Christina Chaplin

Dalanda Jalloh

The Art Basel Miami Beach is an event that has allowed Miami to rebuild itself as a place where local art can be appreciated. In one instance, it has enabled black artists, managers, buyers, and sellers to promote themselves and seek more success in the art arena. This can in turn inspire other black artists or underrepresented artists to produce fresh, new art forms and styles.

Exhibition:

Art Positions: According to the Art Basel Miami Beach website (http://www.artbaselmiamibeach.com/go/id/dit/) "[t]he Art Positions sector is a platform for a single major project from one of their artists, allowing curators, critics and collector to discover ambitious new talents from all over the globe."

Within this Art Position sector I have chosen to focus on Kavi Gupta.

Kavi Gupta | Theaster Gates
Kavi Gupta will present Theaster Gates' site-specific installation of illuminated glass lantern slides, with each slide examining the significance of unrecognized African-American potters and their contribution to American art. For Art Positions, a selection of slides will be nested into the ceiling of two sculptural passageways (as seen on the Art Basel Miami Beach website).

Implications of the following with regard to the global market:

Location: Normally located in Chicago, Illinois and Berlin, Germany, the art of Kavi Gupta displayed in Miami will allow the African-American population in Miami to learn (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/12/12086.html) to learn more about unrecognized artists in African-American culture. This could spurn new interests in African-American art, and/or art in general and possibly encourage new artists or buyers to enter to the art market. This could also generate more revenue and new artistic ideas within the art market. In addition, a greater focus could be put into art schools, as future artists build their skills and foster new ideas.

Artist: http://kavigupta.com/

This Miami based art fair could expand Gupta's following, expanding from those who typically view the art in Berlin and Chicago. A new following in Miami could spurn more revenue for the artist and thus possibly prompt the artist to create more pieces similar to those well received by the audience. Miami locals and also famous people in the entertainment industry could be drawn to this arena, creating even more revenue. (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/arts/design/how-art-basel-is-remaking-miami.html?_r=1&ref=artbaselmiamibeach).

Curator: This art fair could benefit the manager since it could lead to an increase in the artist's fan following. This could help further expand the artist's exposure and thus likely earn more revenue for the artists and the manager.

Because of the success of Art Basel, art fair based in Miami, I wonder if galleries placed in other regions of the country, like underdeveloped neighborhoods, could prove beneficial for individuals in those communities. Maybe this could be another method to widen the exposure of various artists to those who are curious about new art forms that are present in their neighborhoods and possibly recruit famous people who originate from these areas. 

Here is a sample of artist Theaster Gates work which is in the Kavi Gupta gallery:

Theaster Gates

Civil Rights Throw Rug (Large)

2011
Decommissioned fire hose and fringe
80" x 45"

image1.jpeg 

Theaster Gates

In Event of Race Riot (Green, Wood, Tile)

2011
wood, glass, hose
60" x 46 1/4" x 4 1/2"

 image2.jpeg

Both works of art and title descriptions were obtained from: http://kavigupta.com/exhibition/100/artbaselmiamibeach/works

Charles Saunders

Lipei Yu

H Hunt Bradley III

Daniel Chazen

Kwame Nana-Atoo  

ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH

 Like its European counterpart Venice biennale, Documenta, frieze art fair etc., Art Basel Miami beach has become the most important show in a America promoting cultural and social highlight for the international fair. It is also a sister event to Art Basel in Switzerland. An interesting feature and a distinctive one as well is that it involves a lot of outside activities, which easily engages the public, and increases the chances of finding new talents. Curators, critics, art connoisseur, galleries and museums, art collectors and buyers are all attracted for this gathering. When a gathering like that takes place, it embodies the fullness of the art world/market aiming to inspire the debate in the visual arts, to produce knowledge and bring about the development to raise curiosity and desire which will channel longevity to art and artist.

 ARTIST

In the fair, the Anita Schwartz galleria will be showing an installation by Otavio Schipper. Schipper was born in 1979 in Brazil. He has a degree in Physics from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.
He began his training in fine arts with courses in Parque Lage and as assistant to the photographer Pedro de Moraes.
He worked in the computer graphics group of the Instituto de Matemática Pura e Aplicada ( IMPA) developing research in 3D photography. He participated in the exhibitions "Arte Brasileira Hoje" (at Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro and at Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, 2005), XII Salão da Bahia (Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia, 2006) ,V Salão Nacional de Arte de Goiás (2006) and Nova Arte Nova (Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil RJ / SP, 2008) .
In 2007 held his first solo exhibition, "Borda de Dobras", at Millan gallery in São Paulo and in 2008, the solo exhibition "Fluido Percurso", at Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro. In 2010 showed the sound installation "Inconsciente Mecânico", at Centro Cultural Maria Antônia in São Paulo.

