BY ELLIOT KOTLYAR

Art Basel Miami Beach December 4-7

Beachfront

TOP: ESPAGNOLE À LA GUITARRE BY FRANCIS PICABIA, HAAS & FUCHS; LOST HIGHWAY BY CHRISTIAN HOISCHEN, THUMM; SCORE SETTING #5 BY TERESA MARGOLLES, DÍAZ. OPPOSITE: (LEFT) THE MYTH BY JOSE ALVAREZ, GAVLAK; (FAR LEFT, TOP) THE BEATLES BY VLADIMIR DUBOSSARSKY & ALEXANDER VINOGRADOV, DEITCH; (FAR LEFT, BOTTOM) I AM WHAT I AM BY TERCERUNQUINTO, MONCLOVA. ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF ART BASEL.

A rt Basel put Miami on the art lover’s radar. For a few December days, this titan of art fairs draws the big names and fat wallets to scoop up existing talents and hot

prodigies. Some 220 leading international galleries representing thousands of artists come to mix business with sandy pleasure. And for one week at least, Miami becomes the center of the art world. Seven years later, the main events are as elitist as ever, but dozens of satelite fairs have since emerged to showcase sometimes alternative, regional talents. NADA, Photo Miami, Scope and Red Dot have become just a few of the worthy sideshows. Art Basel big wigs took notice and added many new ways to showcase smaller galleries and individual artisits. Art Kabinett lets galleries show small, curated exhibits in a separate booth space; Art Supernova joins emerging artists from different galleries in a shared space; and Art Nova is dedicated to showing one artist’s cutting-edge works. For more of the same plus performance art and music, head over to Art Positions where huge beachfront shipping containers curated by the folks at New York’s PS1 promise to wow. Art projects will be big; check out the fi rst-time grouping of sculptures at Lumus Park, along Ocean Drive. The Campana Brothers are the 2008 designers of the year and David Adjaye is the Art Loves Architecture honoree. Like most things, the best way to enjoy the contemporary art fair is to be a VIP. And for the cognoscenti, half the fun of

spending millions on a Warhol or Kandinsky is dressing up and talking about it that night at the invite-only W, Vanity Fair, Netjets, Swarovski, Cartier or Visionaire parties. The obscenely wealthy buyers spend their nights rubbing elbows with in-the-know starchitects, designers and celebs, on and off the circuit. But trying to keep track of what’s become a circus of colored wristbands, secret locations and once-in-a-lifetime invitations can keep the best of us at wit’s end without Paris Hilton or Lenny Kravitz in our corner. Staying at one of the thousand-a-night hotels can get you closer. The fabulously famous Fontainbleau Hotel will be open and is set to be a main sponsor. And everyone’s talking about the Mondrian Hotel, which will fi nally be ready for action. Also, check out Marc Newson’s pop-up store for his Ikepod watch at the Raleigh. For after-parties, head to SoHo Beach House or the new clubs, Louis or Plunge at the very-trendy Gansevoort Hotel. Thanks to the troubled economy however, this Basel may just be your big chance. Art Basel’s main sponsor, UBS, won’t be able to foot the bill for all the lavish spending on VIP treatment and celebrity-studded affairs as in years past. The cutbacks mean less bottomless champagne glasses and free-for-all crab cakes at said parties. But by eliminating some of the hoopla and concentrating on fewer numbers, Art Basel will likely get back to its untainted acquisitive roots. Serious collectors will be thrilled to save a few hundred thousand on their favorite pieces, and notoriously infl ated prices in Miami and at the fair will have to come down.