Film
David Gryn, Director of Daata Editions and London’s Artprojx, once again curated the show’s Film program, which brought together over 50 films and video works by artists drawn from the show's participating galleries. Screenings took place throughout the week both in SoundScape Park on the 7,000 square-foot outdoor projection wall of the New World Center and in the Film Library located within the Miami Beach Convention Center. David Gryn’s short film program, titled ‘Best Dressed Chicken in Town’ focused on a selection of international artists who engage with music in a multitude of ways, while the ‘Double Bill’ program paired two film works that share similar approaches to an intense musical score: Rita Ackermann (b. 1968) with Christian Marclay (b. 1955), and Liliana Porter (b. 1941) with Alfredo Jaar (b. 1956). The evening screenings were preceded by a selection of sound works by Ain Bailey (b. 1963), Zoë Buckman (b. 1985), A.K. Burns (b. 1975), Jonathan Montague (b. 1982), Molly Palmer (b. 1984) and Susannah Stark (b. 1988). Returning to the show for her second year, New York-based film consultant Marian Masone selected the feature film to be screen at the Colony Theater: ‘Maurizio Cattelan: Be Right Back’ (2016) directed by Maura Axelrod.

Conversations and Salon
Art Basel’s celebrated talks program attracted over 2470 visitors throughout the course of the show, offering dynamic discussions between artists, galleries, art historian, writers, museum directors and collectors from across the globe. Conversations launched with the Premier Artist Talk featuring artist Julio Le Parc (b. 1928) and Estrellita B. Brodsky, who curated Le Parc’s major exhibition at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). Hans Ulrich Obrist introduced his ‘Artists’ Influencers’ series to Miami Beach, featuring Glenn Ligon (b. 1960) in conversation with Claudia Rankine, Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry, Yale University, New Haven; while Sebastian Cwilich, Simon Denny (b. 1982), Laurent Gaveau, Christiane Paul and András Szántó discussed digital innovations in ‘Debating Disruption: Has Technology Really Changed the Artworld?’. Panels in the Salon program considered the development of the cultural scene in Buenos Aires – the first location for Art Basel’s new initiative, Art Basel Cities – as well as the post-election art market with a talk involving Josh Baer, Heather Podesta and Daniel H. Sallick. Videos of all Conversations and Salon talks are available at artbasel.com/miamibeach/talks.

Exhibitions in Miami Beach
Visitors to Miami Beach enjoyed a diverse range of high-quality exhibitions put on by South Florida’s major cultural institutions and museums. Highlights include the first museum exhibition in the United States of the German artist Thomas Bayrle (b. 1937) at The Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; ‘Jannis Kounellis: Paintings’ and ‘Anselm Kiefer: Installations’ at The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse; ‘High Anxiety: New Acquisitions’ and ‘12 Brazilians’ at the Rubell Family Collection; ‘Progressive Praxis’ at The de la Cruz Collection; ‘Toda Percepción es una Interpretación: You are Part of It' at the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros and CIFO Collection and work by Mark Dion (b. 1961) at the Kampong National Tropical Botanical Garden in partnership with Florida International University. The Pérez Art Museum Miami opened ‘Julio Le Parc: Form into Action’, an exploration of kinetic work by one of the leading Argentinian artist, as well as a solo show of paintings by David Reed (b. 1946), who was also presented at Art Basel in Miami Beach in the Survey sector. Further exhibitions took place at Frost Art Museum; Lowe Art Museum; National YoungArts Foundation; NSU Museum, Fort Lauderdale; Vizcaya Museum and Gardens and the Wolfsonian – FIU.

Miami Beach Convention Center Renovation
Beginning in late 2015 and phased around the 2016 edition, the planned renovation for the Miami Beach Convention Center continued without posing any disruptions to the show. In 2017 all four halls will be fully modernized and a new floorplan will be introduced. Renovations will then be completed before Art Basel returns to Miami Beach in December 2018.