y work shown alongside some plainly commercially-focused objects. In fact, there were several artists shown both at Scope at ArtMiami/Context with series-based work that trended decorative. Nothing wrong with that, if that’s what you’re shopping for.

Pricing at Scope can range from under $1000 to  north of $50k, though… there’s really a broad range.  There are a few galleries which always seem to show at Scope, like ThinkSpace, which always present finely-rendered work – the skill level is indisputable- but with that counter-culture edge that you don’t often find in the other fairs further up the chain. We were struck by how heavily BIPOC artists and galleries were featured, which was a pleasant surprise.

We spent 3 hours at Scope, and that felt a *little* rushed.

Along Collins Ave.

Off the sand, but still in Miami Beach, you’ll find Aqua Art Fair and INK, near-neighbors on Collins Ave.  Both fairs take over hotels, with galleries turning rooms into mini galleries, often with surprising and creative results.
Pro-Tip: Make sure to look in the closets and bathrooms!! 

Aqua Art Fair

Aqua used to be one of our favorites, and was a great stepping-stone for smaller spaces to get a fair under their belts. The 2023 edition was… uneven, if we’re being kind. We saw a number of individual artists exhibiting at what used to be a galleries-only art fair.

We did find a few gems, like at Arch Enemy Arts from Philadelphia, Marloe Gallery from Brooklyn, and MK Apothecary from New Jersey LA but a lot of the work in other rooms just wasn’t very well executed or was trying too hard to be cute, edgy, in-your-face, etc. 

On the plus side, prices are low, and you may just find a great piece from an emerging artist. 

We made several complete trips through Aqua in 2 hours, hoping the energy would pick up (which it did, the later it got).

PRO-TIP: Aqua’s usually a pretty good party spot; save it for an evening visit.  As a last stop, spend all the time you like – or till the drinks run out. 

INK Print Fair

Just a few doors away on Collins you’ll find INK, the IFPDA Dealers print fair. Another hotel fair, there’s always good stuff being presented. If you can’t afford an original Ellsworth Kelly, perhaps you can start with a print.   You’ll find big names: Warhol, Serra, Hirst, Kahn, etc., but also great work by artists you don’t know.  “Print” is used pretty loosely; the fair had editions of hand-made objects by Jacob Hashimoto, and folded-currency  sculptures by Abraham Cruzvillegas, for example.  You can likely happily complete INK in an hour and a half. 

PRO-TIP: INK opens earlier in the day than other fairs, and offers a pastry table & coffee to get you going, so plan on starting one day there.

NOTE: In addition to the fairs, there are usually temporary art installations in (or on) the hotels up and down Collins Ave. Not to be found on the “must see” lists, you’ll have to dig a bit before you go to get the latest scoop, but they are generally worth a quick visit. For 2023, the theme was “No Vacancy”; check it out here.

As we said, you need good time management skills. Traffic will be a mess.  Walking, we routinely outpaced the (free for the week!) buses & trolleys plying Collins Ave., especially in the evenings. Still, we barely slid into Gateway, a first-time, all-digital fair, before closing. 

Gateway

We’re not really sure if Gateway was intended to be paired with the art fairs in town or the NFT / Crypto conference that was being held simultaneously, but it was an interesting stop. Some big names, like Refik Anadol, Dustin Yellin and Jen Stark drew us in. We did experience some very cool digital creations; but mostly it felt like a big ad platform for sponsors like Samsung, LG, Mercedes Benz etc. Here’s hoping future editions are better presented and publicized.

BONUS: Bass Museum

Obviously, a museum is not an art fair, but The Bass Museum IS on Collins and is generally well-integrated into the whole Miami Art Week / Art Basel Miami Beach thing.   We saw a very nice Hernan Bas exhibition (now closed), a Naim Jun Paik solo (on view thru Aug 11, 2024), several outdoor / public sculptures, and a solo installation piece by Sallisa Rosa in the Collins Park Rotunda (not technically part of the Bass).

We spent a rushed hour at The Bass – allow more time if you can.

PRO-TIP: There’s also a sculpture walk along the river leading from the museum to Art Basel & Design Miami… it’s a peaceful, shady 6-minute shortcut.

Practical Stuff: What TO do and NOT to do

As we keep saying, Time Management is essential. The fairs and other art events / locations above are on Miami Beach, which is only accessible from mainland by crossing a couple causeways.  Both of which will be absolutely clogged depending on time of day.

IF you can find one, book your hotel on the beach for a couple days.  You can easily spend 2 hours per day just trying to get back and forth across the causeway if driving or taking the bus.  In fact, don’t drive, parking is impossible. We know – we tried it and it cost us valuable time searching for parking.

Of course there’s just as much happening on mainland; if you’re doing it ALL, plan accordingly: Miami mainland parties longer and later than the beach, believe or not. Especially in the design district and Wynwood areas, expect wee hour tippling.

Getting Around: Feet vs. Bus vs. Car

Look over the fair list we shared, check out opening/closing times and the distance(s) between. Make a plan. Collins Ave is NOT necessarily your friend; it doesn’t run true north & south. We ended up criss-crossing and backtracking too much, losing valuable time.

The buses and trolleys, by the way, were FREE  along certain routes for Miami Art Week. Between waiting and traffic, they may or may not be faster than walking. But be aware, most in Miami do NOT go to Miami Beach and vice versa.

Speaking of walking, you will be getting your 10,000 steps, no problem.  Wear very comfy socks & shoes as even if you only did the fairs, you’d likely walk a mile or more at each fair.

Uber and Lyft are widely available, but they still have to sit in traffic, and surge pricing gets ridiculous. Rain means $$$$$$$.

Food & Drink

The beach fairs have overpriced cafes, but you’re a captive audience.  Plan ahead, bring a power bar, or kick it on their decks and order a panini and bubbles.  Live it up!

For dinner, generally you can skip the restaurants on Ocean Drive and (most) on Lincoln Road; they’re average but expensive. Instead, head to Espanola Way – it’s a better time.