The art fair game is changing. It’s fast approaching the game of slip and slide, ad schedules change along with rules for admittance due to the Covid-19 pandemic, making attendance by galleries, artists and the art market public a game of chance. Following Art Basel and satellite fairs in Switzerland in September, that had been rescheduled from June 2021 with the June 2020 fair cancelled, Art Basel Miami Beach 2021, open privately and by invitation only from November 30 through December 1 and open to the public from December 2 through 4, promises 254 exhibitors, including 43 first-time participants, at the Miami Beach Convention Center — the same venue used in 2019 before the pandemic hit. With five sectors, including Galleries; Positions, presenting solo exhibits by emerging artists; Nova, showing new work by multiple artists; Survey, with art created pre-2000; and Editions presenting work on paper and multiples, the show will be smaller than 2019’s, but include all art forms previously shown.
The Swiss Art Basel fair was largely devoid of North, South and Central Americans as it was difficult to obtain the pandemic passport credentials to attend, to find a flight not full, and to face the uncertainly of quarantine if exposed to Covid-19, or worse, coming down with a case yourself.
So, I anticipate a significant showing of art lovers from the Americas at Art Basel Miami Beach, due to the recent lifting of restrictions for vaccinated voyagers from across our Northern and Southern borders. Visitors from around the world may attend, as restrictions have been amended to make entrance into the United States easier for those with FDA or WHO approved vaccines.
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