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Features / December 3, 2015

A First Look at 2015 Miami Art Week

Deputy editor David Balzer's first report from Miami Art Week is in. Take a look at this slideshow of his highlights from Art Basel's booths and curated sections.
Kris Martin, <em>Altar</em>, 2014. Photo: Donna Poile. Kris Martin, Altar, 2014. Photo: Donna Poile.

Art Basel returns to the Miami Beach Convention Center this week with a new director of American operations, Noah Horowitz, but only a few changes to its recent formula, characterized by various sections that lend a curated pretense to an event that is growing by the year, and is arguably over-programmed.

The Survey section, highlighting art-historical works, is only in its second year and offers some intriguing installations: little seen Leger-esque paintings by Dorothy Iannone at Peres Projects, for instance, or Charles Burchfield’s wallpaper panels at DC Moore Gallery. The Nova section, meant to be a showcase for younger galleries, is a strong point, notably KOW (Berlin) and Instituto de visíon (Bogatá). The Public section of plein-air works and performance art returns to Collins Park, spilling onto the beach with a spectacular work by Kris Martin.

Canadian artists at the fair include Edward Burtynsky at Howard Greenberg, Erin Shirreff at Sikkema Jenkins and Derek Sullivan at Polígrafa.

Watch our website for more coverage from the Miami fairs in the coming week, and check out our essential guide for navigating the scene.

David Balzer

David Balzer is the author of two books, Curationism: How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else, winner of ICA London's 2015 Book of the Year, and the short-fiction collection Contrivances. He has written about art and culture for the Globe and Mail, the GuardianFrieze, Artforum, The Believer and others, and from 2016 to 2019 was editor-in-chief and co-publisher of Canadian Art.