Step aside, sunbathers. From December 3 to 6, 2009, Art Basel Miami Beach, the most prominent art fair in the U.S., will again transform the city into the country’s temporary art capital.
The show, founded in 2002 as the winter version of Switzerland’s famed Art Basel, is expected to attract the work of artists from 33 countries and an estimated 40,000 international visitors. At least 250 art galleries participate in the event, which has “put Miami on the map of the contemporary art world,” according to Frederic Snitzer, a member of the art fair’s selection committee.
Art Basel Miami Beach is also an important meeting point for the contemporary art world in the Americas. About 20 galleries from Latin America will participate, including Galería Casas Riegner in Bogotá. Casas Riegner—a branch of Miami’s famed Casas Riegner—is showing “modern, transformative works” (see picture) from a new generation of artists such as Mateo López, a 31-year-old Colombia native who is returning to the show for his third consecutive year.
Art connoisseurs can also enjoy a number of unaffiliated art fairs on the fringes of the event featuring new artists and galleries that have contributed to South Florida’s cultural transformation. Admissions costs were not available at press time, but are expected to remain unchanged from last year’s $35 per day.
