The 2021 edition of Art Basel Miami Beach, December 2 –4, 2021 – Art Basel’s first in-person fair in Miami Beach since 2019 – will feature 253 leading galleries from around the globe presenting the highest quality of works across all media, from rare and historical masterpieces to new pieces by today’s emerging artistic voices. In addition to showcasing exceptional art within its Galleries, Positions, Nova, Survey and Edition sectors, the fair will also present 16 large-scale artworks in Meridians; 25 carefully curated exhibitions as part of the Kabinett sector; as well as 10 panels as part of the fair’s renowned Conversations series.

‘There is enormous excitement within the art world on both sides of the Atlantic about Art Basel Miami Beach 2021,’ says Marc Spiegler, Global Director of Art Basel. ‘Not only because it’s our first fair in two years in the Americas, but also because the show has never before featured such a diverse range of voices.’

Meridians

Meridians, Art Basel in Miami Beach’s unique platform for large-scale projects, provides galleries the opportunity to showcase monumental works that push the boundaries of a traditional art fair layout, including large-scale sculptures and paintings, installations, video projections, and live performances. The sector, which will newly be staged in a dedicated space on the main show floor, will once again be curated by Mexico City-based Magalí Arriola, Director of Museo Tamayo.

Meridians highlights include:

• A new work by Maxwell Alexandre as part of the artist’s ‘Pardo é Papel’ series presented by A Gentil Carioca.
• A site-specific installation and a performance-based activation of six body devices by Brendan Fernandes titled ‘Contract and Release’ (2019–2021) presented by moniquemeloche.
• Todd Gray’s ‘Sumptuous Memories of Plundering Kings’ (2021) presented by David Lewis,a 14-part work exceeding 30 feet in length, exploring the history and enduring impact of European colonialism, slavery, and the African diaspora.
• A monumental double-sided painting by Jacqueline de Jong titled ‘De achterkant van het bestaan’ (The backside of existence), (1992), presented by Pippy Houldsworth Gallery.
• Howardena Pindell’s iconic ‘Sweatshop’ (1998–1999), an expansive canvas presenting advertising cutouts of quotidian objects: combs, scissors, glasses, and other items, presented by Garth Greenan Gallery.
• ‘Moving Up’ (2021) by Yinka Shonibare, CBE, an installation presented by James Cohan Gallery capturing the vertical move of six million African Americans from rural Southern states to the cities of the North, Midwest, and West from 1916 to 1970, known today as the Great Migration.

Magalí Arriola, curator of Meridians, says: ‘Many of the works included in Meridians question the traditional representations of class, race and power to resist social conventions, and to bridge the physical and cultural boundaries that surfaced in our society in recent times.’

For the full list of artists and galleries represented in Meridians please visit artbasel.com/miami-beach/meridians. 

Kabinett

Providing galleries with an opportunity to present curated exhibitions in separately delineated spaces within their booths, this year’s Kabinett sector will include 25 presentations by established and emerging artists.

Kabinett highlights include:

• Jorge Mara – La Ruche’s presentation of Ellen Auerbach, Grete Stern and Horacio Coppola, three influential figures of Avant Garde photography who established themselves as visionary modernists in Europe and South America during the 1930s.
• Sies + Höke’s presentation of rare early drawings by Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter, which trace the differences as well as the common ground in their artistic approaches.
• Mayoral’s presentation of works by Manolo Millares, one of the most important Spanish artists of the post-war European Informalist movement.
• Roberts Projects’ presentation of community-based portraits by Ghanian artist Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, a series of new paintings exploring the relationships between identity, materiality, and race, that mark a critical evolution for the artist.

For the full list of artists and galleries represented in Kabinett, please visit artbasel.com/miami-beach/kabinett.

Conversations

Art Basel’s renowned Conversations series offers a platform for the exchange of ideas on topics concerning the global contemporary art scene. This year’s program features 10 panels bringing together leading artists, gallerists, collectors, art historians, curators, museum directors and critics from across the world discussing diverse issues from the rise of the NFT art market, to questions of resilience post-pandemic and the need to re-invent the museum. Conversations will be curated for the second time by Art Basel and private art dealer and author Edward Winkleman.The program will be free to the public, running from Wednesday, December 1 to Saturday, December 4 in the Auditorium (Grand Ballroom). All panel discussions will be live-streamed on Facebook and recorded. For further information please visit artbasel.com/miami-beach/conversations.

Unlimited

Unlimited, Art Basel’s unique platform for large-scale projects, provides galleries the opportunity to showcase expansive installations, monumental sculptures, vast wall paintings, extensive photographic series, and video projections that transcend the traditional art fair stand. Taking place once again in Hall 1, Unlimited will be curated for the first time by Giovanni Carmine, Director of the Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen.

