PROFILEmiami Insiders Guide To Art Week 2023: Art Shows And Activations Across Miami — PROFILEmiami South Florida Real Estate and Lifestyle

The Holiday season is once again here and that means it is time for Miami Art Week 2023. Starting December 4 and running through December 10, Miami Art Week attracts millions of visitors from across the globe to Miami’s sunny beach’s and luxurious enclaves for a celebration of art, design, fashion, style and culture. Miami Art Week brings together some of the world’s best artists, galleries, art collectors, designers and cultural icons for a week of art shows, installations, events and lavish parties. PROFILEmiami is bringing our readers a series of in-depth Guides to Art Week with a curated list of must-attend art shows, installations and events throughout the week.

PROFILEmiami’s Third Edition of our Insiders Guide explores the high-energy art shows which pop-up across the city the first week of December each year. Art Collectors and visitors have the opportunity to explore the world’s leading art galleries all concentrated into select art shows which serve as pop-up museums and cultural hotspots. Each show has a different feel and vibe, bringing together different galleries of similar art styles including modern, contemporary, impressionism, pop art, cubism, surrealism, etc. Collectors and visitors alike have the opportunity to get up close and personal rare museum quality paintings and sculptures from legends such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney, Wayne Thiebaud, Robert Indiana and Andy Warhol, as well as the newest works by Jaume Plensa, Jeff Koons, Banksy, Kaws, RETNA, Bradley Theodore, David Yarrow, Alec Monopoly and Damien Hirst, amongst many others. While perusing the galleries attendees sip champagne, pose for photos with their favorite pieces and rub shoulders with the Jetset with celebrity sightings not uncommon.

This year during Miami Art Week there will be several exciting and immersive activations across Miami. Some of our Top 10 things to check out include renowned digital artist and designer Andrés Reisinger presents “Take Over Miami,” a spectacular public art installation debuting physical version of his viral digital series of ‘Take Overs’; the Annual Miami Design District Design Commission 2023 ‘Utopia’ By Lara Bahinc; ArtMiami / CONTEXT; Art Basel; renowned artist JR revealed a monumental new mural at Superblue; Ettore Sottsass & Friends, Memphis Milano X The Office Presented by Matthew Chevellard; Craig Robins Collection “A Train of Thoughts”; Erick & Elliot Jimenez: Reclining Mermaid; The Art of Hip Hop; and head out onto the beach at Faena to walk through ‘Maze: Journey Through The Algorithmic Self’ by Sebastian Errazuriz.

Whether your goal is to pick up some new art pieces for your home of just enjoy the energy of Miami Art Week, our Insiders Guide will help you plan your week so you don’t miss out on anything.

1. Andres Reisinger ‘Take Over Miami’

Location: 178 NE 39th St, Miami, FL 33137

Dates: December 4-10

Renowned digital artist and designer Andrés Reisinger presents “Take Over Miami,” a spectacular public art installation showcased at the Miami Design District. Radiating the city with a pink-hued creative energy, Reisinger transcends the boundaries between the digital and the physical, and debuts a physical version of his viral digital series of ‘Take Overs’. Reisinger presents the world's first public art installation seamlessly transitioned from the digital canvas to the physical world. The creative talent reinterprets the architecture of major capitals around the globe with pink drapes, integrating hyper realistic elements into existing buildings. For the first time ever, in ‘Take Over Miami’ Reisinger takes a step forth and brings to physical life the digital series, inviting art enthusiasts to join the transformation of a physical space into a surreal dreamscape of boundless creativity.

2. Annual Miami Design District Design Commission 2023 ‘Utopia’ By Lara Bahinc

Location: Miami Design District

Dates: November 2023 - March 2024

MDD has awarded designer Lara Bohinc the 2023 Miami Design District Annual Design Commission. ‘Utopia’ spans four installations featuring irregular, bulbous forms reminiscent of growing cellular organisms all across the Miami Design District. The sculptures are suggestive of living objects, mushrooming across the district. Collectively, they imagine a city where nature thrives peacefully and in harmony with our human presence.  Pieces include outdoor seating, tables and oversized light sculptures, as well as a giant centerpiece egg-form, and 900 egg-shaped birdhouses dispersed throughout the trees. Bohinc’s pieces are made from cork and painted by hand in vibrant hues paying homage to Miami’s architectural color palette. Curated in collaboration with Design Miami/ Curatorial Lab, Utopia’s dynamic sculptures will also welcome visitors with a special installation at the entrance of the Design Miami/ fair.

