Every winter, more than 20 international art fairs come to life in Miami across 1,200-plus galleries, where the work of thousands of global artists is on display. In recent years, brand activations and events have also become essential to the upscale event’s ecosystem, and during Miami Art Week 2024 (Dec. 2-8), some new faces and fresh experiential tactics popped up. Here’s what caught our attention in Miami Beach.
GUCCI’S WHIMSICAL SNOW GLOBE
It’s not often that a luxury fashion house like Gucci builds an experience founded on whimsy, but that’s exactly what the brand delivered to the Sweet Bird North Plaza in Miami’s Design District last month. A spinning “Gucci Winter Dream” snow globe installation brought the brand’s travel-inspired heritage to life with scenes meticulously crafted to reflect its storied locales, from Palazzo Gucci in Florence to the Wooster Street boutique in New York City. The installation invited the public to explore artistic interpretations of iconic Gucci Valigeria travel pieces set against a charming display of mini landscapes.
Gucci also enlisted the help of American artist Corydon Cowansage, who exhibited at Art Basel 2024, to create three massive murals within the plaza, each designed to complement the Winter Dream installation.
Photo: Courtesy of Miami Design District
SOL DE JANEIRO’S INTERACTIVE PHONE BOOTHS
Scent was center stage within Sol De Janeiro’s “Jardim Sol de Janeiro: A Garden for the Senses” experience at Art Basel. From Dec. 4-8 at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, the brand invited attendees to explore a blend of nature, art and its Cheirosa perfume mists, all aimed at capturing the essence of Brazil, where the company was founded.
The cult-favorite beauty brand enlisted five female Brazilian artists to reimagine Rio de Janeiro’s iconic, ear-shaped phone booths, known as “orelhões,” which, fun fact, translates to “big ears” in Portuguese. The artists’ interpretations of the booths yielded colorful domes featuring original artwork that reflected the inspiration behind Sol De Janeiro’s scents. Each “portal” provided an interactive experience that engaged participants’ senses.
Bonus points: Sol De Janeiro donated hundreds of flowers from its garden to a nonprofit that distributed the blooms to school eco clubs and local community farms and gardens.
KOHLER’S ICE BATH
Kohler activated at the Design Miami art fair with a “social wellness” experience hosted at the Miami Beach EDITION hotel, where its forthcoming Ice Bath by Remedy Place product became the star of the show. Oh yes, Miami Art Week attendees were encouraged to plunge into a 39-degree ice bath, a growing trend in the health and wellness space. Afterward, participants could enjoy live music and “wellness-enhancing” food and beverages (assuming they could still feel their limbs).
CHASE’S CARDMEMBER PERKS
Events hosted during Miami Art Week are often exclusive, invite-only affairs attended by celebs, artists and VIPs. But for Chase Sapphire customers, all it took was their credit card to unlock the gate to an array of brand experiences. As a presenting partner of the SCOPE Art Show, the company provided customers with access to lounges, live performances and guided SCOPE tours.
Among highlights were the Chase Sapphire Reserve Lounge offering complimentary f&b curated by Chef Sebastian Vargas and an always-on cash bar; an exclusive art installation by Yinka Ilori; a cardholder-only concert featuring co-headliners Black Coffee and Disclosure; access to a semi-private ALO wellness experience; and “Night at the Museum,” during which cardmembers could purchase a professional guided tour with a champagne welcome, and featuring a behind-the-scenes exploration of 100-plus artist exhibits.
Photo credit: Jeremy Cohen
IKEA’S ‘SLEEPEASY’
Following its Art Week debut in 2023, IKEA returned to Miami Beach with a big, bold brand experience that was open to the public. The IKEA Sleepeasy served as a playful twist on the traditional speakeasy concept. Participants entered the experience through a 2D-style café dubbed “Kaffecito” featuring a black-and-white color scheme where they could snag a coffee.
Next, they walked into a gallery featuring work from three local artist partners. And then it was time for the main attraction. Attendees walked through a larger-than-life can of paint that led to a journey through dreamy vignettes dedicated to the brand’s six “sleep essentials” (comfort, light, temperature, sound, air quality and decluttering).
