Miami Art Basel

 
They say people need something concrete to hold on to—something solid and acknowledgeable. Over the last few years, the financial sphere has tumbled into utter disarray leading to a major lack of faith in capitulating on stock markets and investing in currencies. And, as what we all do when we are let down, we look for another alternative: we place our bets elsewhere. Running from December 1-4, Art Basel Miami has a buzz around it that cannot be denied. Known as the sister show of the phenomenal Swiss-held, international contemporary Art Basel Fair, Miami boasts that the fair is “the most prestigious art show in the Americas,” presenting over 260 galleries from Europe, Asia, Africa as well as the North and Latin Americas.

Indeed, choosing Miami as a location for this presentation of the contemporary art world seems to be a popular decision. Miami’s appeal lies in the fact that, “[it] stands at a unique intersection of the art world, a hinge between the traditional East Coast scene and the emerging energy of Latin America, where both new artists and new buyers have become a significant force in the past few years.”[1] The art world, then, over the last few years, has become an allegorical oilfield for investment: art is seen not only as a more tangible commodity to invest in, but also something that contains the aesthetic element that stocks and long term bonds do not. It does, however, have the same thrill of risk that financial markets thrive on; buying a work of art requires, more or less, the same analytic assessment that is required when buying a major stake of an international conglomerate. It requires precision, accuracy and an eye for potential.

However, while we see the similarities between the financial and art worlds, and while it seems that we are currently simply substituting one sphere for the other, Amir Shariat, a London-based art collector, recently commented to Bloomberg that the art market is definitely “disconnected” from the financial markets, and that, “These days, people feel safer owning a great artwork than having money in the bank.”[2] Reflecting this exponential interest in the field of the aesthetic, Art Basel Miami will showcase works by more than 2,000 artists of the 20^th and 21^st centuries worth approximately $2 billion to $2.5 billion, based on an estimate by Christiane Fischer, president and chief executive office of AXA Art’s North America operations.[3]

This immense emphasis on financial worth, and the direct connection to the investment of personal and corporate wealth, however, has disgruntled contemporary artists—those who do not have the superstar, mainstream personalities that stand behind most of the art works being exhibited. The integration of financial awareness into the contemporary art stream is something that does not sit well. However, as with all major fields, it is the financial companies that provide the backing: UBS is the well-known main sponsor at Art Basel Miami, a stalwart imprint of Wall Street on South Beach. Getting away from banks, then, does not seem to be a very successful endeavour. Art fairs like Miami Basel cater, primarily, to major players. Its visitors represent powerful collectors from numerous regional power-blocs that far overshadow the private collector-private museum phenomenon. Rather, they have the influence and ability to “transform the image of an entire region.”[4]

The names are everywhere, with art world elite mingling freely among well-known Hollywood personalities: Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova, Sean Jean Combs, Julian Schnabel, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Pharrell Williams and Vladislav Doronin, to name a very few. As Bloomberg reports: “In the wake of the equity markets’ worst Thanksgiving-week drop since 1932, Miami Basel teems with events, parties, luxury brands and celebrities.”[5]

However, blue-chip art including Andy Warhol and Anish Kapoor isn’t the only thing lining the fair: the fashion world also has high stakes this weekend with luxury brands like Dior and Ferrari investing in self-labelled art, aimed to woo its clients by capitulating on its diversity within the highly lucrative aesthetic sphere.

Contemporary art and the art world are not simply a stand-alone entity. Rather, it is being courted and lavished upon by cornerstone designers and financiers so that it has become a hybrid of sorts, resulting in an exponential increase of potential and apparently limitless boundaries. As California-based collector Dean Valentines comments, “Contemporary art is becoming accepted as a better store of value… What else would you put money into? Dollars? Euros? Most asset classes have been disappointing.”[6]

With the recognition of the value of wealth in art, and the acknowledgment of its ever-growing potential, it is perhaps indubitable that fairs like this become arenas for lucrative meet-and-greets and big-spend throw-downs. While it has been criticized for continuously representing a stream of, apparently never-ending monetary flow, it is also a spectacle to marvel at: the continuous and often instantaneous investment of wealth into assets that not only aesthetically please, question and challenge, but often provide financial consequences that far exceed those earned on the trading floors of Wall Street. One would be hard-pressed to find a player with as much influence and affluence as Art Basel this weekend.