Forbes: Highlights from Virtual Art Basel Miami Beach 2020

Nel-Olivia Waga
December 5, 2020
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This time of the year, many of us art enthusiasts usually gather in sunny Miami Beach, sip cocktails, mingle with the like-minded and enjoy discovering a brilliant mix of the art world’s most extraordinary or provocative pieces just next to sought after modern classics: The Art Basel Miami Beach. This year the most colorful and exotic of all Art Basel’s is happening online due to covid-19, following the example of its sister fair Art Basel in Switzerland being the first one going virtual earlier this year.

Today Art Basel Miami Beach opened its online viewing rooms (OVR) to the public, after two days of the usual VIP preview. Here are my highlights:

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We Are Having The Time Of Our Lives (2019) by Superflex at Kukje Gallery

The in 1982 founded leading Korean Kukje Gallery showcases a selection of works by modern and contemporary artists. We Are Having The Time Of Our Lives, 2019 is an eye-catching light installation. It gets a whole new meaning, being showcased and viewed from the perspective of the year 2020. Behind this work is Superflex, an artists’ group founded in 1993 by Jakob Fenger, Rasmus Nielsen and Bjørnstjerne Christiansen. They describe their projects as tools, for example a model or proposal that can actively be used and further utilized and modified by its user.

Airuaca (2020) and Upurupa (2020) by Caio Reiswitz at Luciana Brito Galeria

For this online edition of Art Basel, Luciana Brito Galeria is presenting a selection of works by artists in some way dealing with questions pertaining to the problematics the world has faced over the course of this year and beyond.

Brazilian Artist Caio Reisewitz presents Airuaca (2020), a photography work in which portraits of iconic architectural works in Brazil’s federal capital, Brasília, are overlaid to images of green Brazilian forests, underscoring the political responsibility behind the large natural disasters that are currently besetting Brazil.

This year also caused the rise of intense discussion concerning the exploitation and devastation of Brazilian forests, which the artist embodies in his works.

Marlboro Man (2019) by Monica Bonvicini at Galerie Krinzinger

The large-scale installations by Italian artist Monica Bonvicini are known to be slightly provocative, playing with sexuality, architecture and exposing gender-equality topics in male-dominated areas. Marlboro Man, 2019, is one of her latest larger-than-life works re-interpreting the famous masculinity representing figure, showcased at Austrian contemporary art Galerie Krinzinger’s Art Basel Miami Beach 2020 OVR.

Untitled (2011), John McCracken, David Zwirner

One of art world’s most innovative and leading galleries David Zwirner, presents one of John McCracken’s final signature works as part of on-and offline exhibition between Art Basel Miami Beach OVR and their gallery spaces in New York. The gallery has included streamed live-talks, live-walkthroughs and Q&As to their program. It’s a new hybrid of the brick-and-mortar and digital. It aims to emulate the experience of a collector, future collector, or art enthusiast engaging with a gallery director at a physical fair.

“During these livestream talks, directors will physically be with the works they are speaking about and able to take questions from the audience. While the works will be installed in David Zwirner’s New York galleries in viewing rooms, and are being live streamed and presented online, private appointments are available to our New York-based audience.” David Zwirner says.

“The present work belongs to a body of stainless steel columns—one of the last groups of works conceived of by the artist during his lifetime. The surfaces of these sharp geometric forms are polished to produce such a high degree of reflectivity that it at once activates its surroundings and appears translucent. The sculpture offers little indication of the intrinsic density of its material, but in line with Minimalist concerns, it references and includes the viewer. McCracken’s steel sculptures are both, as the artist described, “materialist and transcendentalist,” bordering on invisibility while simultaneously reflecting the landscape of their surroundings.”

Blu (1972), Agostino Bonalumi, Tornabuoni Art

At this year’s digital edition of Art Basel Miami Beach 2020, the renowned Italian gallery Tornabuoni Art presents an overview of the avant-garde artistic movements of the Post-War Italian era with an impressive selection of works from the most iconic artists such as Agostino Bonalumi.

An artist who created worldwide influence in the 1960 and 1970s with its new and refreshing ways of expressing art by rejecting the popular and traditional realism of the time and responding to the avant-garde of the first half of the 20th century. He war part of creating a new movement for his generation and generations of young contemporary artists to come.

HER/etiquette

Founded in 2014, re-launched in 2019, by Nel-Olivia Waga. HER/etiquette is an international luxury lifestyle blog, that features curated stories coming from a conscious mindset. It collaborates with leading brands and specialists who share the idea of generating a positive impact in the world. Based in Zurich, we cover local hotspots and global trends around sustainability, innovation, well-being, health, beauty, travel, time, art, business and philantropy.

Nel-Olivia Waga is the Founder & Publisher of HER/etiquette. She is a Brand Consultant, an Author and Entrepreneur, most passionate about well-being, travel, nature and art. Her work can regularly be seen in her column on FORBES. Her consultancy YMPACT LAB, creates innovative projects for luxury brands based on passion, purpose and sustainable impact.

CONSCIOUS LUXURY

#ConsciousLuxury is the theme of HER/etiquette. We combine luxury lifestyle with consciousness. Each story we share, is underlined with values. The purpose and innovation of the brands we collaborate with, are as important to us, as their initiatives towards ethical craftsmanship, sustainability, holistic health and social responsibility.

This is our first step towards contributing to the global movement of creating a more positive impact within our community and beyond.

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COPYRIGHTS BY ART BASEL, THE ARTISTS AND GALLERIES, STATED IN THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE ON FORBES.COM

CONSCIOUS LUXURY

#ConsciousLuxury is the theme of HER/etiquette. We combine luxury lifestyle with consciousness. Each story we share, is underlined with values. The purpose and innovation of the brands we collaborate with, are as important to us, as their initiatives towards ethical craftsmanship, sustainability, holistic health and social responsibility.

This is our first step towards contributing to the global movement of creating a more positive impact within our community and beyond.

PLANT TREES WITH US

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