Miami Beach at night.

Every December Miami Beach heats up as art aficionados, celebrities, and jet-setters flock to soak up the culture, shop for art, and well, party. This is the show’s 11th year in Miami (stay tuned for Hong Kong’s debut show in 2013), and is buzzing to be its hottest. Not sure what to do? We break it down.

You Want: To see art
Try: Browse (or shop) for art at the show

The Art Basel Miami exhibition features a curated selection of more than 250 galleries across the globe with 20th and 21st centuries pieces from more than 2,000 artists. Showcasing a mixture of well-known artists, as well as newcomers, there are plenty of styles and mediums you can see. In addition to art collectors and lovers, expect to rub shoulders with hotel curators, celebrity interior designers and CEO’s.

VIP? Stop into the Condé Nast “Art Collectors Lounge,” which has a free-standing zone within the exhibit. A collection of 28 rare photographs from the soon-to-be-published book Coming Into Fashion: A Century of Photography at Condé Nast will be showcased, along with access to an app that gives visitors a virtual tour complete with additional audio and text.

Public Show Days:
Thursday, Dec. 6 to Saturday, Dec. 8, noon to 8 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 9, noon to 6 p.m.

Tickets:
One-day tickets $42
Evening ticket (from 4 p.m.) $29

Jonathan Horowitz’s Free Store 2009

You Want: To shop
Try: The ultimate swap shop

Online retailers Net-a-Porter and Mr. Porter have joined forces with Visionaire on a cool art meets commerce concept called Free Store. Initiated by multimedia artist Jonathan Horowitz, the concept is pretty simple, you bring something in you don’t want and swap it for something you do want. Guests receive a canvas tote silk screened with the words, “bring stuff in you can’t use, take stuff away that you can.” On Day 1 there will be personal items from R.E.M’s Michael Stipe and Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci.

Sound like fun? Head to the SLS Hotel on December 6 between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. Invitation only.

Pools: Reflections by Kelly Klein.

You want: To find the fashion crowd
Try: Checking out one (of many) book signings

The fashion crowd is out in full force this year at Art Basel Miami. If you aren’t able to score an invite to any of the above events (sorry!), you can try to catch a glimpse of some of your fave fashion peeps at one of the many, many book signings happening in town. Start by picking up a copy of All-American Volume Twelve: A Book of Lessons, written by famed fashion photographer Bruce Weber and then get him to sign it at The Standard Spa on Thursday, December 6 at 6 p.m. (followed by an invite-only party). Then make your way over to The Webster Miami where Kelly Klein (Calvin’s ex) will be signing copies of her new book Pools: Reflections, a gorgeous coffee table book featuring 180 of her favourite images of pools (between 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.).

It’s not just photographers making the rounds either, designer Donna Karan is in town signing her book Stephan Weiss: Connecting the Dots at the Delano Beach Club on Friday, Dec. 7 between noon and 2 p.m. Save some cash and head back to The Webster Miami on Saturday, December 8, where The Satorialist, Scott Schuman is promoting his second book The Satorialist: Closer at 4 p.m. We suggest dressing to impress. Who knows, maybe you’ll make his third book?

And you thought this was an art fair! Fashion photographer and provocateur Terry Richardson is signing copies of his new book Terrywood, Saturday, December 8 between 7 – 9 p.m. at The Standard Spa. Feeling lucky? An invite-only star-studded party follows.

The Gale South Beach.

You want: To party
Try: To locate Le Baron nightclub

We love a little mystery, so pretty much we, like everyone else at Art Basel Miami, are going to be hitting refresh non-stop to find out where the hottest ticket in town is going to be. Le Baron is a Parisian nightclub that is saying goodbye to The Delano and having a some fun with their location, selecting a fresh spot nightly. So how do you find out where the exclusive address is? At 6 p.m. all will be revealed on their website, Twitter (#whereislebaron) and Facebook.

The travelling party is rewarded too. Guests hang out at Free Spirits between 8 p.m. – 10 p.m. for champagne and then get shuttled to the evening’s location. The first night was at the Gale South Beach and last night was Jelsomino Miami. We can’t wait to see where they’re headed to next.