Day 1. Strike 4. MAC

there is this wonderful privately funded museum called the miami art central. MAC. it is kind of out of the way. but it has a great program, a great director in rina carvajal (i couldn´t say hi yesterday; so this way "hi, rina") and a HUGE party the day before the day before ABMB.

all these people are only one quarter of those that were there.
yes it was packed.
and, thankfully, people spend as much time looking at the wonderful william kentridge exhibition

as at the bars.

i´ll have to leave the photo gallery for later (gotta run to the convention center now), but it was a wonderful start of ABMB.

some call MAC a vanity museum financed by ella fontanals cisneros, but - honestly - it is a great place in a part of town where there was little culture and art before. and the MAC is bringing all of this.

i admit to going there for films, lectures (and the occasional party, but, hey, this IS miami).
so, if that is what a vanity project looks like... well, give me more vanity. who wants to compete with ella? (ok, there is the margulies colelction and the rubbels and now the goldman ... thinking about, we are not that badly of in miami with cool "vanity" projects. if greed is not good and this is vanity... then vanity is good.

tomáš

the photo gallery is online now... also available in slide show format.

Day 1. Strike 3. MOCA

and on it goes. to the museum of contemporary art. yes. miami does have a MOCA! not in the most easy to find location, but conveniently close to my house anyway. and, the show of hands (and feet, faces, not to mention legs and other parts of the human anatomy) at the art basel parties make me think that people do know what the MOCA is, but they just can´t find it without the shuttle buses from south beach. or something.
definitely PARADISE.

At least that is what the wonderful art work says that lights up the Art Basel parties.
Like this woman, with a positive attitude and a colorful dress code--which might be inappropriate anywhere else than here.

but, if there is somebody to single out then it is HIM.
DA MAN.
DA art basel MAN!

Da SAM!
DA KELLER!
first sighting of this wonderful guy, who brought so much joy to miami, that they should start polishing the bronze for the sculpture to sam keller´s bald head.
just from here... thanks, sam!

ok, no ode to sam joy, but the joy of finding a new camera "technique". you can copy it. stand in a party crowd, ideally where people must pass by. talk to your friends. set camera on your left shoulder. use wide angle. when people come by shoot them. always fun, as people often do realize in the last moment they are being photographed and turn their face to "surprised". which is fun... someone even manages to raise the hand in a defensive "what can i do, you caught me" greeting. i like it.

as always, more photos in the gallery to the MOCA party.
Or, if you prefer to not move a finger and see a slide show... voilá click here.
tomáš

and as a bonus for reading this far down you get the double headed smile of

abbey.

Day 1. Strike 2. Aqua . Pons´ Floating House

same aqua. different style. same playfulness. luis pons. venezuelan architect. had this monument to a villa in the city floating in biscayne bay for a couple of days. then anchored it at aqua.
great backdrop for photo ops and great opportunity for art and design and architecture to meet. the rain had stopped and the miami night was miami style again.
the take home gifts were rather different.

no, it was not the cute redhead, but the kind-of-necklace she is wearing.
and luis showed that you can be the center of dressed-up people´s attention with just a white t-shirt (blond hair and a cigarette in your lips help too).

an art basel event at it´s best. not overcrowded, but enough people. playful showcased art and a couple of hours to remember, especially in the inside view of the gorlin building at aqua (great choice to live there, florencia & xavier; i´ll come visit often) with the two story back lobby area from above.

that you will have to see in the online gallery . Or as an online slide show.

tomáš

p.s. another look at this thingy ... cute!

Day 1. Strike 1. Aqua . R.Tuttle´s Splash

how spoiled are we here in miami? "it´s raining, lets skip the delano". and we did. rain in late november even at 78 degrees F (26 C) spoils any event.
Good idea, anyway, as the sky cleared up (and it is a beuatiful morning now! this is the real sun rising out of the ocean, as seen from my terrace an hour or so ago). it is 78F/26C in the shade and 92F/33C in the sun at 8:30. so, don´t fear the rain. come to miami.
time is short, gotta go soon, so only in short the story of yesterday in four installments.

one:

richard tuttle´s splash sculpture was unveiled at aqua. cool idea. a giant object is thrown into the pool and makes a big, yes, SPLASH!, on the building next to it. funky.

there i also learned that
a) models do eat sometimes
in style obviously (and i was too late to get the $140 swimwear given away by the sponsor; only L and XL remained and the women i know wear S at most; sorry girls).
b) artists can be recognized by their colorful, well artistic, attire

