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Back in February, London’s Financial Times reported that Steve Lazarides, the art dealer and Sleaze editor credited with discovering Banksy, was planning a huge art/music/film event in Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach. They even called it his “most audacious move yet.”
Paper Magazine also reported that he was indeed sniffing around downtown Miami this past December searching for a venue that could fit nearly 100,000 people. But the unnamed event, which was slated to partner with Live Nation and the Tribeca Film Festival, has been canceled.
According to ArtInfo, Lazarides’s rep confirmed via email, saying “I’ve
just found out that this is no longer going ahead and Lazarides won’t be
hosting a festival this year in Miami.” Initial news of the festival
piqued a lot of interest, but so does anything with even a marginal
connection to street artist Banksy, whose fame crested with the
documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop.
Honestly, we’re not so gutted that Lazarides’s festival is a no-go. It’d
be different if he had intended to curate a survey of
London street art. But his plans for an event, filled with every medium
from music to movies, large enough to fill the American Airline Arena,
reignited our desire for Basel events more along the lines of the humble
yet inspired Seven Miami.
More interesting, perhaps, is that the ArtInfo article references a
Basel street-art party by our own Miami Art Museum.
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