My first Art Basel: Franklin Sirmans

For Franklin Sirmans, the director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Art Basel in Miami Beach is a highlight of the year. In this interview, he reflects on how the arrival of the show changed the cultural landscape of his adopted home.

‘When Art Basel in Miami Beach was introduced in 2002, I was working as an independent curator in New York and teaching at the School of Visual Arts. Being an independent curator is all about the hustle, so visiting the first edition of the fair felt like an opportunity that I couldn’t miss. It was an organic moment in which to consider the art that was coming out of this place, but it was also a meeting point for the Americas.

‘I see Art Basel’s show in Miami Beach as part of a massive shift in terms of how we experience and talk about art in the U.S. We don’t have the same history of biennales that Europe has – there is no Venice or Documenta – and Art Basel in Miami Beach has become an important vehicle for international conversations. You have to remember that Miami was such a different city back then: 20 years ago, there weren't nearly as many art spaces and museums as there are now; our own building was still a dozen years away from coming into existence. There’s no doubt that the fair has grown alongside the city. Everybody wants to come to Miami now!

‘The first time I traveled to Switzerland for Art Basel was five years later, in 2007, the year that “Robert Gober: Work 1976–2007” was on view at the Schaulager. I remember this clearly because The Menil Collection, where I was working at the time, had a special relationship with Bob. To be able to go to the Schaulager and to have the fair be a part of that conversation was pure magic. I always find it invigorating to be at Messe Basel – it’s massive. The closest I’d ever been to something like that was the Javits Center in New York, but that’s quite a different type of venue. To be in a cultural space with that amount of artwork surrounding you, most of it brand new, is unlike any other experience I’ve had with visual art.

‘When I arrive at Art Basel, be it in Basel or Miami Beach, I look at the map of the halls and booths, but I’m much more driven by conversations with people and letting it flow. If someone walks up to me and says, “Oh my gosh, you have to see this,” then I tend to redo my route so I can see whatever it is. It’s hard to overestimate the importance of shared conversations, which come out of more casually defined social spaces rather than Zoom meetings. I think part of the reason we gravitate to this field is because we believe something special can come from putting people who love art together in the same place. To be in Basel in June is a magical time in our mind’s calendar and one that we sorely missed this year.’

Top image: Franklin Sirmans, Thelma Golden, and Glenn Ligon. Photo: WorldRedEye.com.