Art Basel Miami Beach 2007 Preview

by Ami Kealoha

We'll be bringing you our coverage from Miami's week of art mayhem in an exciting new format this year, so watch out for that soon. In the meantime, if you're already overwhelmed by the goings-on and need help planning your week or if you're living vicariously through CH, we put together a few of the events and exhibits that sound good to us.

Jan Krugier Bot
One of Basel's most notorious impresarios, this year dealer Jan Krugier will supervise the installation of his booth via Mike Latham's AC1, a robot (pictured above) equipped with sound, video and photo capabilities, from locations as remote as Switzerland and from as near as his hotel nearby.
Miami Beach Convention Center, 5-9 December 2007

Geisai Miami
After six years in Tokyo Geisai, Takashi Murakami's fair for emerging artists, arrives in Miami. The juried show of 20 artists runs in collaboration with Pulse.
5-9 December 2007, Parliament Building of SoHo Studios

Diller Scofido + Renfro: Light Sock
We've already heard reports from our friends on the ground that Swarovski's latest project to task a designer with creating a chandelier from their crystals is stunning (pictured right). The responsible party, post-modern architects Diller Scofido + Renfro, subvert the concept by partially concealing the crystals within a net while still (sort of) referencing the classic shape of a chandelier. Consisting of a darkened room housing nearly 50 of the lamps (they're available from Moss for purchase), the title is a nice touch too.
7-11 December 2007, The Moore Building

Fountain Art Fair
In its first year Fountain Art Fair made quite the splash and we expect more of the same this year. Different than the slew of other fairs, Fountain has an especially unique slant. Hosting a guerrilla style event with no official booth spaces or selection committee juries, it aims to highlight the independent galleries overlooked by the larger and oftentimes more corporate fairs. Although Fountain will showcase galleries from Brooklyn and San Francisco as well, we like the fact that they make a special effort to showcase local talent from Miami (image at left: Miami artist Miguel Paredes' "Lo Mato").
6-9 December 2007, 2841 NW 2nd Avenue at 29th Street

Flavorpill Anniversary Series
Our Flavorpill friends are celebrating the first year of their Miami branch with a concert featuring one of our favorite Brooklyn-based avant-noise duos, Japanther, and CH affiliates (by way of Miami) Something in Spanish.
8 December 2007, 8pm-5am, The Pawn Shop

Fragiles
Part of Design Miami and curated by creative agency Die Gestalten Verlag, Fragiles is an exhibition featuring around 200 hundred objects made from porcelain, glass and ceramics by a fresh wave of international designers. Eclecticism is the dominating taste and theme and the idea is to expand and challenge our notion of these classical materials while at the same time exploring new technological boundaries.

Showcasing works by Marcel Wanders and Arne Quinze alongside still unknown designers, there are pieces meant for the consumer market (like the teacup lamps, pictured) as well as others strictly deemed as art. We like the paper AK-47 painted rifles made by Martin Postler (pictured far right).
6-9 December 2007, Marcy Building

Conner Contemporary Art
The Conner Contemporary Art's booth at Pulse is one we saw last year that's worth braving the crowds and traffic. Featuring CH ally Leo Villareal's new untitled work (pictured above left), I'm also excited to check out Erik Sandberg's huge figurative oil paintings, which are some of those works much better seen live and in person (above right).
5-9 December 2007, SoHo Studios

Pieter Hugo: The Hyena Men

by Jonah Samson

Pieter Hugo is a South African photographer who has set out to photograph groups of people that have a distinct presence across Africa. His images of traditional healers, wild honey collectors, taxi washers, and albinos are strong and beautiful, but my favorite series is The Hyena Men which opened last week at Yossi Milo Gallery in New York.

Pieter Hugo created the series The Hyena Men while traveling throughout Nigeria with a troupe of animal charmers and their collection of tenuously domesticated hyenas, monkeys and snakes. The portraits feature groupings of men and animals surrounded by the barren urban centers of Northern Nigeria, which were taken during quiet moments between the spectacles of street performances. (Click images for detail and see more after the jump.)

A book of this work is soon to be released in the U.S. by Prestel.

The Hyena Men
Through January 2008
Yossi Milo Gallery
525 West 25th Street
New York, NY 10001 map
tel. +1 212 414 0370

Cardboard Rocket Play House

by Lost At E Minor

What child isn't fascinated with space? Luckily, Nigel's Eco Store, an online purveyor of fun, stylish and environmentally sound homewares, came up with this Cardboard Rocket Play House. Made of sturdy recycled cardboard it arrives plain and unpainted so that the kids can decorate it however they want.

Made by a designer with over 20 years of experience in the packaging industry, the rocket can be folded flat making it transportable and easy to put away for storage. Now if we could only figure out what to do with all the used rockets floating in outer space.

Available at Nigel's for £30.

Wine no Hajimekata DS

by Lost At E Minor

Earlier this month, video-game maker Square Enix (the company behind the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series) released Wine no Hajimekata DS, a wine tasting game for the Nintendo DS. The game teaches wine enthusiasts how to taste and pair wines, and to facilitate the process, the first 1,000 units include a bottle of Dourthe No. 1. There isn't an English version of the game yet, but I'm waiting for them to release a whiskey game.