Ahead of the fair’s opening, the world’s most instagrammable city is preparing for its yearly art bonanza, which will take over not only convention centers and hangars, but also Miami’s beaches, hotels and walls for a tightly-scheduled week of dinners, performances, openings and events. Even the Miami’s City Bikes have been redesigned by street artist PRO176.
After bypassing the fair’s management last year and settling with Art Basel for copyright infringement days ago, Adidas is teaming up with street culture magazine Juxtapoz this year. The sportswear giant and the San Francisco-based publication will present works by some ten street artists at the Clubhouse Juxtapoz, including Belgian artist Jaune and the Canadian Laurence Vallières, who will take over the space’s three floors. Bacardi is organizing a “no commission” event on Friday, where artists will sell their works directly to the public, without galleries or intermediaries.
London Police at Wynwood walls
Artist Peter Tunney is presenting his installation The Sinking of the Taj Mahal between 32nd and 36th Street on Faena Beach, the monumental pieces of which he collected from the façade and rooftop of the former Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. Also on the seafront, Phillip K. Smith III’s installation 120 Degree Arc East-Southeast invites passersby to “engage with the surrounding ocean and the endless heavens above”.
As for museums, the Bass is — at last — reopening with an inaugural show by Ugo Rondinone, whilst the Perez Art Museum is featuring works by Cuban artists as part of the exhibition “On the Horizon: Contemporary Cuban Art from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection”. Over in Wynwood, mostly French street-artists — including Seth, eL Seed, 2Shy, PRO176 and Romain Froquet — have taken over the neighborhood’s walls.
SETH
The highly instagrammed Museum of Ice Cream (Los Angeles) is also setting up shop in Miami for a few days. It’s not so much an artistic endeavour but an opportunity for visitors to take very pink, very shareable pictures and gain thousands of Facebook likes. Kim Kardashian and Beyoncé love it, but, for mortals, tickets come with the hefty price tag of $98.
Over at Hotel W, Paris Hilton will be on the decks on Saturday night, and we can only look forward to the craziest of weeks in Miami Beach.
Phillip K. Smith III 120 Degree Arc East-Southeast at Faena beach
Sinking Taj Mahal installation by Peter Tunney at Faena beach
