Miami Art Week. Art Basel Miami Beach. Art Miami. Artapalooza.
Call it what you will, the first weekend in December each year, Miami plays host to THE art event(s) of the season.

It’s so jam-packed with fairs, events, gallery & museum exhibitions and parties (ohhh… the parties) it’s essentially impossible to see it all. We’ve posted several articles prior; here’s our How To primer from 2023 (still useful).

We arrived early this time. We tried. We did a hell of a job.

Read below for our first-hand review of Miami Art Week 2025, including Art Basel Miami Beach, Art Miami, Design Miami, Untitled, Scope, NADA, Aqua, Ink, and more..

But first, hats off to the cities of Miami and Miami Beach for the serious upgrade in free public transportation. Outside of one minor hiccup, the free trolleys got us everywhere we needed to be, and at reasonable times. The free water taxi, now apparently permanent, taking crowds from Miami to the Beach saved countless wasted man-hours. Whomever is responsible, take a bow.

Also: Before we get into the details, know that some of the links in this article may be affiliate links, and that if you click, we may earn a small commission, with no cost to you! Also, our fair admission was complimentary as journalists. However all views are our own.

ART BASEL Miami Beach

This is the fair that for some people lends its name to the whole week – everyone who asks if you’re going to Art Basel, actually mean the whole shebang, but you know they really mean all of Miami Art Week. And it’s with good reason – it’s the biggest, highest-quality fair. And in 2025, its Zero 10 section, dedicated to digital art, really stole the show (mostly courtesy of Beeple‘s “Regular Animals“).

Every year, there’s one artist that many galleries decide to bring… this year, it was Uruguayan artist Pablo Atchugarry. We actually saw this across multiple fairs. We’re not sure why – he hasn’t died.

We were surprised to see so much fiber / textile art at Art Basel, particularly featured front & center, where paintings normally hold the really valuable outer-wall real estate. Though it does fit with a global trend we’ve noticed at places like the Sharjah Biennial, Setouchi Triennale, and elsewhere around the world.

And clay. Clay is having *such* a moment … it seems every gallery has to have some ceramic sculpture, object, even “painting”. Maybe it’s a curatorial requirement these days.

Art Basel added its Unlimited section for big art & installations in Miami for 2025, and it’s great to have. It didn’t have quite immense presence that Basel did in 2024, but something to keep an eye on.

We can also tell you, as we have in the past, that if you’re actually interested in the art (rather than attending as a social statement), that 8 hours really isn’t enough and you should get a multi-day ticket.

This year, sadly, we spotted no celebrities, except Shepard Fairey – who is everywhere right now. Is he selling out?

Design Miami

If you love Architectural Digest, you’ll love Design Miami. There were simply amazing objects in all media: glass, clay, wood, fiber, resin, metal – you get the idea. Mostly functional, some clearly not, but (almost) all priced in the stratosphere. Acquiring a work at Design Miami may actually be more of a status symbol than at any of the other fairs these days.

Here’s a short walkthrough:

The exception to this rule of excess – at least this year – was this collection by former NFL-er Stefon Diggs. Funk, quirky, functional, handmade… and super reasonably priced.

ART MIAMI

Art Miami is the second-biggest art fair, and it’s the *other* shorthand for Miami Art Week: “Are you going to Art Miami”?

The fair seemed well put-together this year. Still a lot of immediate gratification, but it felt more … even.

CONTEXT

If you were wondering where all the glitz & gloss went, it’s here. Lots of decorative, in-your-face, bright, snarky, colorful, glossy etc. art. If that’s what you like, then Context should be top on your list of fairs to hit during Miami Art Week.

Don’t get us wrong – it’s not our style, but there’s some really well-rendered and crafted gems there. It’s just that this year, it all seemed kind of grouped under one tent, instead of spread around.

SCOPE

Scope had a grand sculpture in a grand entry, setting us up for a grand time. Which promptly fell flat.
Seriously – making us dump water, with no way to replace it without purchasing? All in the name of “security”. Rough start.

The curatorial confusion continued – we understand sponsorships, but how does attaching a padel court to an art fair do anything to advance artistic dialogue?

The tent was dark, as though the producers couldn’t afford lighting. Few of the galleries had more than the standard complement of lights, either.

Felt a bit like if Miami Art Week was in your grandparents’ basement.

Several galleries we always look forward to, like Thinkspace, were missing. (Though in fairness, Mortal Machine exhibited similar work and was plastered with red dots).
As in 2023, the strongest presentations were by artists of color, with galleries helmed by POC.

All that said, there was some really great work – some that we’d expect to see at higher-profile fairs in the future. If YOU went, let us know how you liked the fair.