3. ArtMiami / CONTEXT

Where: One Herald Plaza at 14th Street on Biscayne Bay

When: VIP preview (invitation only): Tuesday, December 5, 4.30–10 p.m.; Public show days: Wednesday, December 6–Saturday, December 9, 11 a.m.–7 p.m.; Sunday, December 10, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

As Miami’s original and longest running contemporary art fair and second most attended fair globally, Art Miami is consistently recognized as a leading destination for the acquisition of the most important works from the 20th and 21st centuries in collaboration with the world's most respected galleries Art Miami 2023 is Miami’s longest-running art fair now in its 33rd year. will kick off with the highly anticipated VIP Preview on Tuesday, December 5th before opening to the public on December 6 through Sunday, December 10 at the prestigious waterfront location of One Herald Plaza in the heart of downtown Miami. Art Miami continues to develop and draw upon the vast collector base, art dealers, advisors, curators and museums that descend upon Miami for what has been largely heralded as the most important week for contemporary art in the United States with over 170 galleries and 900 artists featured.

CONTEXT Art Miami is Art Miami’s sister fair, presented annually alongside Art Miami and offers an exceptionally strong platform for collectors to discover and acquire fresh and significant works in today's primary art market. This year will feature more than 75 more galleries from 20 countries.

Meridians at Art Basel 2022 - Image via Art Basel

4. Art Basel

Where: Miami Beach Convention Center, 1901 Convention Center Drive

When: VIP previews: Wednesday, December 6 and Thursday, December 7 | 11 a.m.–7 p.m. | Public show days: Friday December 8 – Sunday, December 10, 11 A.M.–6 P.M.

For the 2023 edition of Art Basel’s premier global fair in the Americas, Art Basel will bring together 277 leading international galleries to present the highest quality artworks across all media – from painting and sculpture to photography and digital works – by artists ranging from early-twentieth-century Modern pioneers to contemporary practitioners. Nearly two-thirds of this year’s galleries hail from North and South America, joined by an exceptional array of exhibitors from Europe, Asia, and Africa.

The fair will welcome 25 newcomers to the Miami Beach show, with three entering directly into the main Galleries sector: Galerie Minsky (Paris), Ortuzar Projects (New York), and Weinstein Gallery (San Francisco). Six galleries will join the fair for the first time in Nova, the sector for galleries presenting new works by up to three artists; 9 galleries in Positions, hosting young galleries showcasing ambitious solo presentations by emerging international artists; and 7 galleries in Survey, dedicated to galleries highlighting artistic practices of historical relevance.

Dedicated to monumental artworks, the Meridians sector will host 19 thought-provoking projects including new and site-specific works, with a focus on new perspectives on how we collectively inhabit our planet. The Kabinett sector will feature 30 galleries showcasing 28 carefully curated installations within their main booths

5. JR’s Newly Revealed , Interactive Mural at Superblue During Miami Art Week

A monumental new mural by renowned artist JR has been revealed at Superblue during Miami Art Week. Scaling Superblue’s exterior and visible from afar, The Chronicles of Miami imagines how an entire city can be represented through art. Recognizable faces of mayors and celebrities can be spotted amongst the city’s locals, portrayed side by side and as equals, coming together to mark this moment in time.

To create the work, JR’s mobile studio traveled through well-known and historic Miami neighborhoods in November 2022: including Wynwood, Little Haiti, the Design District, Downtown, Liberty City, and Coconut Grove. Passersby were encouraged to have their portrait taken either individually or as part of a group, choosing how they posed and represented themselves.

Following their portrait, each participant stepped into a recording booth where they could share a thought, story, or experience. Each participant’s voice is connected to their portrait through the free augmented reality app JR:murals.

Also debuting during Miami Art Week is one of JR’s most significant immersive works to date, The Machine Behind the Art: Inside JR’s Printing Press, created for Superblue. The installation invites visitors to walk through a portal-like door embedded into The Chronicles of Miami mural on the building’s façade. Once inside, visitors find themselves inside the mechanical world crucial to JR’s artistic practice. After taking their portraits in one of four individual photo booths, visitors enter the interior of an oversized, whirring printing press where their portraits escape from the rollers and float to the ground

Matthew Chevallard of The Gallery - Image via BFA

6. Ettore Sottsass & Friends, Memphis Milano X The Office Presented by Matthew Chevallard

Location: 3930 NE 2nd Ave., Miami, FL 33137

Dates: December 7, 5:30pm - 7:30pm

The OFFICE MIA & Matthew Chevallard, presents Ettore Sottsass & Friends known as Memphis Milano for Art Basel 2023. Ettore Sottsass, the visionary artist and leader of the 1980s Memphis design group, laid the groundwork for the Memphis movement, challenging design norms. Sottsass's legacy extends beyond design, capturing the essence of creativity and innovation. This exhibition will display a variety of pieces by Sottsass and other artists part of Memphis Milano.

