Art Basel Miami has lost at least eight exhibitors in its main sector since the fair released its list over the summer.
Two galleries, Altman Siegel and Tilton, are not there because they closed between July 28, when Basel released the list, and today. Another dropped out because it changed its name: Kasmin in August became Olney Gleason, which is taking part in the fair.
But others appear to have exited the fair for different reasons. Among them are blue-chip galleries such as Miguel Abreu, Chantal Crousel, Alison Jacques, Peter Kilchmann, Edward Tyler Nahem, Luisa Strina, and Lia Rumma. Also among them is Shanghai’s BANK gallery, which premiered in the galleries sector last year.
It’s no surprise that dealers across the globe have been using a different calculus to decide whether or not to participate in an art fair. Even mega-galleries have seen falling sales at marquee fairs. Add the cost of shipping, storage, and a softening market that has caused some galleries for close their doors altogether.
Still, there are as many reasons to choose not to do a fair as there are galleries. For Miguel Abreu, it was a trade-off. While the dealer said his gallery would be applying to Art Basel again in the future, this year it was given a “very compelling” offer from Frieze Masters, where the gallery presented a solo presentation of work by R. H. Quaytman. Abreu also had a booth at Art Basel Paris.
“Three fairs in the fall would be too much,” the dealer said. “We have to be able to focus on the shows, and frankly, last year in Miami for us was less than stellar.”
At the tail end of last week, as exhibitors at Art Basel Paris were filling out invoices and making their final sales, two sources unaffiliated with Art Basel told ARTnews that the Miami edition of the fair was having trouble filling. One of those, a New York–based dealer who asked to remain anonymous, said that while the Miami edition of Art Basel might be wanting for exhibitors now, he believed that come December the Miami Beach Convention Center would be full. The only question would be whether the caliber of exhibitors would be elevated or tumble downhill in the process.
According to the Miami New Times, this year’s edition of Art Basel Miami Beach will have a record number of local galleries participating in the fair. Six Miami-based galleries have been accepted, including two freshmen: Nina Johnson, which has a long history with NADA Miami, and Voloshyn Gallery, which was originally based in Kyiv and opened an outpost in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Art Basel’s policy stipulates that exhibitors who drop out of the fair are liable to “pay compensation … by way of liquidated damages within seven days,” according to an exhibitor contract reviewed by ARTnews. If an exhibitor drops out on or after August 1, 2025, the gallery owes 50 percent of its participation fee to the fair. On or after October 1, that fee jumps to 100 percent.
Sources told ARTnews that Frieze’s fairs have a similar clause in their exhibitor contracts. For Frieze Los Angeles next year, accepted galleries that chose to drop out between August 22 and September 30 forfeited 20 percent of their fee. Between September 30 and November 14, that figure jumps to 50 percent, and after November 14, the price is 100 percent of their participation fee.
According to an Art Basel spokesperson, “a small number of changes were made to the exhibitor list in consultation with our Selection Committee, which is standard during the final planning stages. These decisions ensure the highest possible quality and alignment across the show. As a matter of policy and respect to our clients, we do not comment on individual applications or reasons for participation changes.”
Nearly 220 of last year’s exhibitors are returning in 2025, 200 of which participated in the main sector in 2024. This year, they are joined by 19 new galleries debuting directly in the main sector and 11 exhibiting in the main sector after previous participation in Nova, Positions, or Survey including ACA Galleries, Aicon, Mitterand, Ross + Kramer, SMAC Art Gallery, and Southern Guild. There are also 16 galleries returning after a hiatus, including Locks Gallery, Bruce Silverstein, Jane Lombard Gallery, Alexander Gray Associates, and Park View / Paul Soto.
A few notable players who had shown at past editions of Art Basel Miami Beach did not appear in the July exhibitor list because they had already closed by then. They are Blum, Rhona Hoffman, and Peres Projects, which was declared insolvent in Germany in April.
As Artnet News reported when the exhibitor list was released in July, a number of galleries that were in the main sector last year are not returning. These include Galerie Buchholz, Company, Pilar Corrias, Dan Galeria, DC Moore, Greene Naftali, Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Galerie Nagel Draxler, David Nolan, and Waddington Custot.
