As we enter 2012, some aspects of the local art scene will look and feel a little different. On the institutional level, some new names have appeared and disappeared: Miami Art Museum brought in a new chief curator, Tobias Ostrander (and we have to wait and see what new name we will eventually call that museum), and ArtCenter / South Florida is getting ready to announce its newest director in the upcoming weeks. The director of Praxis International Art, Julian Navarro, also moved on beginning this new year.

And the landscape as well has been shifting. Although Miami is promoted as a national art hub, life on the gallery level can still be a tough slog. Some have chosen to close up shop and concentrate on fairs and special projects. Galleries are time-consuming and expensive to run, especially in a challenging economic climate as this, so some are looking for alternative routes.

For the time being, at least, Butter Gallery in Wynwood has its doors closed, although it and its artists were at Scope. Same goes for photography-centric Gallery ID, which was forced to shutter its Wynwood doors and instead concentrate on fairs. Spinello Projects moved from 38th Street to a hip, temporary home in a old Christian family community center, while Spinello has also focused on promoting art nationally and overseas, while being part of various art fairs, such as Scope. The other art outlets on 38th, Locust Projects and Dimensions Variable, are scouting new locales as their leases are coming to an end.

And the non-profit Edge Zones on N.E. 25th is the latest to announce its physical departure, although again the entity itself is not going anywhere. First opened back in 2003 on North Miami Avenue, “the organization was created with the idea that Edge Zones would never be about a building or a space,” reads the closing release. “It would be about ideas, people and projects which we could articulate anywhere we saw fit.” Founded by artist Charo Oquet, Edge Zones’ mission was to foster artistic bridges between Miami and the Caribbean. According to Oquet, the organization wants to continue “to cement its relationships with insular Caribbean communities, such as the Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Salvadorans and Haitians by weaving together the achievements of Caribbean-Americans with Caribbean-nationals.”

Edge Zones, like the others listed above, will keep Miami, however, as a base. “We felt our time in Wynwood is finished and that we want to rethink our strategies and our resources in order to continue our development as a vital part of the Miami art and cultural community.”

Nothing is more permanent than change.