There’s plenty of work on view at Art Basel in Miami Beach that’s splashy, easily accessed, and in your face. But there were many great things that were tucked away in the Nova or Survey sections, relegated to a small dark room in a gallery booth, or that were simply hidden in plain sight.
Glenn Kaino‘s enchanting installation The Internationale (2015) at Kavi Gupta‘s booth was one such example. Featured in the Art Kabinett sector, Kaino’s work drew inspiration from 19th century automaton Pierrot and the moon, a sculpture of a clown-like figure sitting on the tip of a crescent moon and serenading it with music while it moved its head and the moon moved its eye. For Kaino’s iteration, the moon sings a French socialist song in a new dialect he has created. Step inside this darkened room at the fair and you’ll be transported.
For Keren Cytter‘s work Siren (2014) at Tel-Aviv’s Noga Gallery in the Nova sector, the visual artist—who has created dozens of films—has done something different this time. The film—a grizzly tale of a woman who asks a male friend to kill another man—is incorporated in an installation of long vinyl curtains bearing colorful Sharpie drawings of a bouquet of flowers, a black tire, and Tim Buckley.
At Bortolami, you might initially miss Nicolas Guagnini‘s conceptual work, Curatorial Machine, because it appears to be nothing more than a white wall on which works by other artists are hung. But feel free to spin it. The viewer here becomes the curator, permitted to alter the exhibition to his or her liking and affect the dialogue between the works.
Watch the video above to check out a few of the hidden gems at the fair.
Enjoy!