Travel switzerland: Cool Snow, Hot Art

By pbb

Like pretty much everything else in the city, Art Basel Miami Beach is loud, proud, overpriced and decked out in white. Still, it's one of the top parties on the international art circuit. If you are a jet-setter or just want to play one for a weekend, there's no place else you should be December 6 to 9.

An extension of the celebrated Art Basel show in switzerland, the Miami Beach version inundates 200 galleries with the work of 2,000 artists and the attitudes of countless more buyers and hangers-on. Snatching up the hottest stuff from the bleeding edge of contemporary art is important but so too is hanging around eating canapes. (Or not eating canapes, depending on whether you have a modeling contract.)

One of the best venues is "Art Positions", a collection of shipping containers set up as galleries right next to the beach. New York's PS1 is organizing the DJs, films will play under the stars and on the eve of the event, December 5, a rollicking concert will kick things off.