Art Basel Miami Beach 2022

The fair marks 20 years of art, sun, and fun!

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Dec 17, 2022

Text: Carmen Ferreira
Photos: Esteban Terenzio

The 20th anniversary edition of Art Basel Miami Beach took place December 1-3, 2022, with its VIP previews on November 29 and 30. This edition had the highest number of participating galleries since its inception, 282, against the 160 that showed at its first edition in 2002 evidence of its success and cultural importance in South Florida. In this edition 38 countries were represented, nearly two-thirds had gallery locations in North and South America, with especially strong presence of galleries from the United States, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina.

Despite having flown into Miami on the eve of the penultimate fair day we disregarded being jet legged and headed to the Convention Center. One day is hardly enough to navigate such extravagant numbers of artworks but we were impressed by the large-scale projects (20) in the Meridians section, our favorite, curated by Magalí Arriola, director of Museo Tamayo in Mexico City.

In celebration of its 20th anniversary, Art Basel launched a Gift-Giving Campaign with a lead donation to the STEAM + program, whose mission is to bring active artists into the seven public schools of the city of Miami Beach.

One of the best booths at this year's show according Douglas Markowitz of the Miami New Times, was local gallery Spinello Projects, another favorite, who showed work from Reginald O'Neal and Juana Valdes, two Miami-raised artists of color. Their testimonial at the fair’s website, speaks volumes about this year’s fair:

“From the moment the doors opened our booth was flooded with curators, directors, and top collectors from around the world. The stream never stopped, and each day more and more folks poured into our booth. The vibe was unlike anything I’ve experienced in my 17 years of selling art.” Anthony Spinello, Founder, Spinello Projects (Miami)