Miami Day 2: On the Run

Installation day at Pulse and things run pretty smoothly. The location is good and the gallery selection strong, and I'm positioned next to my Swiss colleagues Galerie Romerapotheke, who have just loaned me a Jana Gunstheimer piece for the 'Future or Ruin' show. I follow up the day's hanging by hitting three art fairs in three hours: Scope, Art Miami and Art Basel Miami. Scope looks vibrant but one dimensional, Art Miami rather insipid and Art Basel Miami full of the big beasts, and its great to see Annie Kevans and Gordon Cheung representing at Perry Rubenstein and Jack Shainman respectively.

Getting back to my hotel I find around 20 squad cars with lights blazing and the road cordoned off - The Marriott and its sister hotel are on lockdown as Paul Michael Merhige has been spotted inside. Merhige is on the run having massacred four members of his family including his twin sisters on Thanksgiving Day. Once I'm eventually allowed back into the hotel I forego the beer I've been anticipating as the police woman's words reverberate: 'nobody is allowed in the hotel in case he takes a hostage'. The empty, winding corridors on the 23rd floor take on a different hue as I make my way back to my room to watch events unfold outside on CNN...