Travel Blog – Mr & Mrs Smith Boutique & Luxury Hotels

ART BASEL MIAMI

Date 3–6 December

Place Miami Beach, United States

Style Pretty as a picture

Setting Spectacle-on-sea

The sister event to the original Swiss show, Art Basel Miami is an absolute must for anyone involved in the art industry, and an inspiring opportunity for interested amateurs and curious hobbyists. The main venue – the more-impressive-than it sounds Miami Beach Convention Centre – showcases painting, sculpture, drawing, video and digital art from both named names (Bacon, Hirst, Koons) and most-likely-to upstarts. Dealers, curators and open-walleted millionaires talk shop, and what a shop it is – Art Basel’s exhibition halls contain works by more than 3,000 artists. Come to browse, splurge, or just nod knowingly at odd sculptures.

Event Highlight
As well the bewildering array of cutting-edge, international contemporary art, Art Basel Miami also runs Art Salon, an open platform where well-known speakers discuss the art world in thought-provoking, chin-massaging fashion. Informal in style but scholarly in scope, it promises to engage the audience with art’s most debated themes.
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IN THE KNOW

Head count The international appeal, the prestige and sheer number of exhibitors (more than 250) always pull in the crowds. Numbers can swell to 15,000 over the four days and in recent years have peaked at twice that.

Packing tips A few choice summery-chic pieces wouldn’t go amiss for the inevitable cocktail-sipping on the seafront. Berets and beards will just make you look like you’re taking the mickey. Also pack a credit card and the number of a decent shipping company.

Bar chat Show your cultural stripes with a discussion about the true home of Art Basel – the university town of, surprisingly enough, Basel, which sits on the banks of the Rhine in Switzerland. The original engine room of the Art Basel extravaganza is like the competitive elder brother of the Stateside sister show. Knowingly note that the Miami exhibition is known for its extra emphasis on architecture, design, music, and of course, partying that much harder.

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DOS & DON’TS

• Don’t carry a big bag – even if you manage to get it into the hall without deferring to the exhibition cloakroom, the crowds won’t be amenable to you carrying around a heavy load and you’ll need both hands free to carry the tome-like catalogue.
• Embrace the arty scene and brush up on your knowledge before you go. The exhibition is really just an excuse for art dealers, artists, critics, gallery owners, curators, collectors and scholars to mingle, bid, buy and sell. Enter clueless and you risk getting lost in the madness.
• Keep an open mind. A lot of the work is deliberately provocative and represents the cutting-edge of contemporary art. So don’t laugh at anything phallic. Try and listen in on those around you – you never know who could be commenting.

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NEED TO KNOW

Getting there The Convention Center is very close to Miami International Airport, and Turon Travel, Art Basel’s official travel agent, is offering reduced-price flights and discounted hire-car deals over the days of the fair. Once you’re there, it’s only a short drive from the airport, downtown Miami or the Port of Miami, and an easy walk from South Beach, so you’re spoilt for choice. From the airport, take either the State Road 112 or the US 195.

Children Tickets are free for under-16s accompanied by an adult, so if your brood is artistically minded, make it a family day out. The show justifiably promotes itself as a rich educational venue and it clearly holds some appeal for the younger generation. ArtNexus runs tours for school groups throughout the fair.

Parking If you get there early, you can park at the municipal lot on Convention Center Drive, as well as at a parking garage on 17th Street, which is a one-block walk from the action.

Food & drink Miami has an incredible array of restaurants and bars, but if you’re flagging from culture overload and feel the need to recharge your batteries, the Exhibition Center itself plays host to several places to stop and refuel. Choose from three sites for a proper lunch, and four cafes for a quicker, slicker bite. Offerings in the past have been suitably sophisticated, including champagne, sushi and, um, pretzels.

Sleep For 1930s modern-classic glamour, take a leisurely walk down Ocean Drive to Hotel Victor, whose in-room spa treatments will ease your art-addled mind as you gaze out over the ocean. For more spa spectacle, Andre Balazs’ Standard Miami is the leader of the pack. Sate your appetite with the Setai show kitchen’s impressive array of dishes, coolly finished off with a cocktail from the 90-foot long poolside bar. The Kelly Wearstler-designed Tides South Beach is an immaculate, welcoming style haven. If it’s petite and homely you’re after, book Casa Tua, a Mediterranean-style villa that’s packed with artworks – as though you haven’t seen enough already…

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We’re keeping a beady eye on the international event calendar, so watch this space every month for more insider info on inspiring shenanigans around the world.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 7:02 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.