Art Shines On: A new kind of Art Week launches in Miami. Here is your ultimate guide.

Art Week is finally here and artists, arts organizations, galleries and fairs have fully rallied to bring Miamians a hybrid festival that celebrates all things art in the city. Whether you want to venture out with your chic new mask and practice social distancing or indulge from home, there are myriad of ways to enjoy Miami’s most exciting annual affair. Here are just a handful:

For the Safe Adventurer

Luxury champagne house Ruinart’s past Art Week parties have always been a place to see and be seen—unlimited flowing bubbles included. This year, visitors of The Bass will be able to toast the museum’s city-wide Art Outside initiative with the special Ruinart Champagne Gourmet Picnic for Two. Available for a limited time only at the on-site Café, the curated picnic offering includes a mini bottle of Ruinart, two Riedel wine glasses and gourmet eats perfectly paired with the expensive champs. The best part? It’s guilt-free indulgence: a portion of proceeds from each picnic offering sold will support the museum. We can certainly toast to that.

SOBE’s Lincoln Road has always been a stroller’s fantasy. The outdoor, pedestrian-only street offers shopping, dining and family-friendly activities for people of all ages and the iconic road is definitely worth a stroll this week. Check out experiential retail space, Showfields, and their highly curated works of art by local artists and impressive goods from small businesses. As part of the retail concept’s 2020 Winter Curation, you can view impressive and bold installations and shop for highly unique items from mission-driven, design-oriented brands.

Other Lincoln Road activations include Miami New Drama’s 7 deadly Sins an outdoor theatrical experience across seven Lincoln Road storefronts(through January 3); an pop-up exhibition called “MATERIALIZE” by Oolite Arts selling affordable local art ($1-$1000+); New World Syphony will have violinists, violists, and cellists perform while riding on gold carts (8-10pm daily); and more.

For the Beach Babes

Faena Art will present a colossal installation entitled ‘Dreaming with Lions’ by Cuban artist Alexandre Arrechea on Miami Beach, on display through December 6.

‘Dreaming with Lions’ is inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s literary work, The Old Man and the Sea. Assembled directly on the beach in front of Faena Hotel, this highly existential work, serves as a living monument which is said to reconstruct symbols of hope, faith and strength of the human spirit. On a much more vain note, the monumental work(a 62’ diameter rotunda resembling an enormous, forum-style library) will make your Instagram feed look, well, monumental.

Escape our current surreal reality and head to the Confidante Miami Beach for the first-ever Salvador Dalí Pop-up exhibit to come to Miami thanks to the Art Plug (Marcel Katz.)

Entitles “The Real Surreal” the pop-up features a collection of rare modern paper works and bronze small-to-large-scale museum sculptures by the world-renowned Spanish Surrealist icon. The highlight piece is a 10-foot 1,000-pound Dalí sculpture, Saint George and The Dragon; an edition of the rare Dalí sculpture is owned by Pope John Paul II as part of the Vatican’s private collection. Virtual access also available.

W South Beach has always had an impressive rotating collection of museum-quality contemporary art (and staggering amount of original Warhols). The swanky property recently debuted its refreshed multi-million dollar art collection as part of its $30 million renovation. Owned and curated by W South Beach’s part owner, Aby Rosen, the collection includes twenty one pieces from Andy Warhol, three of which are a collaboration between Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol. Stroll on by at your convenience (and comfort level) and stay for a cocktail, or two, or three...

For more Miami Beach happenings click here.

For the Fashion-Set

The Miami Design District has always been an off-the-beach site for Art Week fashion parties galore. As Design Miami (created by Dacra’s Craig Robins) as Design Miami/ Podium returns to its original home at the Moore Building, the area offers an even more compelling geographic HUB for people to gather safely, see art, and mingle-from a safe distance of course! This year’s theme, “America(s),” looks to interrogate American identity through the lens of design and craft. Expect to see more local artists, virtual talks and programming and less-frenzied and more outdoor soirées, through December 6. Learn more here.

A number of galleries will be popping up in the neighborhood for season as well, including Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, Lévy Gorvy x Salon 94 Design, Ramiken, R & Company to name a few. There will also be an immersive show by Space Works, pop-ups from artist Harmony Korine and much, much more.

There will also be a concept “Our Lives On A T-shirt” with 4WorthDoing x architect Emmett Moore for the Liberty City Roots Collective where they will be screen-printing Ts on site. Guests will choose from over fifty designs, including one from Virgil Abloh.