7. Craig Robins Collection “A Train of Thoughts”

Location: DACRA Headquarters, 3841 NE 2nd Ave., Miami, FL 33137

Dates: December 6-8

The Craig Robins Collection in Miami comprises over 1,300 pieces of contemporary art and innovative design, and exhibited within the Dacra headquarters in the Miami Design District. This year’s rehanging of the collection is titled “A Train of Thoughts”, focusing on two core subgroups of the collection’s holdings: figuration and conceptualism. The exhibition highlights a collecting history that has favored a taste for the abject and hyperbolic figurative image, in tandem with the self-reflexive, institutional critique of art based on ideas-- a seemingly incompatible pair that yields unexpected dialogues.

8. Erick & Elliot Jimenez: Reclining Mermaid

Location: Corner of NE 2nd Ave. & 40 St., Miami, FL 33137

‘Reclining Mermaid’ is a site-specific billboard by Elliot & Erick Jiménez, first generation Cuban American twin photo duo located above Patek Philippe in the Miami Design District. The work is a portrait of Yemaya, the deity syncretized with our Lady of Regla in Cuba, and ruler of the seas — her shimmering dress resembling the refraction of the ocean’s surface. The figure is mostly obscured with the exception of her eyes; a customary feature within Elliot & Erick’s artwork, the eyes remaining present in the image serves as posterity to the history of Cuba’s colonialism and blending of Spanish and West African traditions. Reclining Mermaid is part of “Southern Histories”, a series of large-scale works at culturally significant sites to commemorate under-recognized historical narratives connected to Miami’s roots in the American South, Latin America, and the Caribbean. This public work underscores the history of migration from the Caribbean and Latin America to Miami, and the myriad ways in which these cultures transformed the city’s urban fabric over the decades. Produced in collaboration with Spinello Projects and commissioned by Fringe Projects with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

9. The Art of Hip Hop

Location: 299 NW 25th St., Miami, FL 33127

Dates: Permanent Beginning December 5, 2023 | 11AM – 6 PM

Alan Ket & Allison Freidin, Founders of The Museum of Graffiti, proudly present Art of Hip Hop, an immersive exhibition, opening in Wynwood, spotlighting the visual unsung heroes of Hip Hop culture, including photographers, album cover artists, graffiti visionaries, and logo designers. Following successful showings at SXSW and UrbanBreak in Seoul, this showcase lands in Miami on December 5, 2023, offering a unique exploration of Hip Hop's history and Miami's own cultural contributions to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop.

The inaugural exhibition, entitled From the Bronx to the Beach, will showcase rare vintage ephemera from Hip Hop’s first NYC DJ, Kool Herc, to Miami’s own pioneer Uncle Luke. Visitors can expect to see the works of famed Hip Hop photographers Janette Beckman, Mike Miller, Henry Chalfant, Matt Doyle, Lisa Leone, Joe Conzo, and Daniel Hastings, alongside Hip Hop album covers designed by Cey Adams, Eric Haze, Slick, Kaws, and more. The exhibition will also shine a special spotlight on Miami’s own Hip Hop history, capturing it through the lenses of local historian and photographer Derick G and photographer Esdras T. Thelusma.

10. ‘Maze: Journey Through The Algorithmic Self’ by Sebastian Errazuriz

Location: Faena Beach

Dates: December 5th - December 10th | 11:00am - 7:00pm

The Faena Beach has been taken over by a monumental site-specific installation by Chilean artist Sebastian Errazruriz. In contrast to conventional labyrinths, this sand covered MAZE is not designed to get lost or disorient but to find ourselves, to spark conversation and build community. Sand-covered walls blend form an immersive maze into the Miami Beach landscape against the backdrop of turquoise waters. Within this maze where one never gets lost and all paths lead toward one destination, a symbolic gathering point. One inevitably arrives at the center of the maze where Errazuriz guides us to a space designed for congregation, a small plaza where we can gather to contemplate and engage in meaningful conversations.