On-the-ground reports from Art Basel Miami Beach and the satellite fairs.
Still Growing Strong
ABMB 2007 will be bigger than ever.
A report on everyone's favorite winter playground from
Art & Auction.
The Fair:
Where: Miami Beach Convention Center.
What: The contemporary art world’s foremost American gathering.
When: December 6–9.
Highlights:
The Pulse Contemporary Art Fair teams up with Takashi Murakami for the U.S. debut of Geisai, the Japanese master’s emerging-artist fair.
A December 7 tour of local studios takes in Design District artists Tao Rey, Christina Lei Rodriguez, and Frances Twombly, then more artists, further afield, the following day.
The Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami is showing “Jorge Pardo: House.” It includes 60 works by the genre-bending Los Angeles artist, arranged in kitchen, bedroom, and dining vignettes.
The Fairchild Tropical Garden in Coral Gables is installing a Lichtenstein show not far from that artist’s Mermaid sculpture, which permanently sits near the Miami Beach Convention Center.
The arty French nightlife team behind Le Baron will DJ a party at Emmanuel Perrotin’s gallery (galerieperrotin. com). They’ll also work an event on the upper level of Set nightclub (320 Lincoln Rd., setmiami.com).
artbaselmiamibeach.com
Stay:
The Delano
This iconic Aztec-headdress-topped hotel, designed by Robert Swartzburg in 1947, has recently snatched back its share of the jet-set crowd, thanks in part to a room refit that retained its white-on-white aesthetic but upgraded the dated amenities with new mattresses and plasma televisions. (Dita von Teese’s much-gossiped-about striptease here during last year’s fair didn’t hurt either.) A rooftop Agua spa just opened, plus a speakeasy-inspired lounge designed by onetime Miami mainstay Lenny Kravitz.
1685 Collins Ave.
305/672-2000
RATES: $315–$2,100
morganshotelgroup.com
Gansevoort South
The soft opening of the Manhattan hotel’s Florida outpost in the former Roney Palace building opens some rooms, the restaurant (by Philippe Chow), and the pool area to a few art-world VIPs. Like the original, this hotel has a showy rooftop pool—with cocoa palms and cabanas. A second elevated oceanfront “pool plaza” has a Jacuzzi, bar, and café. The charcoal gray–walled rooms are a nod to Miami’s heyday, with ’40s pinup photos and large balconies.
2377 Collins Ave.
305/604-1000
RATES: $795–$1,080
gansevoortsouth.com
The Raleigh
André Balazs’s louche, luxe hotel has established itself as an artworld mainstay—last year everyone from Visionaire to Lehmann Maupin and Jeffrey Deitch picked it for their parties. No one stays at the Raleigh for the rooms, though they’re comfortable and chic in a style you might call “Chateau Marmont goes to 1950s Cuba.” Rather, it’s the common areas, from the lovingly restored wood-paneled cocktail bar at the entrance to the curvaceous Esther Williams–era pool out back that lure crowds.
1775 Collins Ave.
305/534-6300
RATES: $325–$765
raleighhotel.com
Ritz-Carlton South Beach
Serious collectors (and Martha Stewart) hole up at this Morris Lapidus–designed hotel, formerly the DiLido Beach Club. The lobby and bar have a midcentury go-go glamour, while the overstuffed chairs and classic furnishings in the enormous rooms are reliably Ritz-Carlton. The hotel is co-owned by the Lowenstein family of local gallery fame. Their collection—including Miro and Dario Basso—is scattered throughout the common areas.
1 Lincoln Rd.
RATES: $250–$720
786/276-4000
ritzcarlton.com
Sagamore Hotel
The 93 suites in this art-crammed space were recently refreshed, renovating the kitchenettes and adding de rigueur luxuries such as plasma TVs. A video garden by the pool, with cocktail-ready lounging sofas and screens showcasing highlights from the owner’s extensive art collection, is another new addition. Last year there was a performance of Yoko Ono’s Onochord. This year the hotel will host a show of specially commissioned Spencer Tunick nudes, all of which were staged and snapped in Miami a couple of months ago.
1671 Collins Ave.
305/535-8088
RATES: $265–$785
sagamorehotel.com
July 4, 2008 
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