Hollywood star in training for gallerist role, a pom pom-making party and an operatic triumph

Star goes method for dealer role

Black Swan star Natalie Portman popped into Art Basel Miami Beach on Friday, perusing a range of paintings at David Kordansky Gallery by artists such as Derek Fordjour and Lucy Bull. Portman appeared to be listening intently to gallerists on the fair floor, no doubt in preparation for her rumoured forthcoming role as an art dealer. According to Deadline, the Star Wars actor is in talks to star in The Gallerist, which “follows a desperate dealer who conspires to sell a dead guy at Art Basel Miami Beach” (“that sounds believable,” says an anonymous US dealer). The actress is clearly digging deep into the art scene, having also popped into Art Basel Paris earlier this year.

Fairgoers embrace their fluffy side

Nothing quite lightens the soul or brings people together like a pom-pom making workshop. The joyous aspect of fibre art was clearly in evidence earlier this week at Art Basel Miami Beach when the artist Sarah Zapata invited fair visitors to create their own happy balls of soft fabric at the UBS Art Studio. Larry Ossei-Mensah, the Artnoir co-founder, was happy to tease the textiles. “I was pom-pom curious. You understand the tactility involved in making the bigger sculptures shown in the art studio [by Zapata]. It’s all about creating a communal moment.”

Glory holes, chicken buckets and scatalogical visors

For those seeking an alternative to Art Basel Miami Beach, look no further than the Satellite Art Show (until 8 December), an engaging off-beat fair nestled among the chain stores and restaurants on Lincoln Road. The fair’s founder, artist Brian Andrew Whiteley, presents a series of weird and wonderful installations and immersive experiences such as Privy Privy by Donna Oblongata and Patrick Costello, a restroom dotted with glory holes (don’t pretend you don’t know) filled with human hands holding ice-cream cones. Whiteley, meanwhile, is showing his own eyebrow-raising pieces such as KFC Fuck It Buckets—“When the world seems to be on fire, sometimes you need to say ‘fuck it’ and grab a chicken bucket”—and a “Bigfootshit” windshield sun shade that promises to keep your car cool.

William Kentridge opera wows art world royalty

One of the hottest tickets this week is the artist William Kentridge’s chamber opera at the Adrienne Arsht Center. The Great Yes, The Great No (until 7 December) takes place aboard an ocean liner in 1941 bound for Martinique from Vichy France, carrying a who’s who of mid-20th-century thinkers. The arty audience lapped up this epic tale, with Guggenheim director Mariët Westermann among the art-world dignitaries on their feet for a prolonged standing ovation on opening night. (For those who miss out in Miami, you can catch the show in California next year).