 INSTALLATION

He will be installing a piece called empty voices. Empty Voices is a sound and sculpture installation that focuses on the artist constructive approach to traditional sculpture as well as minimalist and serial methods of musical composition. The idea for this dates back to the 18^th century where musicians, in order to produce pure pitch for turning musical instruments where the invention of the turning fork was used to experiment the nature of sound. It consists of an acoustic space in which various types of tuning forks are suspended in space by steel cables. The sculptures are cast in bronze from computer-generated molds while the walls of the booth will be covered with acoustic materials commonly found in recording studios. The artist's constructive approach to sculpture draws from the Modernist tradition as well as from minimalist and serial methods of musical composition as exemplified by atonalism and other avant-garde techniques such as the polyphonies of ars combinatoria.

 CURATOR/GALLARY

Anita Schwartz gallery started to serve as a spotlight for Brazilian art abroad. They act with the represented artist by working their careers internationally thus forging partnership with international institutions and galleries. Through careful selection of represented artist and their works,counting with great names of contemporary Brazilian art as well as supporting emerging young artist, the gallery invests in dissemination and propagation of Brazilian culture.

 LOCATION

Since the gallery and the artist are both based in Brazil,  I think their new location in Miami will create an interesting exposure to them. In exchange the audiences will also get to more about the culture of brazil and I think more importantly with the artist career and academic change, it will provide an interesting platform to discussion how he merges the sciences, music and art together to create such interesting installations.

Links

Images of Empty Voices

http://www.mediamatic.net/person/60439

 A short video of Otavio  Schipper.-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JXLABTwyQdE#!

 A short biography and cv of the artist

http://www.pipaprize.com/?page_id=1138

 other links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Basel

 http://www.artbaselmiamibeach.com/go/id/dit/

June Shin

Art Basel Miami Beach is a sister exhibition to the original contemporary art fair in Basel, Switzerland. It had its 11^th exhibition this past December where over 2000 artists from more than 260 galleries from all over the world showed their works[1|#_ftn1]. My focus is on Art Public, one of the many exhibition sectors in this international fair. Art Public covers such works as sculptures, installations, and performance pieces that require an outdoor space. Collaborating with the Bass Museum of Art, Art Public was able to situate public artworks in Collins Park[2|#_ftn2].

Location plays a vital role for both the entire Art Basel and the Art Public exhibition in particular. Irma Braman, a collector and patron living in Miami, mentioned during the filed conversation "Collector Focus"(Click to watch video) that Art Basel Miami Beach has enabled her to learn about the new developments in art in different parts of the world without having to travel around herself. In fact, her interactions with many artists and art professionals from all around the globe has made her and her husband Norman to shift the focus of their art collection. It is evident Art Basel Miami Beach is helping artists and collectors alike, making the city of Miami Beach an ideal location for all art lovers. As for Art Public specifically, its sculptures and installations are displayed in Collins Park. Its vicinity to the Bass Museum of Art can only be beneficial with regards to publicity. Moreover, this open air space in Collins Park is more readily available to the public than the main Convention Center building. Again, public exposure couldn't hurt.

Thousands of art lovers, including art collectors, art critics, art dealers and many others involved in the art market, visit Miami in December for this fair. For an artist, the more exposure the better. Thus, the artist will benefit from heightened publicity of his work and his name and very likely reap financial benefits from increased sale. In turn, this will raise the market value of not only their past and current works but also the future ones. And in today's world where information travels in the blink of an eye, the artist's value in the global market is bound to escalate. Especially for foreign artists like Jen DeNike from São Paulo, participating in a fair like Art Basel will bring her tremendous exposure not only to the American audience but also those who travel to Miami Beach from abroad to see the exhibition.

            As a result of the success of the artworks that she selected and organized, the curator of the Art Public Exhibition, Christine Y. Kim, will also benefit, because now her competence as a curator will be acknowledged and her future efforts will prove fruitful, as her opinions will matter, more so than before, in the art market.

            Also, the works shown in Art Public are expected to intrigue and sometimes provoke the established art community and market. Such works as Jen DeNike's performance art "Lemanjá" certainly raise many questions concerning the boundaries of art and how such intangible works of art fare in the art market. This type of art continues to question and redefine art and often seeks to incite changes in the way of seeing and collecting art. 
Jen DeNike. "Lemanjá," 2011.

