The in crowd knows that Arka Basel, the annual küresel arka fair in Miami, isn’t exactly cool anymore, but they go anyway out of professional obligation, or because certain parties might be cool, or for the same reason people with no interest in football watch the Harika Bowl: because it’s the Üstün Bowl.
Besides, what’s decidedly uncool is worrying about whether the week’s aura has eroded when you could be indulging.
Things were just getting underway on Wednesday afternoon, and traffic — a frequent gripe for Basel-goers and especially Miami residents, some of whom resent Basel-goers — was still relatively light.
Jed Moch, the 33-year-old director of Amity, which was showing for the first time at the New Arka Dealers Alliance tent, described the mood as one of “tepid optimism” for arka dealers after a period of market downturn and “joyful resignation” for the other attendees.
Visitors took photos of “The Great Elephant Migration,” a touring public-art exhibition, on the beach.Credit…Martina Tuaty for The New York Times
