Distinguishing art tourism from cultural tourism
Distinguishing art tourism from cultural tourism
Automatically, a large cultural tourism destination is usually associated with a museum. Paris and the Louvre, London and the National Gallery, New York, and the MET. Without going any further, the latest data recorded by the Prado Museum indicate that 60.96% of visits are foreign. The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art of Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), promotes the same effect.
Art tourism as a new field of tourism studies is currently obscured under cultural tourism’s voluminous bounds – which are as inappropriate as they are unwieldy and overloaded.
However, properly separated, elaborated and developed forms of tourism must be identified. For many, cultural tourism is a market where the orientation of tourists prevails to learn or experience first hand the cultural specificity of any given destination.
While this is true for many activities often included in cultural tourism, it is certainly not the case for visitors to art museums. That is why art tourism arises to separate cultural attractions, and more specifically museums, according to the theme and the experiences offered.
There are those who come to Miami for its beaches and walks, but also who goes for that southern cuisine that has so many versions in this city. But especially in recent years, Miami has become the playground of artists, collectors, critics, gallery owners and occasional buyers who make all their fantasies come true in the form of canvas, steel, digital installation or spray.
With dozens of museums and private collections and fairs and galleries in all neighborhoods, the city has become an influential place in the world calendar of art. In the last fifteen years, the arrival of Art Basel was decisive, since it transformed Miami into a cultural destination where the world’s great architects have already raised global symbols.
Among the veteran venues, the Rubell Family Collection, one of the largest private collections of contemporary art in the world, which holds works by international artists known to all as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jeff Koons or Keith Haring.
Located in the Wynwood Arts District, the Ascaso Gallery has led to represent Latin American teachers such as Jesús Rafael Soto, Carlos Cruz Diez, Luis Tomasello, Victor Vasarely, Victor Valera, Dario Pérez Flores, Oswaldo Vigas, Julio Larraz, Fernando Botero , among others.
The Ascaso collection also includes memorable figures such as Jim Dine, Jeff Koons, Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, Salvador Dalí, Manolo Valdés, Tom Otterness, Roberto Matta, and Wilfredo Lam.
While it is true that art is very extensive and today can fall into the dilemma between being a transformative element of societies or a new category of consumption, tourism has been seized for benefits not only economic but also social and conservation of the heritage, creating “unique” experiences through tourism products that in many cases are made up of works of art taken as cultural resources.
From museums, art galleries, cultural events, to craft markets and urban art in the avenues. All these used to generate an image of a particular destination. Whether through new museums, emerging neighborhoods or art fairs, Miami has managed to position itself among the most important art cities in the world. And all this without giving up its authenticity and its roots, making mixing and convergence its main cement.
In recent years consecrated artists arrived in Wynwood, who not only dominate the technique, but also the business, such as the Venezuelan Cruz Diez, master of kinetic art. And the Brazilian Romero Brito, controversial and controversial, but with shops, galleries and public works of art throughout the city.
