art miami director nick korniloff (right) and collector marty margulies

florida’s longest-running contemporary fair, art miami, has changed hands, with a new partnership taking over the event. art miami llc, the new partnership consisting of veteran art miami fair director nick korniloff and media executives mike tansey and brian tyler, acquired the fair—which will celebrate its 20th edition this year from 2-6 december from summit business media for an undisclosed sum last week.

‘getting full control and ownership of art miami from a larger company means so much,’ says mr korniloff. ‘the ability to not deal with layers of management in an effort to make decisions will truly benefit our exhibitors and all the collectors and attendees who visit art miami.’

the sale of art miami marks yet another conglomerate selling off an art fair. david lester had launched art miami in 1991. “at the time, there were only two contemporary fairs in the US: miami and chicago,” says mr lester, who recruited such international dealers as karsten greve, leslie waddington and david juda. many of them are now in art basel miami beach.

in spite of the many changes for art miami, director mr korniloff has a strong record. last year, he pulled in 96 dealers and attracted 36,000 visitors. he plans to make technology a stronger focus and has 85,000 contacts in the fair database. ‘this year the art market is contracting globally but we will end up with around 85 dealers,’ he says. the fair is slated for the midtown miami arts district adjacent to the design district.

via the art newspaper

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