Art Basel has most galleries in 16 years

As artists, art vendors, and art lovers prepare to turn out to another year at Art Basel Miami Beach, the Miami Beach Convention Center is preparing itself for its largest festival yet.

This year, the acclaimed arts festival is boasting 286 galleries, the largest selection of artists and galleries present at Art Basel since 2008.

This year also marks one of the more diverse lineups present at the event – 34 of the galleries are newcomers participating for the first time from North and South America, Europe and Asia, while two-thirds of this year’s presenters are from North and South America, including Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, and Guatemala.

After the Covid-19 pandemic forced the event to cancel in 2020, which then resulted in a decrease in attendance in 2021, the festival has returned to a larger turnout of artists and visitors than before. Last year’s event saw a turnout of 79,000 people, putting it on par with pre-pandemic levels of 2018 and 2019, which saw 83,000 and 81,000 visitors respectively. The number of presenters is also greater than pre-pandemic levels, which saw 269 galleries in 2019, the year before the pandemic.

This year’s lineup opens to the public Friday, Dec. 6, with myriad events in the days leading up to and during the festival.

For fans of the culinary arts, the festival has partnered with the Netflix series “Chef’s Table” as the festival’s official culinary partner. Every night of the festival, “Chef’s Table” will be transforming a different South Beach restaurant into a classic diner, serving up high concept diner classics, as well as signature cocktails and breakfast pop-up events.

Throughout the week, Art Basel will be hosting its Conversations series, live discussions with artists, art curators, collectors and scholars, discussing the state and role of modern art in society. One of the highlights of this series is the premier artist talk with Iranian artist and photographer Shirin Neshat today (12/5). Ms. Neshat is best known for her work as a photographer and filmmaker, using her art to examine religion, race and gender in society, as well as tensions between East and West and the past and the present.

Also today, the Tribeca Festival and Palace South Beach will be hosting a 28th anniversary screening of the 1996 film “The Birdcage,” followed by a live drag show.

Live theatre is also a feature of this year’s Art Week. The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts will be hosting the US premiere of South African artist William Kentridge’s show, “The Great Yes, The Great No.” Mr. Kentridge’s show follows a group of historical artists and thinkers sailing from Martinique to Vichy France on a ship captained by Charon, the ferryman of the underworld in Greek mythology. The show premieres today (12/5) at 8 p.m.

As the festival draws closer for Miami Art Week, visitors will get to experience not only visual art but live theatre, culinary art, musical performances, artist meet and greets, and many more, a showcase of the variety that has made this festival a Miami Art Week staple.