Along the way, they could peruse displays of IKEA furniture, with each piece bearing a QR code that offered more info and the chance to make a purchase. Plus, they could partake in interactive engagements, like a slipper customization station, a sound bath and a silent disco.
ULTA’S HOUSE OF JOY
Gallery Media’s annual Gallery Art House property returned to Miami Art Week with performances, day-to-night programming and experiences hosted by brand partners. Among sponsor activations that caught our attention was Ulta. The brand’s “House of Joy” experience was just that.
The activation took the form of a positivity-themed event featuring complimentary styling and touch-ups from Ulta’s team of hairstylists and makeup artists, along with customized gifting and product exploration of partner brands like OUAI and Pat McGrath Labs. Attendees rocked out to a dj spinning mood-boosting tunes, played with bubbles, stopped by a bracelet station, participated in photo moments, enjoyed light f&b and were treated to other touchpoints built to “bring out your inner sunshine.”
METHOD’S FOAMY BRUNCH
Another sponsor of Gallery Art House that made waves was Method Products and its multisensory “In Your Wildest Dreams” brunch in the Miami Arts District, which celebrated the launch of the brand’s foaming body wash collection, Dream Foam. Surrounded by a prismatic color scheme, VIP attendees were treated to a “fragrance-forward” four-course brunch inspired by the new products’ scent, color palette and texture. Among menu items: jasmine prawns and whipped tuberose crémeux. There were also large product installations to snap photos with, and everyone took home an exclusive silk head scarf created by artist Tyler Spangler.
Photos: Gallery Media/Instagram
LOBOS’ AR MONOLITH
Lobos 1707 Tequila & Mezcal encouraged Art Basel attendees to “unleash their inner wolf” with the launch of its UnDOMESTICATE campaign and accompanying “Center for Human UnDomestication” experiential program, which encompassed a range of luxury experiences and touchpoints (like private aviation—ooh la la). Our favorite aspect was an AR mural called The Monolith that attendees of Smorgasburg’s Dec. 7 “Food is Art” event could interact with.
The installation was a mix of art and technology designed to immerse attendees in the “UnDOMESTICATED world of Lobos.” As they gestured toward The Monolith, participants triggered surreal 3D graphics in real time, billed as a “journey celebrating liberation, authenticity and a return to primal roots.” (Partner: RCPMK)
STORZ & BICKEL’S CANNABIS ‘CRUISE’
BDG’s high-profile NYLON House property has been blowing up in recent years, luring in attendees at tentpole events like Coachella and, yes, Miami Art Week. The media company and its NYLON brand typically team up with a host of sponsors to enhance the experience for attendees, and for 2024, that included an appearance by a somewhat unlikely partner: Storz & Bickel, a cannabis vaporizer manufacturer.
S&B made history, becoming the first brand to host a cannabis activation at NYLON House during Art Week. Celebrity guests (think: Camila Cabello and Ludacris) boarded the brand’s swanky yacht, docked on Star Island, to experience the VIP VOLCANO Bar, which featured flavored, vapor-filled balloons created using one of its hero products. The idea was to introduce an upscale audience to a curated cannabis experience in a mainstream setting. We say: mission accomplished. (Agency: Trailblaze)
AMEX AND DELTA’S PIZZA PARTIES
American Express and some top-tier partners took on Miami Art Week from Dec. 4-8, offering a range of events including invitation-only soirees and activations open to the public. What we liked: the pizza parties hosted by Amex and Delta Air Lines.
First up, on Dec. 5, was the late-night, invite-only Night Shift party presented by American Express and Delta at Jon & Vinny’s Residency, a pop-up Italian restaurant within the Rubell Museum. Touchpoints spanned live performances, including a surprise appearance by James Blake, drinks, pizza and other late-night bites from Jon & Vinny’s menu, and stacks upon stacks of the restaurant’s green and white pizza boxes, designed as a photo moment.
Then on the morning of Dec. 6, the public was invited to enjoy complimentary Jon & Vinny’s breakfast pizzas, coffee and tea at the Rubell Museum while supplies lasted, and scored free early access to the museum ahead of opening hours. (Partner: Day One Agency)
Photo credit: Getty Images for American Express
