Expanding horizons: with the Miami art world in the throes of rapid change, the author examines the impact of growth, spurred by the arrival of Art Basel, on public institutions, galleries and artists - Report From Miami

In terms of coverage, vitality and contemporary, relevance, however, Art Miami was thoroughly upstaged last year by the Basel event. Sponsored by the UBS Financial Services Group, which has been the primary supporter of the parent fair since 1994, ABMB featured about 169 of the world's leading modern and contemporary galleries. Samuel Keller, a Basel native, has been involved in the fair's management since 1994; in 2000 he became director. In contrast to Art Miami, only 5 percent of the participating galleries were from Latin America, the bulk of the exhibitors coming from the U.S. and Europe (with several galleries from North America and Europe showing first-rate Latin American art).

Both fairs extend over four days, and while the price per square foot of booths in the two fairs is equivalent, participants in ABMB tend on average to take larger spaces. While ABMB 2002 was extremely successful in terms of sales, the organization itself did not make a profit, due in part to losses remaining from the cancelled event of 2001, and to the higher-than-anticipated costs of union labor involved in the fair set-up. Art Basel expects to do considerably better in 2003.

Last year, four Miami galleries were included in ABMB: Fredric Snitzer, Ambrosino, Bernice Steinbaum and Diana Lowenstein. Snitzer is the only Miami-based gallery owner Lo serve on the fair's selection committee. The same four galleries will represent Miami in ABMB 2003.

In 2002, ABMB offered young galleries two opportunities to participate that did not carry the high price tag of the standard booth. The first of these was the "Art Statements" section of the convention center, in which each of 21 galleries showcased a single artist. Gavin Brown, of New York, presented the mid-career Miami artist Mark Handforth, who has been showing with Brown since 1998. Among Handforth's works were pieces incorporating neon and/or aluminum tubing and two benches in steel and wood.

"Art Positions," the second venue for younger galleries, was situated at the beachfront not far from the convention center. Here, 20 galleries were housed in shipping containers reconfigured by the Basel architects Steinmann and Schmid, and equipped with white interior walls, translucent plastic doors, electricity and the ever-important air conditioning. While no local galleries were represented in '02, Miami's Kevin Bruk Gallery occupies a container in 2003.

A smaller hotel art fair was held at the Nash in 20001. Brooklyn-based art consultant Janet Phelps, one of its organizers, returned to Miami in December '02 with "Artpoint," which occupied two vacant floors of an office building near the convention center. It showcased about a dozen nonprofit and alternative spaces from outside the major art centers, ranging from the Plains Art Museum of Fargo, N.D., to Aurora Picture Show of Houston, Tex.

Phelps's 2003 project is the NADA Art Fair, a collaborative effort of the New Art Dealers Alliance Inc. that brings together 40 mostly young galleries and nonprofit spaces, mainly from New York and other U.S. cities, plus some European and Asian galleries. The NADA fair occupies a donated space in the Lincoln, a new, currently vacant office and retail building just off Lincoln Road. NADA exhibitors include Massimo Audiello and Rivington Arms, both New York; Priska C. Juschka Fine Art, Brooklyn; Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago; g-module, Paris; Grimm/Rosenfeld, Munich; and Hiromi Yoshii, Tokyo.