“Few events at Art Basel Miami Beach start before 11 a.m., so that everyone can recover from the previous evening's partying,†Patricia Cohen reports from the fair on our sister blog ArtsBeat.
Her dispatch on the first hours of the gathering included the scene at a video screening that reminded its audience of Hurricane Sandy:
On Tuesday night, before the fair opened for big collectors and VIPs at the Miami Beach Convention Center on Wednesday morning, the big event was the opening of the exhibition “Bill Viola: Liber Insularum†at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami. Guests arrived by bus, taxi and limo, and many made their way to one of Mr. Viola's best known works, “The Raft,†a 2004 piece that had particular resonance for northeasterners in the crowd who had lived through Hurricane Sandy before coming south.
The video starts with a large group of people - As ian, black, white, old, young, in business and casual attire - standing together and waiting, as if for a bus. One person riffles through a pocketbook, another reads a book, a third stares into space. Without warning, gushes of water slam into them from both sides. The torrent then stops as suddenly as it began. Recorded with high-speed film, this drama unfolds over several minutes in slow motion, revealing each person's reaction - shock, anguish, bewilderment, relief and concern for those around them.
Successive rounds of visitors who were walking through the darkened rooms broke out in applause at the video's conclusion.
With a guard closely monitoring access to the exhibition, the museum's galleries functioned as a quiet refuge from the mob packed into the outdoor party. There was barely room to air kiss while waiting on line for a paper cup filled with pasta or a bagged sandwich. (More experienced attendees had filled up on oysters, shrimp and crab legs at th e official welcome reception that Art Basel and the City of Miami hosted at the Raleigh Hotel earlier in the evening.) The only food station that seemed to remain untouched by the Size 0 galleristas tottering on spiked platform heels was serving dessert.
Read more about the fair here, and follow it in the coming days on ArtsBeat and IHT Rendezvous.
Are you at Art Basel Miami Beach? What have you seen? What have you liked? Or not? Share your thoughts in the comment space below.
