# 6 Unmissable Miami Exhibitions to See During Art Basel 2024
Art Basel Miami Beach isn’t just a celebration of contemporary art—it’s a cultural event that transforms the city into an epicenter of creativity and intellectual exchange. Beyond the glitzy fair booths and high-stakes sales lies something deeper: a vibrant lineup of museum exhibitions that challenge, provoke, and inspire. In 2024, Miami’s art institutions are offering a must-see roster of work tackling themes like history, resilience, identity, and trauma.
Here are six standout shows that will truly elevate your Art Basel Miami Beach experience this year.
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### **1. Andrea Chung at MOCA North Miami: Reclaiming Black Narratives**
Andrea Chung’s exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) North Miami repositions historical trauma within a framework of beauty and reclamation. Central to her show is *The Wailing Room (2024)*, an arresting installation featuring sugar bottles dissolving into a red-brown liquid—a visceral nod to blood and the violent legacies of the sugar trade. Inspired by Toni Morrison and the story of Margaret Garner, Chung’s art serves as a vessel for silenced Black histories.
Her work also includes collages of ethnographic photographs adorned with beads and flowers, along with sculptures crafted from pulped books like Anna Atkins’s cyanotypes. The result is an emotional and visual confrontation of the narratives born of colonialism, offering a pathway to healing and remembrance.
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### **2. Rachel Feinstein at The Bass: Miami’s Shadows**
At The Bass, Rachel Feinstein sheds light on Miami’s darker undercurrents through a lens that is both nostalgic and critical. A key piece, *Little Man (1999)*, is a wooden replica of the van tied to the tragic Adam Walsh case, confronting the dissonance between Miami’s glamorous façade and its unsettling realities.
Feinstein also critiques excess, comparing Miami’s ostentatious culture to the decadence of bygone European eras. While her work engages with the city’s vibrant clichés, it also peels back layers to reveal the gritty, often-overlooked complexities beneath its sun-soaked exterior.
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### **3. Calida Rawles at PAMM: Unveiling Systemic Inequities**
Los Angeles-based artist Calida Rawles brings her poignant work to the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), where themes of systemic racism and resilience take center stage. Her painting *Away with the Tides (2024)* depicts feet floating in water—a seemingly tranquil image layered with deeper narratives of fragility, survival, and resistance.
Rawles also debuts *We Gonna Swim (2024)*, a video installation created with filmmaker Laura Brownson. Through archival footage and maps, the work recounts the historical disruptions faced by Overtown, a historically Black community in Miami. Though Rawles hails from LA, her work resonates universally, exploring themes of inequality and displacement.
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### **4. Keiichi Tanaami at ICA: Post-War Surrealism Revisited**
The late Keiichi Tanaami’s exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Miami offers a kaleidoscopic look at post-war trauma through surrealist imagery. Known for his psychedelic explosions, rhinestone-encrusted pin-ups, and antiwar animations, Tanaami’s work bridges the absurd and the tragic.
This retrospective highlights the artist’s enduring ability to critique violence and celebrate human imagination in equal measure. Tanaami’s vibrant, biting commentary remains a testament to art’s power to confront even the darkest moments of history.
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### **5. Lucy Bull at ICA: Abstract Monumentality**
Also at ICA, rising star Lucy Bull impresses with *13:13 (2024)*, a massive abstract piece spanning three stories. Her intricate layering technique—scraping away paint to build textures and uncover lively colors—creates a mesmerizing, almost otherworldly experience.
Though just 34, Bull is already commanding attention (and soaring auction results) for her unique style. Whether on a monumental scale or smaller canvases, her work invites viewers to explore art’s ability to create emotional resonance through abstraction.
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### **6. Vanessa Raw at Rubell Museum: Queer Figuration and Pastoral Dreams**
Vanessa Raw’s delicate yet powerful works at the Rubell Museum transport audiences to lush, Eden-like settings populated by tender depictions of nude women. Her reinterpretation of pastoral figuration through a queer lens breathes new life into a historically traditional genre.
Despite some criticism that her work hasn’t yet achieved the depth of more seasoned queer painters, Raw’s use of subtle elements—like animals as silent witnesses to intimate moments—offers glimpses of an exciting artistic evolution to come.
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### **The Heart of Miami’s Art Scene**
While Art Basel Miami Beach may draw global attention with its high-profile art fairs and sales, these museum shows remind us why art truly matters. They serve as spaces for confronting historical injustices, celebrating resilience, and igniting our collective imagination.
From Andrea Chung’s poignant reclamation of Black narratives to Keiichi Tanaami’s surreal depictions of trauma and Lucy Bull’s colossal abstractions, these exhibitions create meaningful dialogue far beyond the glitz of the main event.
If you’re heading to Miami for Art Basel 2024, carve out time to visit these six extraordinary shows. They promise to leave you reflecting, questioning, and, most importantly, inspired.
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