Dennis Kois: Art Basel Miami Beach 2013

Left Boston this morning on the early AA flight down, which as always was packed to the gills with Boston collectors, museum folk, and artists, and we compared notes and itineraries as we waited to board. Saw Magda Campos-Pons buying coffee, and became jealous of the ability of Paul Ha, the Director of MIT’s List, to sleep sitting up. He was still snoozing a few rows ahead of me as we touched down. That’s a skill I need!

 

After adjusting to the glaring Miami sunshine (ahhhh! I’m melting!) I dropped off bags at the Fontainebleau, and snapped a quick pic of the pool terrace where deCordova’s party (sponsored by Art New England and Skinner, thank you!) for all us New Englanders will be held Thursday night. Beautiful as ever- very Miami Beach! While sitting on the terrace catching up on emails, saw Susan Talbott, the Director of the Wadsworth Atheneum, doing the same… Miami is like summer camp for (always pale, always working!) museum directors.

 

 

 

Finally, a dinner tonight hosted by Galerie Lelong at Essensia; among the twenty or so artworld luminaries chatting included Ursula von Rydingsvard, Petah Coyne, Emilio Perez, Debbie Landau from Madison Square Park, Curator Molly Donovan from the National Gallery of Art in DC, Nicolas Baume of NY’s Public Art fund, who organized this year’s Miami Basel Public Sector in Collins Park, and a bevy of collectors and art advisors.

 

The bombshell for me was the news that Debbie Landau is leaving Madison Square Park–a program she built from scratch, and one doing some of the best public art in the US–to become an independent public art advisor. The news is public, recently, but still a big surprise.

 

I sat with Jean Frémon of Galerie Lelong Paris for the evening, and we had a long conversation at our table about the inverted role of the market and museums in tastemaking and in writing art history in the past decade. Art (and particularly contemporary art!), some at our table argued, has become so market-driven that it is now like the market for any high-end fashion item or collectible–watches, automobiles, couture. Very different than the days when the artworld was driven by art historical considerations, scholarship and exhibitions.

 

This morning, still thinking about Debbie Landau’s departure, I woke up to more surprising, unpleasant news… admittedly not art related, but just saying…

 

 

Today I’m off to the VIP preview of the main Miami Basel fair to do some glad-handing and to take some deCordova patrons around on a preview walkaround; followed by a small patron dinner at Yardbird (yum yum yum). Then Thursday it is heavy lifting day–many fairs, many hours. I’ll report back with many more pics of, and commentary on, the fairs proper in the next two days!