(cool stuff, rich)
c) susan grant lewin wears silver shoes.

very cool. matching her handbag. yes, they are prada. but they would be cool anyway.

all else is to befound in the gallery for this event. model pictures here, female AND male, don´t miss!

tomáš

Day 0, Strike 1 . design05 Preview at Aqua

So it is time to say hello Art Basel.
Craig Robbins does it in the name of design05, a - what else? - design fair and show, which runs parallel to Art Basel (what a coincidence... not). Craig is the king of the island. Well, lets say king of the ALlison Island peninsula, which he transformed from a dump into a beautiful - though a tad expensive - village. Instead of building some 40 story tower, architects were invited to participate in designing unique townhouses, with a couple of semi-high rises sprinkled in. A good idea, as you see in the Places 2C: Aqua photo gallery to the right.

All those galleries by the way are worth seeing (ok, ok, I photographed all of them, but you´ll understand when you click on them).

Craig kept a couple of the several million dollar townhouses and had the guest house decorated by the exquisite Ambra Medda.

A delight to look at. The design, I mean, obviously.
The king of the hill then took us on a charming tour of the island, with Miami´s sensual breeze paving the way. Or was it Craig who was paving the way?

Up, up. And not away.
But, wait, there's more. As a complement to Ambra´s charms, Venezuelan architect Luis Pons came out of the woodwork and explained why he chose to put a lit and floating parthenon
into the waters of Indian Creek.
Convincing. Seriously.
We´ll be back at Aqua tomorrow for the unveiling of this artwork...

Can´t wait.
tomáš

Click to see Photo Gallery related to this post.
also, as a reference, see Aqua during daylinght.

Day 0 . Strike 2 . Lighting I.M. Pei Building

After the nonchalant showing at Aqua it was off to Bright Lights, Big Buildings in downtown Miami.
Bank of America owns a building designed by I.M. Pei, and found a way to light it for Christmas and link it to Art Basel in one fell flick of the switch. And why not? If there is a sponsor there is a way. If there is cheese and champagne, a balmy Miami night and a couple hundred people who can't wait for the beginning of the Basel marathon, you've got yourself a party.
The locals are friendly, of course, and are happy to introduce foreigners to the Miami way of living it up.
The light show is a fun reminder of The Day when presents will be unwrapped in the same way as Miamians unwrap their clothing.
Not a bad idea overall. Not much to do with art (some photos in the sky lobby at least provided an oblique reference to Art Basel), but, hey, they tried.

And we know how to light up a town.
Just keep those colors changing.

And changing.

tomáš

Click to see Photo Gallery related to this post

almost there, first Reception, Monday

Well, this is it. Today there are already two events which link themselves somehow to Art Basel Miami Beach. There is the Illumination of the I.M. Pei Building which is the Kickoff Reception for Art Week, Monday, Nov. 28th where HopeAmerica is bombarding us with her Media Alert for Art Basel Monday night .Let´s see how different this is from last year. This is what the same building looked like last year, nicely lit…

so, we´ll talk ´later.

x minus 9

Getting close. 9 days to go to the official opening of ABMB, short for ArtBaselMiamiBeach.
Or just 7 days to the first events on our fast filling list of places to go, stuff 2 c.
Those first events on November 29th? The MOCA Art in America Party (RSVPd 305.8936211 x23, check) and (at the same time 7pm, obviously) Bank of America Tower at International Place (100 SE 2nd St, Sky Lobby & Terrace, parking available under building) the Champagne Kickoff Reception Art Loves Architecture. Billed as the illumination of world renowned I.M. Pei designed skyscraper with artistic light display plus photographic exhibition of architectural landscapes and distinctive sculptures.
That will be the beginning of a frantic week, where the 26 hours a day has will not be enough to see 1/3rd of what this town has to offer. Miami (a short for the area, although technically most of the activity will be on Miami Beach) makes a party out of everything. I am awaiting the day when I go to a funeral and they serve chocolate martinis, but for here & now this line-up should suffice.
We will be taking you to all (well, maybe many; ok, some) of the events around NADA, pulse-art, SCOPE, design05, Aqua and - let us not forget why we are here - Art Basel Miami Beach itself, the mothership around which all these symbiotic art shows are circling.

Until tomorrow then when we will be putting some flesh on these bones.
your ARtBaselDailies.

26 hours

ok, ok. we know. the day only has 25 hours. the "26 hours" error was just to get your attention.
t

Art Basel Miami Beach 2003 & 2004 photos

... can be found on our web site ArtBaselPix.info .

Enjoy!

tomáš