Reporting live from Miami Art Week, the most culturally important event of the year. Yeah, I SAID IT!
What started as a single festival (Art Basel) that took advantage of Miami’s not-so-winter weather is now a week of creative abundance featuring a stunning series of art fairs, gallery showcases, conferences, shows, parties, store openings, brand activations, and dinners with the top art and culture aficionados in the world.
If SXSW is (was?) the epicenter of innovation, Miami Art Week has become the epicenter of luxury culture. Investors, creators, art dealers, musicians, socialites, athletes, brand marketers, and their entourages all descend on Miami for what amounts to a cultural jam session.
Yes, Miami Art Week has a tech component and Miami is a Web3 mecca, but the crowds this year will undoubtedly be less interested as everything crypto-adjacent has lost a bit of its luster. Still, there will be rumblings of what’s next amid the recent market rush.
Covid had a big impact on MAW, but this year it should be back to its old self. I remember when Spotify hired us to do an exclusive dinner and lounge show set for Nas and managed to keep it low key. After the stimulus money came the optimism, and Art Basel 2021 was declared the event to be back “outside” for. Miami was the perfect setting. On top of that, we needed to collectively mourn Virgil Alboh’s passing. I’ll never forget the tributes.
Two years later, with continuous success, Miami Art Week is a straight up staple. People launch companies here, open flagships, and test out new products. It may be sliiiiightly less relevant for the fine art folks as a result, but change is good. Art is booming among the net worth crowd, seen as a hedge against inflation. If you know how to care for it, art is a beautiful way to store and grow value. More and more of my friends have entered the art scene and I’m very, very here for it. Do you need to be at Miami Art Week to matter in that world? At this point, I’d say yes.
Miami is on the global stage this week. This isn’t some live-streamed conference or TikTok rumor-fueled dark story. This is the real deal, baby. So keep your year-in-reviews, predictions, and manifestations for another day. This week, the only thing that matters is Miami!
Also published on Medium.