Art.sy Insight: Art Basel Miami Beach
In 1970, Swiss gallerists Ernst Beyeler, Trudi Bruckner, and Balz Hilt co-founded the first Art Basel fair in Basel, Switzerland, dedicated to exhibiting the best in modern and contemporary art. Over the next three decades, the fair thrived, and the decision was made to create a sister fair in the U.S. Art Basel Miami Beach opened officially in 2002 in Wynwood, Miami, west of South Beach (it has since moved to the Miami Beach Convention Center). Alternately referred to as the “Olympics of the Art World,” the “monster of all fairs,” and “four days of debauchery,” ABMB (and the week of events surrounding it) opens this week, running from December 6-9. Galleries from all over the world will fill 260 spaces at the fair, featuring works by more than 2,000 artists. In addition to the official ABMB booths at the Convention Center, there are over twenty smaller, satellite fairs throughout Miami, including Design Miami/, NADA, Art Miami, Aqua, Scope, and Pulse . At venues like Art Video Nights, Art Public, Art Basel Conversations, and Art Salon, even more art can be seen, discussed, and appreciated. According to Sam Keller, the first Director of ABMB, “there is no other place where you can see such a diversity of art in all mediums and from all continents.”