“If you compare South Florida’s art scene 10 years ago and now, it’s like night and day,” says Marc Spiegler, co-director of Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB). “People in the area talk about a cultural renaissance.” That rebirth has been spurred, of course, by the presence of the country’s premier contemporary-art fair, where the art world gathers each December amid a festive atmosphere not found in the more staid — and chilly — precincts of New York, London, and Maastricht. The show’s 10th anniversary edition, from December 1 through 4, will convene 260 exhibitors and feature some striking changes outside the Miami Beach Convention Center venue, from which video and installations are spilling over into seemingly all the neighboring buildings and open spaces.

Within the confines of the exhibition hall, dealers are clearly expecting plenty of action. This year the number of applicants hit an all time high — more than 700 — and most sections of the fair will be larger than they were in 2010. The main Art Galleries segment has 26 participants from Latin America, up from 20 last year and the most ever. Newcomers include Dan Galeria, of São Paulo, Brazil; and Galería Sur, of Montevideo, Uruguay. “Especially now, considering what’s happened with the dollar, there is an influx of Latin American collectors coming into the area,” says Spiegler. “And they are buying art from all over the world.”

Solo presentations in the section continue to make strong statements. First timer McCaffrey Fine Art, of New York, is showing abstract paintings by the Japanese master Sadamasa Motonaga ($100–400,000), while Stockholm’s Andréhn-Schiptjenko has new paintings by the young Swedish artist Martin Jacobson (€30–40,000; $41–54,000), and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, of New York, is bringing work by the photographer Catherine Opie, who just joined the gallery after leaving Gladstone. Other highlights include Hernan Bas's largest painting, “The Road Ahead Is Golden . . . Silver . . . Bronze”, spanning 18 feet in the booth of Miami’s Fredric Snitzer Gallery, and vintage photographs by André Kertész ($30–40,000) and Robert Frank ($70–80,000) at New York’s Bruce Silverstein, who returns to Miami after a one-year hiatus.

The Art Positions section, which showcases emerging galleries, has expanded to 16 participants from 14 last year. One must-see is Theaster Gates’s hypnotic hallway surrounded by 600 glass lantern slides ($50–150,000) at Chicago’s Kavi Gupta.

Rather than bulk up, the Art Nova section, which limits displays to new work, has slimmed down by a third over the past two years, to 42 participants for this edition. Among them, Carl Freedman Gallery, of London, is spotlighting the German artist Thilo Heinzmann’s minimalist paintings on sliced and shot aluminum panels (£15–25,000; $23–43,000).

The Art Kabinett exhibition, curated by Joachim Pissaro, explores John Cage’s and Yves Klein’s common affinity for flames through such works as Klein’s “Fire” paintings ($4 million), at Zurich’s Galerie Gmurzynska.

Looking to reach a broader community, ABMB has inaugurated a partnership with the Bass Museum of Art, a block from the convention center, which will host part of the fair’s revamped Art Public sector, organized by lacma curator Christine Y. Kim. Inside the building will be an 11-foot-tall brick sculpture of a pig by Zhang Huan, from Blum & Poe of Los Angeles (approximately $750,000); more works will be installed in the surrounding Collins Park district, stretching to the beach.

The Art Video section, which has almost doubled in size, will likewise extend outdoors. In addition to the usual viewing pods in the main hall’s lobby, videos will be projected on a 7,500-square-foot wall of the Frank Gehry–designed New World Center. Among the section’s 40 works, selected from more than 200 by London’s Artprojx, is Dara Friedman’s “What Moves You,” making its international debut thanks to Gavin Brown’s Enterprise of New York. Reflecting the celebratory mood of the city during the week, the video features an impromptu dance performance staged on a Miami street corner.

Also during Art Basel Miami Beach:

Design Miami
Nov. 30–Dec. 4
Meridian Ave. and 19th St.
Just across from ABMB’s main home, the weekend’s only design-themed event will gussy up its temporary structure with a David Adjaye entrance pavilion.

NADA
Dec. 1–4
Deauville Beach Resort
In its ninth year and still the hippest fair run by a nonprofit association, NADA fills a roomier ballroom at its North Miami Beach location with 99 dealers.

Art Miami
Nov. 30–Dec. 4
Midtown Blvd. bet. NE 31st St. and 32nd St.
Art Miami predates ABMB; with more than 100 participating galleries, it’s also the largest and most diverse of the satellites.

Scope Miami
Nov. 30–Dec. 4
Midtown Blvd. bet. NE 30th St. and 31st St.
The 80 or so galleries turning out for Scope’s 10th edition aim to exploit its reputation as a place to discover new talent.

Pulse
Dec. 1–4
The Ice Palace.
Hoping to build on its recent expansion to Los Angeles, this exclusively contemporary event brings about 75 galleries for its seventh outing in its original location.

Aqua Art Miami
Dec. 1–4
Aqua Hotel.
Around 45 galleries, mostly West Coast venues showing emerging artists, take over a classic South Beach hotel just down Collins Avenue from the main event.

To view works for sale at Art Basel Miami Beach, click on the slideshow button above.