Page 13 - The Wynwood Times - 1st Edition

Vo l . 1 T H E W Y N W O O D T I M E S
The directors of the annual contemporary art fair in Basel,
Switzerland, were prospering like a Biblical fatted calf. Rich with
the sponsorships of bankers and important world companies
searching for new clients, they announced their plans to set up a
sister art fair in Miami. But the inaugural debut of Art Basel Miami
Beach (ABMB) planned for December 2001, was postponed due
to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Instead it opened officially the first they discovered from our local collections was crucial in helping
week of December 2002, marking a tectonic shift on our region’s
cultural landscape.
Definitely, Basel’s directors chose right. No one can throw a
party better than Miami, and Art Basel Miami Beach provided an
opportunity to celebrate art in a unique way. Miami, with its Latin
informal touch and good weather was a perfect fit for the Swiss
who arrived armed with an amazing budget and ambitious plans.
Art Basel organizers had a vision: offer Miami tax return benefits
to art collectors while taking advantage of the combination of
an affluent snow bird base and South Florida’s key position as
the bridge between North and South America. They aspired to
seduce clients with a formula of world class art presented under
the sun with a party atmosphere: TAX PARADISE.
Dennis Scholl, a prominent Florida collector asked Sam Keller to
come to Miami to direct Art Basel Miami Beach. With this fusion
arrived Craig Robins also an ardent collector and Design District
developer who in one interview confirmed that the restoration
MAY 2015
of South Beach was the first step in the forward-looking cultural
development of Miami. I think he was absolutely right.
Keller also asked for a very unusual condition. He requested that
all important Miami collectors open their homes to showcase
what was going on with contemporary art in Miami. I think what
seal the marriage for the Swiss, who acted as if they didn’t expect
much of a contemporary art dowry from Miami. Though they may
never admit it----ABMB still shows little regard for exhibiting local
programs---did we ever surprise them!
By 2004, Sam Keller concluded the third successful edition of
ABMB with expectations heightening to a fever pitch and the
Design District shined that year in particular.
To be continued….
LUPITA TASCH is a Miami –based freelance writer who has
contributed to many underground arts newspaper publications
such as Cultural Experiments and Transit. A global citizen, she
was raised in Palo Alto, California. Later, she also lived in New
York and mainland China. Tasch has visited all the world’s major
Art Fairs during the past decade. In 2003, she relocated to Miami.
The frequent Wynwood Times’ contributor is author of our
Wynwoodhood Tales section.