The in crowd knows that Art Basel, the annual global art fair in Miami, isn’t exactly cool anymore, but they go anyway out of professional obligation, or because certain parties might be cool, or for the same reason people with no interest in football watch the Super Bowl: because it’s the Super Bowl.

Besides, what’s decidedly uncool is worrying about whether the week’s aura has eroded when you could be indulging.

Things were just getting underway on Wednesday afternoon, and traffic — a frequent gripe for Basel-goers and especially Miami residents, some of whom resent Basel-goers — was still relatively light.

Jed Moch, the 33-year-old director of Amity, which was showing for the first time at the New Art Dealers Alliance tent, described the mood as one of “tepid optimism” for art dealers after a period of market downturn and “joyful resignation” for the other attendees.