Fresh VUE Collective 2015

On December 1, 2015, our #FreshVUE Collective rallied on South Beach for a marathon evening of vernissages and a private film screening, an achievement made possible by our choice of transportation—bicycles—and our fearless guide, Cathy Byrd.

The variety of foreign and diverse art perspectives was remarkable. The doors of each fair acted as transparent filters to make the outside world disappear. Everything else fell away, allowing only the most interesting manifestations of contemporary art to enter our field of vision.

Our first stop was the crowded SCOPE tent, where we discovered the value of 3-D encounters with art that we’d only scanned through online. More spacious, Untitled offered an array of alternative installations and an eye-popping Toiletpaper Lounge. Design Miami‘s streamlined showroom wow’ed us with mirrors, mushrooms, and motorcars before we cycled over to the luxurious new Edition Hotel to consume a Tribeca Film Festival documentary about the insatiable art collector Peggy Guggenheim.

The next day, the press preview of Art Basel Miami Beach offered a more traditional (if that word can even be used here) view of contemporary art, with formal displays of pricey art. A highlight of Art Positions was Fritzia Irízar‘s steadily unraveling golden knitted cap, a disappearing act that we observed from a fake grassy knoll nearby. Somewhere in the maze, we happened to witness one American couple’s impulse buy of an Olafur Eliasson wall installation.

This year’s Art Basel Public Sector didn’t feature enough stunning sculpture or high octane performance to draw the masses. On opening night, we joined a small crowd milling about the monolithic sculptures in the park until artist William Pope.L brought us together. A band of hefty Supermen climbed onto a small stage to perform Pope.L’s remix of the Star Spangled Banner, replete with a shower of fake dollar bills. How could you top that commentary on the art market?

Insights by Camila Miorelli | Photos by #FreshVUE Collective