While 2019 has had its ups and downs, one thing you can count on before the year ends is the excitement of Miami Art Week. For locals and those of us who are lucky enough to use our leftover vacation hours to escape chilly temperatures and flock to Miami’s South Beach, the weeklong affair will bring cocktails, air kisses and, above all else, art.
The end-of-year spectacle in South Florida is the final destination to close out the season for collectors and curators of the art world. Events and shows are scattered throughout the city with a mix of returning favorites, like Art Basel, and exciting new kids on the block, like the Faena Festival. With so much to see and do, the week can feel overwhelming for both the veteran Basel pass-holder and the novice, so we put together a helpful guide of events and festivals featuring Latino and Latin American art and artists to help.
Faena Festival: The Last Supper
When: December 5-8
Where: Faena Hotel and Faena Beach
Tickets: FREE
Faena Festival is back for its second year as the “transformative bridge across the Americas, between the south and the north, the popular and experimental.” Faena has a full lineup for Miami Art Week, but there are some works you definitely shouldn’t miss. Argentine artist Gabriel Chaile will lead a bread-baking ceremony on Thursday at 5 p.m. at the Faena Hotel (his installations will be up throughout the week). Additionally, Cuban-American artist Ana Mendieta’s two seminal film pieces, Creek and Alma Silueta en Fuego, will be presented on an LED-board floating up and down Miami Beach. If last year is any indication (artist George Sanchéz-Calderón set a house on fire on the beach), this year will no doubt be just as powerful and culturally relevant.
The Last Mile by Harif Guzman
When: On view now through December 8
Where: 5501 NE 2nd Ave. in the Little Haiti neighborhood
Tickets: FREE
Venezualen-born and New York-raised artist Harif Guzman will present a major public art installation The Last Mile, a 9-foot tall and 15-foot wide structure representative of “the wall” between the U.S. and Mexico, until December 8. This installation is not a work that just lets you silently contemplate the complexities of being an immigrant today but rather is an interactive experience that pulls you into its reality. Made from steel, cement and cinder blocks, it will surely elicit a range of emotions as visitors move around the large-scale work and its accompanying 18-foot wooden sculpture representative of the immigrant worker.
OASIS @ SCOPE Miami Beach
When: December 5-8
Where: 801 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach, FL 33139
Tickets: $40
With $40, you can get in the door for a day at SCOPE Miami Beach. While wandering through 130-plus galleries that fill the beachside location, be sure not to miss OASIS, the new program in their pavilion featuring large-scale installations, music performances and panel discussions.
For the inaugural OASIS, the commitment to wellness is emphasized with morning healing programming, guided meditations and spa treatments. Cuban-American artist Alex Yanes will present his latest project, Sound Garden, in collaboration with Mortal Machine. Together with sound, the modern totemic installation will quiet the busy hustle of Miami Art Week, if just for a moment.
Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)
When: On view now through February 9, 2020
Where: 1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami Beach, FL 33132
Tickets: $16 ($12 for students with ID)
Don’t miss the final months of American Echo Chamber (closing January 26, 2020), a commissioned installation by Peruvian artist José Carlos Martinat whose sculptures were inspired by both U.S. and Peruvian symbols responding to the current political landscape. Additionally, PAMM’s newest exhibition, Teresita Fernández: Elemental, is the Miami native’s first mid-career survey that features large-scale sculptures, installations and wall works spanning 20 years of her career to date. The retrospective gives us a look into Fernández’s practice of challenging the viewer’s conceptions of the environment that surrounds us at the intersection of history, landscape and identity.
Pinta Miami: Crossing Cultures
When: December 5-8
Where: Mana Wynwood, 2217 NW 5th Avenue, Miami, FL 33127
Tickets: $20
Pinta Miami is a Miami Art Week veteran. As they open their thirteenth year, Pinta is a staple for Latino-focused art. More than 60 galleries and 300-plus artists will be on view, including some of the most renowned Latin American artists, including Carmen Herrera, Fernando Botero, Wilfredo Lam, Jesús Rafael Soto and more.
Land Escape @ The Bass
When: On view now through March 15, 2020
Where: 23rd Street & Collins Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139
Tickets: FREE
Immigration is a common theme at this year’s Miami Art Week. The Bass Museum of Art presents one of their newest installations by Ecuadorian-born artist Edison Peñafiel. Using found objects, photography and drawing, Peñafiel creates the world in which migration is seen, with the hopefulness of immigrants and the challenges of traveling toward a safe haven. Like Harif Guzman’s The Last Mile, Peñafiel’s installation brings the viewer into participation just by viewing the work where barbed wire separates the viewer from the traveling scene of migrants.
