Pioneering Villagers

No matter how brilliant their art, many galleries don't have $50,000 to drop on a booth inside the Miami Beach Convention Center.

But don't worry — Art Basel isn't a complete snob-op. The fair's selection committee has devised an alternate opportunity: If your gallery is up-and-coming and innovative yet strapped for cash, you may apply for a less expensive space at Art Positions, a beachfront village of converted shipping containers.

Of the twenty galleries selected this year, fifteen are new to the section and five are return participants. Size being a major restraint, the most successful exhibits use the narrow containers as an installation space or project room, such as last year's mock sweatshop, "Illegal Studio Hallal," installed by Kader Attia of Galerie Kamel Mennour.

Events transpire at Collins Park, located in Miami Beach on Collins Avenue between 21st and 22nd streets, through December 4. And remember, the containers are on the sand, so leave the heels at home. Some of those we think are worth checking out:

Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris: Paris-based Algerian artist Adel Abdessemed will be showing Bourak. The piece, which Abdessemed began some time ago, is an in-progress airplane skeleton made from cake dough typical of his homeland.

Peres Projects, Los Angeles: Artists Folkert de Jong, Matt Greene, and John Kleckner will create an installation that reflects on Albrecht Dürer's Apocalypseseries. The exhibit promises to evoke an eerie mood, akin to the Day of Reckoning within the context of our own time.

Galerie Guenther Borgmann, Hamburg: This video exhibit examines the subject of film by Jeanne Faust, Nina Knnemann, and Gunter Reski. Faust's pieces probe the structure of feature films; Knnemann alters documentaries of public events by questioning their documentary character; and photographer Gunter Reski addresses the theatrical quality of film stills and the power of their psychological expressiveness.

Air de Paris, Paris: Parisian artist duo M/M (Michael Amzalag and Mathias Augustyniak) will show M/M Utopia of Flows, a bundle of 27 different posters that was first displayed at the Kunsthaus in Zurich, Switzerland, in conjunction with the "Utopia Station" exhibition. The 27 texts, printed in unconventional black-and-white type, deal with utopian ideals.

Galerie Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam: This container is all about the ladies. "Female Positions," featuring Japanese artist Suchan Kinoshita and her two Dutch colleagues Maria Pask and L.A., will have video works, installations, and a changing program of performances.