hen you think of Switzerland, you think of cheese and knives. Instead, art should come to mind. Like its still-cool "Sw" brethren (i.e. Sweden), Switzerland has a cross-flagged cachet that's slightly hampered by thoughts of wintertime frigidity. Luckily, Miami's ever-growing behemoth annual art fair - a sister event to the mother country's Art Basel - requires neither mittens nor Swiss language comprehension. Dust off your discerning, stoic look, your horn-rimmed glasses, and your selection of dark turtlenecks.

Though Sleepless Night is a good appetizer, Floridian art-appreciators' main course is Art Basel. Now in its 6th edition, Art Basel, rips eyes from clubs and beaches and mashes them into canvases - and then back into clubs and onto beaches. Primarily located in the hulking Miami Convention Centre, it also spills into surrounding galleries and thoroughfares. Wine will get sipped, elbows will rub, and words/phrases like "post neo-pointillism," "nouveau-modernism," and "blurbist art philistine" will bandy about relentlessly. Also, Basel will repossess the word "fair," reinstating its elegance and returning it from the realm of small-handed grifters (i.e. carnies).

With representation from over 200 galleries, it is one of the continent's largest art events. Agents and exhibitors have come from the world over to display their latest wares and paint-stained hands. This is no arts and crafts fair, so bring a way-in-the-black checkbook; or a genuine appreciation; either way.

Art Basel is fast becoming the contemporary art world's Sundance, but without the Butch Cassidy bating. Modern art has a bug-lamp effect on the beautiful so you can anticipate a swarm of celebrities and their hanger-ons. Parties abound: do your research.

Art Basel Miami runs from December 6th - December 9th.

For more MBO Art Basel info, see Art Basel 2007 Takes Over Miami Beach. -S.T.