This year’s edition of Art Basel Miami Beach, the most important art fair in the Americas, will feature 272 exhibitors in a reconfigured floorplan. The fair has cut the size of its main Galleries section by around 10%, from 226 exhibitors last year to 203 this year, while the overall fair footprint within the Miami Beach Convention Center will be around 12% smaller.
Instead of the five large plazas of recent editions, the fair will be organised around four plazas this year, which organisers say will open up sightlines and improve navigation. Additionally, the placement of blue-chip galleries will be distributed across the fair rather than concentrating them in one section, as in the previous layout. Organisers hope this will ease bottlenecks that previously occurred in the high-traffic sections that housed stands for the world’s leading galleries, and encourage visitors to move throughout the fair.
“Our exhibitors have reinforced the value of a more focused environment, and the smaller footprint is a deliberate choice in service of that,” Bridget Finn, the director of Art Basel Miami Beach, said in a statement. “This is about sharpening the show’s impact and creating the strongest conditions for our galleries to thrive.”
Art Basel’s floorplan shuffle is reminiscent of a move two years ago by competitor Frieze, which reorganised the floorplan of its flagship London fair to place blue-chip and established galleries in the back, requiring attendees to pass through the aisles housing emerging dealers.
Who is in and who is out?
Blue-chip galleries returning to Miami Beach this year include the world’s largest global dealerships, such as Gagosian, White Cube, Pace and Hauser & Wirth. A handful of galleries that participated in the 2025 edition will not return this year, including Commonwealth and Council and Night Gallery from Los Angeles, Gallery Hyundai from Seoul, Gallery Wendi Norris from San Francisco, Kurimanzutto from Mexico City and New York, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery from London, and Richard Saltoun and Ellie Rines Gallery (formerly 56 Henry) from New York.
According to organisers, more than 30 galleries will participate for the first time, with many appearing in the fair’s project-based sections. Nova is dedicated to work created within the past three years by up to three artists per stand, while Positions focuses on solo presentations by emerging artists from younger galleries. The Survey section consists of galleries presenting historical work.
As always, galleries from Latin America and the Caribbean are strongly represented in Art Basel Miami Beach’s exhibitor list this year, with Brazil forming the fair’s third-largest national contingent after the US and UK. Across the show’s sectors, more than two-thirds of galleries operate spaces in the Americas. Within the US contingent, the number of participants from Los Angeles and Chicago has increased, along with a strong showing from galleries based in South Florida; returning local exhibitors including Fredric Snitzer Gallery, David Castillo, Gavlak and Nina Johnson.
The Zero 10 section for digital art is also returning with Generation, the largest such presentation to date. It will consist of 19 projects by artists including Jon Rafman, Refik Anadol and Sarah Meyohas. The section will be curated by Karen Archey (head of the curatorial department at Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen) and Eli Scheinman. Art Basel has also brought on Nicole Sales Giles, Christie’s former head of digital art, to be the first global head of Zero 10.
Art Basel Miami Beach takes place 4 December to 6 December at the Miami Beach Convention Center, with VIP preview days on 2 December and 3 December.
