Seventh Annual Art Basel Miami Beach 2008 Opened

MIAMI, FL - From December 4 through 7, 2008, Miami Beach, Florida, USA, will host the seventh edition of Art Basel Miami Beach the celebrated international art show. More than 250 leading galleries from the USA, Canada, Europe, Latin America, and Asia will be taking part. Chosen by the Art Basel Miami Beach Selection Committee from over 800 applicants, the galleries – which include 25 new participants – will be showing works by more than 2,000 artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Special sectors are devoted to recent artworks, curated exhibitions, video- and sound-based works, performances, and art in public spaces. Furthermore, 20 young galleries will present cutting-edge projects in converted shipping containers on the beach, while another 20 exhibit within an experimental collaborative space.

On the eve of the opening, invited guests from around the world attended the exclusive Vernissage. Over 40,000 art lovers are expected to visit the international art show, where carefully selected galleries from 33 countries will be showcasing all forms of artistic expression (including paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, photography, editions, and videos). Prices range from a few hundred dollars for multiples and works by younger artists to millions of dollars for museum-quality masterpieces.

New Galleries
The Selection Committee has picked more than 250 galleries for this year’s show. More than 10 percent of the galleries are new this year. The following galleries in the Art Galleries sector are exhibiting for the first time or returning after a brief hiatus: Air de Paris (Paris), Greenberg Van Doren Gallery (New York), and Eleni Koroneou Gallery (Athens). The following new galleries entered in the Art Nova sector: Carl Freedman (London), gb agency (Paris), Alexander Gray (New York), Urs Meile (Luzern / Beijing), ProjecteSD (Barcelona), Sfeir-Semler (Hamburg / Beirut), Michael Wieshöfer (Köln).

The following new galleries are present in the Art Supernova sector: Miguel Abreu (New York), Casas Riegner (Bogota), Cherry and Martin (Los Angeles), Lawrence Eng (Vancouver), Nogueras Blanchard (Barcelona), Moisés Pérez de Albéniz (Pamplona), SKE (Bangalore), Nils Staerk Contemporary Art (Copenhagen), Sutton Lane (London), The Third Line (Dubai).

And the following galleries are new in the Art Positions sector: Blow 111 (London), Broadway 1602 (New York), David Castillo (Miami), Andreas Huber (Wien), Iris Kadel (Karlsruhe), Mary Mary (Glasgow), Monclova (México D.F.), Newman Popiashvili (New York), Redling Fine Art (Los Angeles), Franco Soffiantino Arte Contemporanea (Torino), T293 (Napoli), Steve Turner Contemporary (Los Angeles), Eva Winkeler (Frankfurt/Main).

Art Kabinett
This year’s Art Kabinett program at Art Basel Miami Beach promises to be an exciting mix of tightly focused exhibitions within the art show, including group and solo shows from both emerging artists and historical figures. For Art Basel Miami Beach 2008, the Selection Committee has chosen 17 galleries to present Art Kabinetts - separate sections within the booths of the Art Galleries sector, providing a space to investigate single artist’s works in greater detail or thematic group exhibitions, and spotlighting the curatorial skills of the gallerists. The 17 projects in this sector feature a wide array of artists, ranging from young artists such as William Cordova and Tomasz Kowalski to historical figures like Meret Oppenheim, Francis Picabia, Robert Smithson and Marcel Duchamp. Group shows include exhibitions titled “Text and Image in 20th-Century Art” and “Kusama and Her Contemporaries.”

Art Projects
This year’s Art Projects sector features seven public art projects by international artists. For the first time, most of the Art Projects will be presented in a single site: Lummus Park, on Ocean Drive between 10th and 14th Street; one will be on view at Island Gardens, Watson Islands, (888 MacArthur Causeway, Miami). Displayed in the public spaces of Miami Beach, the sector places art in the urban context and encourages participation by the general public. Most of the seven works are site-specific and commissioned for Art Basel Miami Beach - including works by Olaf Breuning, Dora García, Thomas Houseago, Tadashi Kawamata, Jirí Kovanda and Ana Linnemann at Lummus Park. Occupying a huge site at Island Gardens, Ai Weiwei’s one 100 blue shimmering bubbles will be spread over an area of 600 square meters (more than 6,500 square feet). The Art Projects sector is sponsored by Flagstone Island Gardens.

Art Nova
Art Nova is a platform for galleries to present new works, produced in the last two years, by a maximum of three artists. 58 international galleries have been chosen by the Selection Committee from a record number of applications. Works by 132 emerging artists from around the globe are on display. The galleries include both emerging and established galleries with young and innovative programs. This year a record 12 solo presentations appear in the Art Nova sector, presenting works by Ai Weiwei (Urs Meile), Edgar Arceneaux (Vielmetter), Luis Camnitzer (Alexander Gray), Alexandre da Cunha (Vilma Gold), Michael Fullerton (Freedman), Cao Guimaraes (Nara Roesler), Zheng Guogu (Vitamin Space), Yukinori Maeda (Taka Ishii), Naofumi Maruyama (Shugoarts), Kris Martin (Sies + Höke), Aïda Ruilova (Salon 94), and Sturtevant (mezzanin).

Museums and Private Collections
Once again, the museums of South Florida will be staging important exhibitions to coincide with Art Basel Miami Beach, including Yinka Shonibare at the Miami Art Museum; Anri Sala at the Museum of Contemporary Art; “Possibility of an Island” (Mungo Thomson, Peter Coffin, and others) for MOCA at the Goldman Warehouse; “Russian Dreams…” at the Bass Museum of Art; and both “American Streamlined Designed: The World of Tomorrow” and “Democrazy: An Installation by Francesco Vezzoli” at The Wolfsonian-FIU. Miami’s leading private collections – among them the Margulies Collection, the Rubell Family Collection, CIFO, the Mora Collection, the Scholl Collection, the Shack Collection, and the Robins Collection – will be opening their homes and warehouses to guests of the international art show.

Design Miami
This year also marks the third edition of the Design Miami fair, featuring more than 20 leading design galleries from around the globe. The program includes: a series of Design Talks covering the current design culture; satellite exhibitions curated by leading design institutions; design performances showcasing the creative processes of rising-star designers, and the Designer of the Year Award, recognizing an outstanding visionary in the field and this year received by Brazilian designers Humberto and Fernando Campagna.