Art Basel Miami Beach is known, lauded, and criticized for its manner of spectacle: the fair has grown into a multi-headed creature, simultaneously a playground for the rich and a real, viable opportunity to see art—good, bad, some offering real commentary, some born solely of the luxury of the fair—from a massive swath of the globe. If one includes both the legitimate sister fairs and the homegrown pop-ups, there are countless special exhibitions, satellite fairs, and literal once-in-a-lifetime performances to view, all prompted by the annual opportunity to utilize a warm, beautiful platform to showcase the work in question. Art Basel Miami Beach is the mother of it all: at a press conference for the opening of the fair, it was revealed that, before Basel, there were only six galleries in town. It is easy to speak glibly to the citywide creative and monetary growth the event has fostered—and less so to what goes on in the city before the tourists arrive and after they’ve packed up and left—but, to be fair, it’s all true.

We took a tour of the fair at the Miami Beach Convention Center. See below for a few selections.

Text and photos by Monica Uszerowicz