The last time Niteside caught up with Nick Korniloff, the Art Miami director was about to launch Art Wynwood, which would go on to welcome 5000+ on its opening night and see nearly 10 times that amount throughout its inaugural five day run. Since then the art fair kingpin not only added Art Southampton to his ever-expanding roster; he’s given Art Miami its very own CONTEXT. Yeah, we realize Art Week is still one month away, yet the news that Art Miami will be almost doubling in size and bringing in Banksy just couldn’t wait.
Just what is Art Miami? Art Miami is the original International Modern and Contemporary art fair of Miami. Located in the heart of the Midtown/Wynwood Arts District, it also serves as the anchor fair for the City of Miami itself during Art Week.
So this is no Art Basel satellite, is it? No, it sure isn’t. After 23 years, we’re actually Art Basel’s predecessor.
Speaking of satellites, isn’t Art Miami about to launch one of its own? We are, in a manner of speaking, though we consider it a fair in its own right rather than a satellite. It’s called CONTEXT, and it’ll run adjacent to Art Miami.
Wanna tell us a quick bit about it? CONTEXT is dedicated to emerging and cutting edge art, and it will consist of 65 international galleries and their artists, each of whom were hand-picked by a prominent selection committee of art dealers.
Is it true a certain rock star artist will be among those featured in CONTEXT? There will be a lot of rock star artists being featured at the inaugural CONTEXT, but if you’re talking about Banksy, yes, he’s among them.
Care to share some of the details? The name of the exhibition is BANKSY: OUT OF CONTEXT, and it’ll include some of the world-renowned guerrilla artist’s most iconic stencils. The majority of these works have been previously accessible only through photos on the Internet, so this will give fans an unparalleled chance to get up close and personal. Even more, we’ve partnered with the free photo sharing platform IPIXLU (pronounced: “I – pixel – you”), and we’ll be encouraging fair-goers to take their own photos and create mosaics that express their impressions of the exhibition. Any individual who registers for the IPXLU site and creates a mosaic is eligible to win a limited-edition signed Banksy print. See our Facebook page for more details.
Anything other special attractions you’d like to give us a head’s up about? Hmmm, where to begin? Between our exclusive annual can’t miss VIP preview (which this year will be in conjunction with MAM to benefit Perez Art Museum Miami), through the outdoor sculpture garden (which will feature Peter Anton’s “Sugar & Gomorrah”, a 20’ high, 75’ wide and 45’ long carnival ride of temptation that he describes as an “interactive sculpture for grownups”), to CONTEXT’s “ART FROM BERLIN” section, which will be presented by the Galleries Association of Berlin and is officially supported by the State of Berlin and the European Union), there’s simply far too many special attractions to detail in any one interview. Let’s just say that Art Miami and CONTEXT will combine to give Miami its largest, most spectacular Art Week yet.
Art Miami and CONTEXT both kick off Art Week on December 4th. For more information log on here and here.
