SCOPE MIAMI 08

Amanda Burnham. Tote-um, 2008. Ink on paper. 8” x 11". Courtesy Dorsch Gallery

By David Schmidt

From December 3 - 7, Scope returns to Miami for a seventh consecutive year. Considered the ideal platform for promoting the latest developments in the contemporary art scene, Scope has become an efficient exhibition and sales mechanism able to organize successful events in: New York, London, Basel, Hampton and Miami.

This year it has formed an alliance with Art Asia with the aim of increasing the attendance of collectors, curators and the press, as well as the public at large. Each fair will maintain its respective identity in a separate pavilion, assembling 135 galleries from 36 countries between the two of them.  The alliance between Scope and Art Asia has also generated an excellent lecture schedule that will include the participation of distinguished curators, museum directors and gallerists from around the world, who will discuss the increasing momentum in contemporary Asian art and its future in the international market.

This year Scope Miami has expanded to a 60,000 square foot pavilion near Midtown Mall. This new location will welcome 88 exhibitors from 22 countries. Among the participating galleries, of note are the exhibitions of: {CTS} creative thriftshop (Brooklyn); Alexia Goethe (London); Mike Weiss Gallery, RARE, Priska C. Juschka Fine Art and KRAMPF Gallery, all from New York; Dean Project (Long Island); laTiTude Art Project (San Juan); Kuckei + Kuckei (Berlin); Program Gallery (Warsaw); along with notable Miami-based galleries, such as: Dorsch Gallery, Carol Jazzar Contemporary Art, Pan American Art Projects, Hardcore Art Contemporary Space and Praxis International Art.

Worthy of special mention within Scope is the Museum Presents program, a new non-commercial space exhibiting a curated show dedicated to displaying emerging artistic trends. The first and second editions of Museum Presents were dedicated to Asia; exhibiting artists from India, North Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Myanmar and Indonesia. On this occasion, the program will welcome artists from Latin America and for this Scope has established an alliance with Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, which will manage curatorship of this space. “Narrative/Non-Narrative: Contemporary Artists from the CIFO Programs” groups together a wide spectrum of aesthetic and conceptual work by various creators from Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Brazil and Chile. Participants include: Emilia Azcárate (Venezuela), Donna Conlon (Costa Rica), Eduardo Costa (Argentina), Eugenio Dittborn (Chile), Danilo Dueñas (Colombia), Matías Duville (Argentina), León Ferrari (Argentina), Regina Galindo (Guatemala), Dora Longo (Brazil), Jarbas Lopes (Brazil), Mateo López (Colombia), Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (Mexico), Gabriel Kuri (Mexico), Jorge Macchi (Argentina), María Martínez-Cañas (Cuba), Moris (Mexico), Neflidio (Brazil), Javier Téllez (Venezuela), Torolab (Mexico), among others.

With this selection, Museum Presents assembles artists from various generations and different disciplines in an effort to direct the attention of collectors to the dynamic Latin American art scene, which is characterized by the experimentation and diversity of expressive language. This exhibition tries to break down the traditional stereotypes with which Latin American artistic production is associated by showcasing the immense potential that exists in the region.

In 2008 Scope Miami will once again present an opportunity to get to know emerging creators and new galleries first hand and also provide a schedule of special projects that on this occasion delve into current themes linked to politics, the economy, culture and society. With this new edition Scope has become an increasingly powerful fair with much more interesting proposals than those we are accustomed to seeing at Art Basel Miami Beach.