OUR MEGA GUIDE TO ART BASEL MIAMI 2013: PART I

By Gary Pini

Papermag.com

Over the summer, the city’s commissioners awarded the internationally acclaimed starchitect Rem Koolhaas and his local partner Robert Wennett — owner of the Herzog & de Meuron designed parking lot at 111 Lincoln Road — the $1 billion bid to re-make the convention center and its surrounding 52-acre site. For now, AB/MB isn’t in jeopardy, but the scope of the new plan surely means that at some point in the future, things are going to change radically.

Rendering of Perez Art Museum Miami

Fans of the Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron will be able check out the architects’ Perez Art Museum Miami when it officially opens during AB/MB. The museum — formerly know as the Miami Art Museum — is moving into a brand new building in Museum Park just off of downtown Miami’s Biscayne Boulvard. On view during the week, there’s a big survey of works by the Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei and shows by Cuban painter Amelia Pelaez and Brazilian painter Beatriz Milhazes. It all kicks off with a member-only preview on December 3 from 4 to 9 p.m. with L.A.-based artists Los Jaichackers and music by Total Freedom. Then on Saturday night, December 7, there’s the official premiere gala.

The sands of South Beach are getting another fair this year when the Scope Miami pavilion moves to 1000 Ocean Drive at 10th Street. Their “Platinum Preview Gala” takes place on Monday night, December 2, from 5 to 8 p.m. and there’s a VIP opening on Tuesday. The public is invited to attend from December 4 to 8 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Again this year, Scope has partnered with VH1 with a big indoor lounge and a massive party on Friday night from 8 p.m. to midnight featuring a performance by “one of today’s hottest musical artists.” We’ll let you know who as soon as we find out.

Brazil will be getting lots of attention this year with over 40 galleries exhibiting at the new Brazil ArtFair running from December 3 to 8 in Woodson Park on NW 36th Street in Midtown. Their goal is “to go beyond your everyday art fair…with a private initiative for the promotion and internationalization of Brazil’s art market,” the fair’s founder Michel Serebrinsky explained to Art Info.