MIAMI, Nov 19 — The Museum of Graffiti will debut on December 5, which will also mark the beginning of Art Basel Miami Beach.

The new contemporary art museum is fittingly located in the vibrant neighbourhood of Wynwood, renowned among art enthusiasts for displaying over 200 street murals by internationally respected artists.

As Forbes points out, the neighbourhood boasts some of the city’s heaviest foot traffic, attracting some 350 thousand visitors during Art Basel Miami Beach last year.

The Museum of Graffiti sits down the block from the world-famous Wynwood Walls, offering a history of the global graffiti art movement in a 3,000-square-foot space.

The institution, founded by established graffiti artist Alan Ket and Miami attorney Allison Freidin, includes a permanent exhibition, two feature exhibition galleries, a site-specific immersive installation and a gift shop.

The museum’s permanent collection features paintings, mixed media sculptures and installations retracing the evolution of graffiti art, with works by early New York graffiti writers such as Rammellzee, Riff170, Phase2 and Tracy168.

Also on view are pieces by ‘80s graffiti artists Sonic, Dondi White, Zephyr, Lady Pink and Doze Green as well as Miami natives Abstrk, Crome, Rasterms, Verse and Raven.

For its inaugural exhibition, the Museum of Graffiti will present new works by Amsterdam pioneer and founder of the Calligraffiti movement Niels "Shoe” Meulman in an exhibition entitled "Negative Space.”

The Museum of Graffiti will open on December 5, with tickets already available.

The opening coincides with Art Basel Miami Beach, which will run from December 5 to 8.

For its 18th edition, the art fair will showcase more US and Latin American exhibitors than ever, including newcomers Barro Arte Contemporaneo from Buenos Aires and Los Angeles-based Parker Gallery.

For the first time in its history, Art Basel Miami Beach will also include a new Meridians sector specifically dedicated to large-scale installations.

More than 30 monumental projects have been selected by Mexico City-based art critic and independent curator Magalí Arriola, including large-scale sculptures and paintings, installations, video projections, and live performances. — AFP-Relaxnews