Your guide to art in Miami as the fair returns to spotlight the vibrant city
From left: External impressions of Miami Beach Convention Center; Installation view of Stephen Friedman Gallery at Art Basel Miami Beach 2023. Artworks by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA; External impressions of Miami Beach.
Directed for the first time by Bridget Finn, Art Basel returns to Miami Beach this December, bringing together 286 leading galleries from 38 countries and territories. Reflecting a commitment to supporting innovation and artistic excellence in the region, this year’s edition will present a refreshed artistic program, with over two-thirds of exhibitors operating spaces in the Americas alongside welcoming 34 newcomers, the largest increase in over a decade, as well as new curators and exhibition concepts.
Whether a first-time visitor or a seasoned fairgoer and collector, this edition has been designed with you in mind, to maximize at every turn the opportunity for surprise encounters and revelatory discoveries.
Bridget Finn, Art Basel Miami Beach Fair Director.
With this in mind the Meridians sector, the fair’s signature space for large-scale installations, will present in a refreshed format for its fifth anniversary. Curated for the first time by Yasmil Raymond, the former director of Portikus in Frankfurt,18 large-scale projects by renowned artists from the Americas and beyond will be integrated within the south end of the show floor. Highlights include a 10-foot-tall spiral sculpture by American artist Alice Aycock titled Goya (2024), and Zhu Jinshi’s Pathway (2024), a towering sculpture made from 10,000 sheets of rice paper from the artwork series presented in China’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
Across the hall in the Kabinett sector, visitors can explore 24 intimately curated presentations, with a renewed emphasis on diversity and discovery, including a vibrant abstract landscape installation by UBS Art Collection artist Federico Herrero. Created especially for the fair, it comprises new wall canvases and a site-specific floor painting inspired by the urban structures of the artist’s hometown San José in Costa Rica.