Recorded live from Miami Beach during Miami Art Week, this episode of How Does the Art World Work? explores the evolving dynamics of art fairs, visibility, and value in an Instagram driven era. Claudia Baez, Matt Nasser, and Bartholomew Bland reflect on their experiences across NADA, Art Basel, Art Miami, and satellite fairs, discussing trends they observed including surrealism, primitivist and jungle imagery, gestural abstraction, and the growing recognition of older women artists later in life.

The conversation digs into how social media reshapes discovery, often removing surprise from in person viewing, while art fairs themselves feel quieter, more selective, and increasingly stratified by access and elitism. The hosts unpack VIP culture, first choice entry systems, the economics of exhibiting at fairs, and whether reported sales figures can be trusted at all.

They also touch on standout exhibitions and institutions like Espacio 23 and the Wolfson Design Museum, praising residencies, intergenerational collaboration, and thoughtful curation as meaningful counterpoints to spectacle driven art. The episode closes with a sharp debate about attention grabbing robotic artworks, technology as spectacle, and what today’s equivalent of a World’s Fair might be in the age of AI.