Early Thursday, I was forecasting the long day and night ahead of me and came up with a plan: I would wander the Miami neighborhood of Wynwood for the night, and I would blog about it. The specific assignment that I gave myself was to comb one block, and write a profile of all the street art and the happenings that I would bear witness to. One block. One story. No big deal.
For those of you unable to weather the traffic, costs and crowds at Art Basel this week, fear not. Here at WLRN -- and with the help of local blogs and newspapers -- we have a rundown of what's been happening at Art Basel.
Party Time
Before the actual galleries even open, in true Miami style, much of Art Basel is all about the parties.
If you were stuck in traffic Wednesday night, you can thank the many parties kicking off Art Miami this week.
There is a lot to do in Miami during Art Basel so you may not want another item added to your list of “must sees.” Nevertheless, consider including this fair: Aqua Art Miami at the Aqua Hotel on Collins and 15th Street in Miami Beach.
The fair has a laid-back vibe, lots of art and a good-sized crowd that feels happening without being claustrophobic.
Credit Krutika Mallikarjuna and Chris Ritter / Buzzfeed.com
Mallikarjuna and Ritter wanted a GIF of President Obama dancing to Beyoncé's Single Ladies but couldn't find one. So they made it themselves. It went viral.
Moving the Still festival organizers and artists tell us what's so great about the GIF.
Remember those unsettling dancing babies? The ones that got passed around the Internet in the days before social media and eventually made their way onto the Fox TV show, Ally McBeal? Those were GIFs.
GIF stands for graphics interchange format. It's a series of still images, looped -- and last month, after 25 years of existence, it was named the Oxford English Dictionary 2012 American word of the year.
Christopher Janney's sound and light installation for Miami International Airport was unveiled during last year's Art Basel Miami Beach. This year, he's back to discuss the piece on a panel during Design Miami, today (Friday, Dec. 7) at noon.
While Art Basel takes Miami by storm, the feeder bands have already reached the fine arts community in Broward County.
Pompano Beach gallery owner Tom Rossetti says he is readily jumping aboard the Art Basel bandwagon by launching his second annual "Basel Broward" event this week.
Rossetti started calling for artist entries for Basel Broward about six weeks ago.
I know why I got the assignment to write about the shoes. It's because I'm an older, generally well-meaning white guy whose cluelessness, tinged with naive sexism, would be more hilarious than these actual shoes from Art Basel.
Let me be clear, I see nothing funny about this. And I am a little offended by the idea that men are not capable of forming reasonable opinions of women's shoes.