[1|#ftnref1] _Art | Basel | Miami Beach. Web. 05 Jan. 2012. <http://www.artbaselmiamibeach.com/go/id/ss/>

[2|#ftnref2] "Art Public." _Art | Basel | Miami Beach. Web. 05 Jan. 2012. <http://www.artbaselmiamibeach.com/go/id/eof/>

McKenzie Sullivan

The Art Basel in Miami Beach is one of the most prestigious art shows in the world. More than 260 leading galleries from North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa take part, showcasing contemporary artworks by more than 2,000 artists. Every year a greater number of art collectors, artists, dealers, curators, critics and art enthusiasts from around the world participate in the Art Basel Miami Beach. The exhibiting galleries are among the world's most respected art dealers, offering exceptional pieces by both renowned artists and cutting-edge newcomers. Special exhibition sections feature young galleries, performance art, public art projects and video art.

One example of how the Art Basel show stimulates the art market is easily visible directly in Miami itself. Since Art Basel's debut in 2002 dozens of new galleries have opened in the city and many artists have relocated to Miami, lured by the relatively low rents as well as by Art Basel itself. The fair not only gives artists, collectors and gallery owners a rare opportunity to see world-class art but to hobnob with the leading players in the international art world. The show provides enormous opportunities for less prominent art collectors and smaller galleries to join in the world art stage without being relegated to the large auction houses. Not only does the show stimulate the art market by providing a significant outlet for art collectors to buy and sell but the Fair also stimulates the primary economy in the city. Jason Loeb, Chairman of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce says, "We understand the value of Art Basel because cultural impact has a direct economic impact.  Art Basel has taken Miami Beach from a resort and tourism destination to a destination for art and culture - which means big business for the City.  The 5-day event is bringing international visitors, with a huge number from Latin America, into the city filling hotels to capacity while shopping and eating at our world-renowned restaurants.  The estimated $500 million in impact is leading Miami Beach from recession to resurgence" (Gerrity).

Sorting through all the quality-driven exhibitors I was particularly drawn to Alexandra Birchen, an artist in the Art Positions' sector of the show, located in the Miami Beach Convention Center. It is a platform designed specifically for a single major project from one of Art Basel's participating artists. The platform allows curators, critics and collectors to discover remarkable new talents in a venue decide to promote and market the best of the best around the world. Bircken is represented and curated by the Kimmerich Gallery from New York City.

Birchen is an artist with a unique sculptural language – working with assemblages of rope, thread or nylon stretched, suspended or draped over wood, iron and steel.

Although New York City provides a booming location for the art market, as curators of Bircken's most recent work, Kimmerich Gallery also finds enormous benefit through its exposure to an international audience in Miami as well as from the prestige that a talent like Birchen brings to their profile in this particular venue.

Organic materials such as twigs, steel, rope, mortar, and leather are Alexandra Bircken's materials of choice. She uses predominantly earth-tone colors that draw attention to her sculptures' organic forms and holistic qualities. Birchen also creates installations featuring primitive materials like wood, knitted fragments and twigs. Her work has strong references to traditional craft practices and to the natural world, from which she sources her materials. The uniquely environmental aspect of her creations is instantly attractive to many collectors whose own holistic and trendy lifestyles are reflected in her works.

Click below for some interesting links to Alexandra Bircken's works and an interview with her discussing what inspires her to create and how she finds her materials.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyF7SXwaBZ4 

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/artpages/alexandra_bircken_unit4_fusion.html

    
Bibliography

"Art Positions." Art | Basel | Miami Beach. Web. 05 Jan. 2012.

<http://www.artbaselmiamibeach.com/go/id/dit/>

"Alexandra Bircken." KIMMERICH. Web. 05 Jan. 2012. 

<http://kimmerich.com/html/artists/alexandra-bircken/press.html>

Gerrity, Michael. "Art Basel Miami Beach Becomes $500 Million Economic Stimulus Package for Local Economy." World Property Channel. 2 Dec. 2011. Web. 05 Jan. 2012.

<http://tinyurl.com/7sfm772>

Maneker, Marion. "Art Basel Miami Beach: Good or Bad?" Art Market Monitor. 30 Nov. 2011. Web. 5 Jan. 2012.

<http://artmarketmonitor.com/2011/11/30/artbasel-miami-beach-good-or-bad/>

Elena Cestero

Kelly Zona

Jacqueline Park

Tadd Phillips