Maison Margiela is one of those très cool fashion houses that likes to fly under the radar. Read: if you know, you know. In a rare public event the Parisian house commissioned an outdoor presentation by film and video installation artist Marco Brambilla, whose famous collabs include new short film with Cate Blanchett and a Marina Abramović opera.

For this project, the artist created Nude Descending a Staircase No. 3, a contemporary digital reinvention of Marcel Duchamp’s 1912 masterpiece, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2.

The work (a moving panorama, complete with a haunting piano score) will be on view to the public on the façade of Maison Margiela’s future flagship store in the Design District (142 NE 41st Street) for three days—December 3rd, 4th, and 5th—from 7-10pm each night.

See the all the fashionable events listings, including ways to view online here.

For the Cultured and Cautious Homebody

Founded in 1985, Bakehouse Art Complex raises much-needed funds to provide studios, services and housing to artists in Miami. In response to the strange and difficult times we are living in, the org recently debuted a genius new online sales tool which enables art lovers to purchase works online.

Named “Fresh Goods Gallery,” the sale, will consist of over 50 photographs donated by the Martin Margulies Foundation, and proceeds will go towards the expansion of the Bakehouse Art Complex so they can eventually provide affordable housing for artists. Available here: https://bakehouseartcomplex.viewingrooms.com/viewing-room/

The Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami recently presented the much-anticipated “Life and Spirituality in Haitian Art,” an exhibition (through December 6) which highlights Haitian artists and works made between 1940 and 1970. The time period presents a look at artists who were informed by spirituality, by Afro-Caribbean religious symbolism, and by European influences—a rare juxtaposition. These renowned masters come from the first and second generation of artists associated with Port-au-Prince’s Centre d’Art. While the museum is open, you can view works by Haitian artists like Rígaud Benoit , Wilson Bigaud, and Hector Hyppolite virtually.

OVR Miami Beach is Art Basel’s virtual version of the famous fair and will present mostly online viewing rooms from December 2 to December 6, 2020. With a strong focus on the Americas, the digital presentation will be accompanied by a varied program of online events hosted on artbasel.com, including talks and gallery walk-throughs.

In an effort to bring together their global network of collectors and patrons and like Art Basel’s in-person fairs, ‘OVR: Miami Beach’ will feature five sectors: Galleries, presenting works by artists ranging from young talents to 20th-century masters; Edition, including exceptional prints and editioned works; Nova, featuring new works created in the last three years; Positions, dedicated to emerging artists; and Survey, showcasing works made before 2000.

For the Social Activist

PAMM is offering an array of virtual programming this week, along with scheduled outdoor tours. A virtual artist panel—Black Diasporic Feminism, Intersectionality, and Solidarity in the Age of Protest—will feature Allied with Power exhibition artists Genevieve Gaignard, Naudline Pierre, and Deborah Roberts and PAMM curator María Elena Ortiz that explores how Black womxn’s experiences of racism, sexism, and classism are inseparable and how these “isms” are being addressed by artists (Weds, December 2, 2PM). RSVP here.

The museum will also offer a special look into PAMM’s newest exhibition, MY BODY, MY RULES, where PAMM curator Jennifer Inacio will give viewers a tour of the show, highlighting works that focus on performance as she discusses exhibition themes like women’s authority and power over their own experiences and mainstream ideals imposed on the image of the female body (Sat, December 5, 2PM). RSVP here.

The Frost Art Museum FIU normally hosts hundreds of guests at its annual Breakfast in the Park. This year, the Frost will skip the in-person cocktails and brunch bites for a virtual version of the event with a lecture by 2019 MacArthur “Genius” grant awardee, Jeffrey Gibson. Gibson’s multimedia practice synthesizes the cultural and artistic traditions of his Cherokee and Choctaw heritage with themes from contemporary, popular, and queer culture. His work is a vibrant call for queer and Indigenous empowerment, envisioning a celebration of strength and joy within these communities. Register on Zoom or follow along on Facebook live @frostartmuseum.

Prizm, an art fair dedicated to the artists of the African diaspora returns for its 8th season-this time virtually. The fair will present an exhibition entitled Noir, Noir: Meditations on African Cinema and Its Influence On Visual Art. Learn more here.

This is a small glimpse into a mighty seven days. However you choose to get your art fix this week, please continue to support the many organizations, artists, galleries and businesses who so greatly need your support—now, more than ever. Use the hashtag #miamiartstrong to show the world how Miami copes with crisis: coming together in the most remarkable ways to nurture its immense and beautiful arts community.