UNTITLED

As always, walking into Untitled (especially coming directly from SCOPE) was like walking into a … well, cathedral is the first word that came to mind. That’s not quite right of course, but it is bright, welcoming and loaded with good art.

We do think Untitled is consistently high-quality, and recommend it over any of the other satellite (is it really a satellite fair at this point!?) fairs.

Untitled Fair’s “Nest” section, which supports emerging galleries, often allowing them to do their first fair, was oddly arranged, but offered some fantastic artwork. And it was gratifying to see so much from Detroit, which has a rapidly growing art scene.

Bonus: this year’s Delta/American Express Artscape Lounge was even better than 2023. The Pomegranate Lamb Shoulder by five-time James Beard Award-winning chef Michael Solomonov was off the hook! Want access? Ya gotta Get the card.

AQUA Art Fair

Aqua – you kinda break my heart. But not everyone’s.

We first fell in love with Aqua more than a decade ago. It was an energetic, slightly quirky space (with a great party) for finding some really talented emerging artists. Folks you’d expect to see at fairs higher up the food chain the following year.

Aqua took a couple biiig steps backwards in recent years. This time around, we felt it was better than the disappointment of 2023, but still not back to its prime.

But you know what? Art is subjective, and a (not-so-) quick second-visit Q&A at closing time yielded LOTS of happy exhibitors, who sold well. Check it out for yourself, let us know your thoughts!

SATELLITE Art Fair

Crazy good bohemian energy, as many artist-run spaces possess. It harks back to the good old days of Miami Art Week, when almost anyone could set up an exhibition in any vacant space they would find. The art this time? Mostly meh, with true beginners trying too hard. I didn’t even take any pictures.

INK

Technically, it’s the *other* International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) Fair. (Main one is in New York).

We’ve written about Ink before. No less compelling this time.

You’ll find big names from yesteryear like Warhol, Hockney, etc., but also current darlings like Jeffrey Gibson.

This year, it held some of the edgiest works (flagrantly sexual, at one booth) we saw at any fair. Outside of Art Basel’s Zero 10 effort, also one of the few fairs during Miami Art Week with digital art. Even though we missed the breakfast and most of the party, we continue to recommend.

BitBasel

While on the subject of digital art, we come to Bit Basel, which we sadly left til nearly last, missing any sense of energy.

On the plus side? More #astrogeist !

We were pooped, the exhibitors (were there exhibitors?) mostly MIA. It did seem like the panel discussions were interesting.

NADA

I wasn’t a fan of NADA originally; the art back in the day was too think-y, too esoteric. I come from the objects side of the arts spectrum… I don’t like to work so hard.
We didn’t have that problem this time. Not edgy or too brain-y, there was just good solid paintings and sculpture to look at.

RED DOT and SPECTRUM

Incredible energy, even though it wasn’t opening night.

If you haven’t been, Spectrum has black outer walls, and is for self-representing artists, kind of like a higher-level street fair.

RedDot has white outer walls, and is (generally) for emerging galleries and emerging artists.

This doesn’t mean everything is necessarily “cheap”; we saw several booths with art in the $50-100+k range.
We’re going to call this duo “The Peoples’ Fair”. The crowd is diverse, egalitarian: you’ll find Carhartts, Doc Martens & Manolo Blahniks all in the same aisle.

It seems there’s always a party. And the art sells.

PINTA Art Fair

Pinta is a Latin-American (LATAM)-focused fair that we had not attended in probably 10 years. We did go in 2025, and thought it worthy of its own post, HERE.

REVOLT

Well, who knows? It was confusing – hiding around behind NADA, though by just a half a block. We thought we’d attend around 6pm, and enjoy the party starting at 7, but… no. They actually closed the fair for an hour or two prior to the party. We were too exhausted to wait around, so… Sadly, we can’t really tell you what was to be found inside.

Googling doesn’t help much either.

We saw perhaps 5 or 7 people waiting to gain entry… if you went, please link us to your photos of the fair.
We were super impressed with the PRIZM artists in 2023 (location was awful, but some great art), and hoped we’d experience similar this year.

Key Takeaway: If you’re planning on attending Revolt in 2026, know that there is a Ice Palace WEST building.

Miami Art Week – The Umbrella Organization ?

Finally, we want to address “Miami Art Week” as a … thing. It’s a useful catchall hashtag for what happens in Miami during ArtBasel / Art Miami.

It’s also apparently an organization / project with its own “art fairs”.

PhotoMiami and ArteNXT over in Wynwood, which we did attend. Both are very small, needing only 15-30 minutes to completely absorb. We did see some interesting photography (and the lack of a serious, major fair dedicated to the medium that week is regrettable), but feel the shows didn’t justify the high ticket price. If you’re going to Walls at Wynwood, fine – it’s just down the street, we just don’t suggest making a separate trip.

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