Love in the Time of Hysteria @ PRIZM Art Fair
When: December 5-8
Where: Alfred I. DuPont Building, 169 East Flagler Street, Miami Beach, FL 33131
Tickets: $15
PRIZM Art Fair is one of the few satellite shows that is not only cost-friendly but showcases outstanding work by both established and emerging artists. Focused on artists of the African diaspora, this year’s project, Love in the Time of Hysteria, is curated by Peruvian William Cordova and and Afro-Dominican Naiomy Guerrero, a curatorial fellow at PAMM, alongside Ryan Dennis, Oshun Layne and Mikhaile Solomon. Dominican-American artist Dionis Ortiz and Nuyorican Máximo Rafael Colón are both artists to keep an eye on as their work contributes to this year’s theme that expands on the conversation around love and fear as well as the sacrifices we make when the need for survival supersedes everything else.
Art Basel
When: December 5-8
Where: Miami Beach Convention Center, 1901 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach, FL 33139
Tickets: $65 ($45 for students with ID)
What is a trip to Miami during Miami Art Week without a visit to Art Basel? The premier art show features the world’s renowned artists and galleries, and while you may not have gotten an invite to the VIP preview, don’t worry, it will all be there during the public days.
At a steep $65, you’ll be sure to get your money’s worth with more than 260 galleries from all over the world, including Barro Arte Contemporáneo from Buenos Aires and Galería Agustina Ferreyra from Mexico City, both new to Art Basel this year.
Disruptions @ Art Basel Cities: Buenos Aires
When: December 5-8
Where: Collins Park, Miami, FL
Tickets: FREE
Luckily for some of us traveling on a shoestring budget, there is plenty of art to see around Miami with outdoor installations, including a series of large-scale public artworks by Argentine artists Matías Duville, Graciela Hasper, Marie Orensanz, Pablo Reinoso, Marcela Sinclair and Agustina Woodgate. Organized by Art Basel Cities, in partnership with Buenos Aires, these installations located in Collins Park are a taste of intergenerational Argentine talent.
PULSE Art Fair
When: December 5-8
Where: Indian Beach Park, 4601 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33140
Tickets: $35
It’s the 15th anniversary of PULSE, and to celebrate, guests will be invited to relax in their wellness lounge with signature cocktails by Malibu Farm Miami. Galleries at Pulse hail from all over the world, but a few U.S. galleries to check out will showcase some of today’s leading contemporary Latin American and Latinx female artists, like Puerto Rican Alessandra Torres, Mexican Tatiana Parcero and Peruvian Maria Fe Florez Estrada.
There’s also Pulse Perspectivos, the fair’s dual language daily programming. Join the Spanish-language panel On Identity in the Arts – What Does It Mean To Be Latino/a, Latin(x), Hispanic, with Cuban artist Sandra Ramos, client relations director Tessie Penin and art critic and curator Lenny Campello, as they discuss working in the art world and navigating the various labels and their meanings within this space. It takes place on December 7 at 2 p.m.
The Art Plug Power House
When: December 6-8, 4-10 p.m.
Where: The Citadel, 8300 NE 2nd Ave., Miami, FL 33138
Tickets: $25
If you’re looking for something off the grid and more of an art party, then head over to Miami’s Little RIver neighborhood to witness more than 60 artists take over a 100,000 square-foot space known as the Citadel. The indoor and outdoor spaces will be immersed in art activations, installations and murals.
Brazilian-born mixed media artist Tiago Magro will be one of two artists taking over the rooftop of the newly opened food hall, bringing his high-energy work to life. With a following of more than 55 thousand, you may have already heard of the artist and caught his work around Miami, so don’t miss the opportunity to see him bring some magic to the Citadel.
CONTEXT Art Miami
When: December 5-8
Where: 1 Herald Plaza at NE 14th Street, Miami, FL
Tickets: $55
The sister fair to Art Miami, CONTEXT, has returned for its eighth year. Also coming back with a solo presentation is Havana-based gallery Estudio Arte Contemporaneo, which will present a show by Cuban artist Rubén Alpízar. In addition to Alpízar’s solo show, the works of more than 18 emerging and mid-career Latin American artists hailing from Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Chile will be on view throughout the week. The ticket price is only $10, less than Art Basel. but while Art Basel will usually showcase all the heavy-hitters of the art world, you may discover artists on the rise here first.
The Royal Court
When: December 5-8
Where: Southside Park at 140 SW 11th St. Miami, FL 33130
Tickets: FREE
Multimedia Puerto Rican artist and storyteller D’ana, together with NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler and Crown Royal Regal Apple, has refurbished a Miami neighborhood basketball court in celebration of Miami’s rich culture. Featuring bright colors and an authentic South Florida look and feel, the goal of this purpose-driven partnership is to enable the next generation of artists, creatives, athletes and cultural leaders a fresh and unique space for years to come.