This year, the preparations for Art Basel Miami 2017 were under a bad star for the fair organization of the various art fairs. Not only the organizers suffered under these circumstances, but also all the galleries. Hurricane Irma hit Miami in September, destroying much of the infrastructure, hotel facilities and promenades.

Among other things, the Hotel Deauville, where the NADA Art Fair holds its annual art fair, was hit. All the galleries had to spontaneously adapt to a different location and reschedule their stands. In addition, there was displeasure and doubts as to whether Miami Beach would be as beautiful as ever by December and thus attract all the collectors from their corners of the world. These fears prompted some galleries to exercise their extraordinary right to cancel and withdraw their bookings. This in turn had an impact on our planning.

The Convention Center had a master plan. And that was to keep the building closed all year round in order to be ready for the trade fair. Well, that’s what plans are for, so that you can throw them overboard and re-plan everything. To the dismay of all kinds of shippers, the Convention Center was not yet finished on the outside and corners.
The “fire marshalls” have finished off the remaining free storage areas for the purpose of emergency exits. As a result, our partners A4 and Dietl, Masterpiece, Gander & White, Fritz & have had to do without a large part of their storage capacity. However, they were only informed of this shortly before the start of the fair, so that they were unable to inform their customers, including us, that storage space would be limited. What does this have to do with the gallery owners?

The galleries have dragged along freight in WM style to present their artists in the best possible way. Nobody thinks about where to put all the works during the fair. The main thing is to get to them so that they can move their stands every day if possible. To do this, however, you have to have access to your work and, at best, keep an overview of what is where. With so much stock and so little storage space, there was a bit of a scandal in some areas. This had an impact on the handling of some galleries and therefore on our availability during the fair.

Last but not least, one of the most renowned German airlines “Air Berlin” collapsed in October and went bankrupt. The planes remain on the ground, as does the freight. Several tons of air freight accumulate over a period of several weeks (so-called backlog). Some airlines have used this situation for their own purposes, recognized the demand and dramatically increased air freight prices. Fortunately, we had a firm booking and had negotiated a top rate with a cargo-only airline. What was much worse was that shipments could simply no longer be booked on time. Annoying for last minute ideas at the trade fair…

This backlog continued into the Christmas period and there is still no end in sight. This had consequences for our return shipment ex Miami, we could not deliver before Christmas…
We regret that.

Despite all the adversities, we were able to record what was probably the most successful exhibition shipment in our art fair history this year. We prepared for all situations as best we could, communicated with our customers as quickly as possible and kept them up to date. Despite a few demolished crates, none of the art was damaged and could be presented at the fair in all its glory. We were there with the biggest crew: 7 of our own Artseconians plus two American freelancers who joined our team this year.
This meant that we were able to support some of our customers on site with set-up assistance and were available for questions and installations during both the set-up and the trade fair.

Something that makes me really proud is when I stroll around the trade fair and watch my customers. I remember some of them from when they were small, marginal figures in the big game. Now I find them in the middle of the trade fair, they are now global players. They have simply grown with us, we have gone through thick and thin. Today we’re up there together and it’s far from over… After the fair is before the fair…

I wish all our friends, partners and customers a blessed and harmonious Christmas
a happy new year and a healthy and successful NEW YEAR 2018
Your Artseco Team