Highlights include:

• Carl Andre’s sculpture ‘Mastaba’ (1978) presented by Konrad Fischer Galerie
• Robert Rauschenberg’s large-format painting ‘Rollings (Salvage)’ (1984) presented by Thaddaeus Ropac;
• Urs Fischer’s installation ‘Untitled (Bread House)’ (2004-2006) presented by Jeffrey Deitch;
• Lebanese artist Etel Adnan’s work titled ‘Le Soleil Toujours’ (2020) presented by Sfeir-Semler Gallery;
• Guyanese artist Frank Bowling’s painting ‘Samson’s Circle with Lila’s dress made in Africa of imported Chinese fabric: and the rest’ (2019) presented by Hauser & Wirth
• ‘After Russell Lee: 1-60’ (2016), a photographic series by Sherrie Levine presented by David Zwirner;
• Carrie Mae Weems’s ‘Repeating the Obvious’ (2019) presented by Jack Shainman Gallery and Galerie Barbara Thumm;
• ‘Entrare nel linguaggio’ (2019-2021), a textile installation by Marion Baruch, completed especially for Unlimited 2021, presented by Galerie Urs Meile; and
• David Hockney’sphotographic drawing ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ (2018/2021) presented by Gray and exhibited at Unlimited for the first time.

Giovanni Carmine said: ‘The pandemic has amplified our need for direct engagement with the ‘originalsʼ. Our encounters with art have intensified: our attention and lust for discussion is on the rise. In this context, Unlimited turns out to be the ideal stage to experience these feelings in a real space – to relish in them, to reflect upon them.’

A limited-edition catalog, published by Hatje Cantz, will accompany Unlimited, including descriptive texts and images of each artwork. The catalog will be on sale at the show as well as in bookshops for CHF 60. For the full list of artists and galleries featured and further information, please see artbasel.com/basel/unlimited.

Parcours

Parcours will return to the city of Basel, featuring 20 site-specific installations and performances throughout the city center. Once again curated by Samuel Leuenberger, founder of the non-profit exhibition space SALTS in Birsfelden, Switzerland, this year’s Parcours will take place across civic and private spaces, as well as new venues under the theme ‘Can We Find Happiness Together Again?’. Some of the many highlights include: 

• 12 large-scale paintings and performances by Claudia Comte presented by Gladstone Gallery and König Galerie at the Stadtcasino, Basel; 
• An open-floor-based composition by Jason Dodge at the Kunstmuseum Basel presented by Galleria Franco Noero;
• A public walk by Hamish Fulton titled ‘Walking in Every Direction’ on Basel’s Marktplatz presented by Galerie Tschudi;
• ‘Neopets’, a large-scale sculpture by Bunny Rogers presented by Société;
• ‘Mudmen’, a site-specific installation by Augustas Serapinas presented by Emalin; and
• Sculptural installations by Pedro Wirz at the Kunsthalle Basel presented by Galerie Nagel Draxler.

Samuel Leuenberger says: ‘Through a focus on care and congeniality, this edition aims to cultivate commonalities and allied thinking across the more invisible layers, ones of deep friendship and trust, where its participants as well as visitors can find their rightful joy in participating.’

For the full list of artists and galleries featured and further information, please see artbasel.com/basel/parcours.

Galleries

The main sector of the fair features 185 of the world’s leading galleries presenting the highest quality of painting, sculpture, drawings, installation, photography, video, and digital works. Six galleries previously exhibiting in Nova will graduate into Galleries: Patron, Galerie Crèvecœur, Galerie Jérôme Poggi, Mariane Ibrahim, and Barro. For the full gallery list for Galleries, please visit artbasel.com/miami-beach/galleries.

Positions

This year, the Positions sector brings together 19 solo presentations by emerging talents from across the globe. Sector highlights include: First-time participant Afriart Gallery’s presentation of a series of four paintings by Sungi Mlengeya, on the lives of four Black women from East Africa and their views on womanhood; Claudia Peña Salinas’ project, which continues her ongoing research into Aztec mythology, exploring indigenous notions of verticality and symbolism of water, presented by Curro; ‘The New Americans’ by Vincent Valdez, a series of 21 portraits of subjects that inspire viewers to challenge the notions of the American perspective, presented by Matthew Brown Los Angeles; and Rele Gallery’s booth with Marcellina Akpojotor, featuring a series of works that honor the life and legacy of the artist’s great-grandmother, exploring ideas of memory, history, and remembrance. For the full gallery list for Positions, please visit artbasel.com/miami-beach/positions.

Nova

Nova provides a platform for galleries to present new work by up to three artists, this year featuring 25 presentations. Highlights include: a solo exhibition of recent works by 2021 BMW Art Journey winner Julien Creuzet at Document; a group presentation of works by Patricia Belli, Mónica Bengoa, and Catalina Swinburn, inspired by the artists’ local stories of gender inequality, geopolitical diasporas, and the daily Latin American use of the textiles, at Galería Isabel Aninat; centered around the common theme of ‘troubled waters,’ new works by Diedrick Brackens and Jessie Homer French exploring themes ranging from climate justice to racial violence and historical memory, at Various Small Fires; a selection of never-before-seen works by Felipe Mujica, jointly presented by Proyectos Ultravioleta and von Bartha; and an immersive installation by Ambera Wellmann on the politics of queer space and futurity at Company Gallery. For the full gallery list for Nova, please visit artbasel.com/miami-beach/nova.

Survey

Featuring 17 focused presentations of work created before 2000, Survey introduces five new galleries to the Miami Beach edition, among them Welancora Gallery from New York and galerie lange + pult from Zürich. Further highlights include: the room-sized installation ‘Harlem Quilt’ (1997) by June Clark at Daniel Faria Gallery; a presentation of rare 20^th-century works by Dindga McCannon at Fridman Gallery; paintings and sculptures spanning nearly three decades by María Freire at Piero Atchugarry Gallery; and a selection of works by Tina Girouard from her early years in New York at Anat Ebgi. For the full gallery list for Survey, please visit artbasel.com/miami-beach/survey.

Edition

Five global leaders in the field of prints and editioned works feature in the sector: Carolina Nitsch, Cristea Roberts Gallery, Polígrafa Obra Gràfica, Susan Sheehan Gallery, and Two Palms. For further information, please visit artbasel.com/miami-beach/edition.

Details on Meridians as well as Kabinett, the sector for curated selections displayed by galleries in a separate section of their booth; and the Conversations program, featuring dialogues with prominent members of the international artworld, will be released in the coming weeks.

Museums Shows and Private Collections

Visitors to Art Basel Miami Beach will have the opportunity to experience South Florida’s leading museums and private collections, including:

• The Bass

‘Naama Tsabar: Perimeters’

‘Alex Israel x Snapchat’

‘Abraham Cruzvillegas: Agua dulce’

‘Najja Moon: Your Mommas Voice in the Back of Your Head’

‘Open Storage: Selections from the Collection & Works on Loan’

‘The Willfulness of Objects’

‘Art Outside’

• de la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space

‘There Is Always One Direction’

• Espacio 23 / Jorge Pérez Collection

‘Witness: Afro Perspectives from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection’

• Frost Art Museum – Florida International University

‘Bob Dylan: Retrospectrum’

• The Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (ICA Miami)

‘Hugh Hayden and Jade Fadojutimi (3^rd floor)’

‘Betye Saar: Serious Moonlight – a survey of monumental immersive work from the 1980s by the legendary artist (2^nd floor)’

• Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami (MOCA)

‘My Name is Maryan: a monographic presentation encompassing four decades of paintings, sculptures, drawings, and film by the iconoclastic Polish-born artist Maryan, curated by Alison Gingeras’

• Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)

‘Allied with Power: African and African Diaspora Art from the Jorge M. Perez Collection’

‘Meleko Makgosi: Your Trip to Africa’

‘Zhivago Duncan: Pretentious Crap’

‘The Artist as Poet: Selections from PAMM’s Collection’

‘Jedd Novatt: Monotypes and More’

‘Marco Brambilla: Heaven’s Gate’

‘Felipe Mujica: The Swaying Motion on the Bank of the River Falls’

‘George Segal: Abraham’s Farewell to Ishmael’

• Wolfsonian – Florida International University

‘Shameless: an eye-popping exhibition of pattern and design, featuring works from Dutch artist Bas Van Beek’

• Margulies Collection at the Warehouse

‘Arte Povera’

• Rubell Museum

‘5 single artist exhibitions: Hernan Bas, Yayoi Kusama, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, Genesis Tramaine and Kennedy Yanko’

Design Miami 

Taking place concurrently to the Art Basel fairs in Miami Beach and Basel, Design Miami is the premier venue for collecting, exhibiting, discussing, and creating collectible design. In its 17th edition this year, Design Miami will take place from December 1 to December 5, adjacent to the MBCC (at Meridian Avenue and 19th Street). For more information, please visit designmiami.com. 

The health and safety of Art Basel’s guests, exhibitors, and staff is our utmost priority. We will therefore be deploying comprehensive measures to create a safe fair environment. Visitors will be required to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test in order to gain access to the halls. Alternatively, visitors may opt to voluntarily provide proof of vaccination or recent recovery from COVID-19 to gain entry. The use of masks will be mandatory inside the venue and all visitors will be required to complete a self-reported symptom screening prior to entering the fair. In addition, a system of timed entry will be in place to control crowding inside the halls. Further details on the health and safety precautions for the fair are available at artbasel.com/covid-19.