BASEL, SWITZERLAND.-Art Basel takes place in the museum city of Basel (Switzerland) from June 15 to 20, 2005. It is the world's leading art show and the annual meeting place of the international art world. 270 galleries from all continents have been selected to participate. They will be showing works by over 1,500 artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. For the first time, there will also be a special exhibition of artists' books this year. Further special sectors present one-person shows of young artists, original prints and multiples, artists' films, and art in urban space. The �Art Unlimited� hall, showing 60 outsize projects, and �Art Basel Conversations�, featuring distinguished panelists, represent further highlights. �Professional Day�, which was initiated last year, will be held on Friday, June 17, this year. The museums of the city will be staging noteworthy exhibitions and a broad range of events to complement the art show.

The 36th edition of Art Basel, which is open to the public from June 15 to 20, opens on June 14 with a vernissage for invited guests. This annual reunion of the art world attracts some 50,000 artists, collectors, gallery owners, curators, and art enthusiasts. They come to see the largest, most rigorously juried overview of what is on offer on the international art market and to meet the stars and insiders of the art scene. Covered by over 1,500 media representatives, Art Basel bases its outstanding reputation on the high quality and unique variety of works on display and on the international audiences it attracts. Art 36 Basel is sure to figure alongside the 51st Venice Biennale � which, ideally enough, opens the previous weekend � as the highlight of the 2005 summer art season.

Professional Day, which was introduced with such success last year, will be held on Friday, June 17, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Numerous galleries will be organizing special exhibitions and programs for it. Professional Day is aimed at museum professionals, art dealers, artists, and collectors.

For the first time there will be a special presentation of artists' books this year. The �Artists' Books� exhibition features a selection of particularly noteworthy specimens created since the turn of the millennium, chosen to offer insight into the diversity and vitality of this interesting and affordable collecting area. Artists' books have led a marginal existence at art shows up to now, in some cases because booths were too expensive and not particularly suitable for their presentation. By inviting galleries and specialized publishers from all over the world to show their artists' books here, Art Basel hopes to create an ideal platform for presenting and selling this very quiet art form to an international audience. The exhibition is scheduled to be supplemented by information events and presentations in the presence of the artists. �Artists' Books� is organized by Geneva curator and publisher Lionel Bovier in collaboration with Basel gallery owner Diego Stampa.

Artworks for public spaces will be exhibited on the square in front of the main building. Most of them are created or installed site-specifically by the artists themselves. Navin Rawanchaikul, Manfred Pernice, Jonathan Monk, Ann Veronica Janssens, and Jean-Michel Othoniel are among the artists whose projects have been selected.

The �Art Unlimited� hall offers a platform for some 60 unusual artworks rarely found at art shows owing to spatial, temporal, technical, financial, contextual, or conceptual restrictions. The selection was made from a record number of over 150 projects proposed for the sector by the exhibiting galleries. The emphasis of �Art Unlimited� is on innovative and large-format works. Everything from outsize sculptures and installations to video projections, murals, and performance art will be on exhibit and for sale. The list of artists ranges from Bruce Naumann through Marina Abramovic and Pierre Huygue to little-known artists (see www.ArtBasel.com/Art Unlimited). There will, once again, be an information center offering artists' documentations, artists' videos, and Internet art. It will be complemented by �Art Lobby�, a communication forum where artists, art mediators, and the public can meet and exchange ideas.

The �Art Film� sector once again has a top-flight program of new artists' films in store at the Stadtkino Basel. Art collector This Brunner and artist John Armleder will be organizing a special evening premiere at the weekend. Also in preparation is the presentation of a new film about Frank O. Gehry, directed by Sydney Pollack.

Mornings are the time for �Art Basel Conversations�, staged in association with Bvlgari. They feature prominent artists and other leading art world personalities, who come together to discuss such subjects as �Artists and Museum Architecture�, �The Future of the Museum � Profile China�, and �Art Professionals Who Collect Art: Case Studies�. Afterwards, audiences have the opportunity to meet the panelists personally. Participants receive a book containing profiles of the panelists and transcripts of the previous edition of �Art Basel Conversations�, which took place in Miami Beach last December.

The �Art Statements� sector will be presenting 17 one-person shows of young artists. (For a list of artists, see www.ArtBasel.com). Since 1999, the B�loise Insurance Group has awarded its annual B�loise Art Prize, valued at CHF 50,000, to outstanding projects and purchased works by the award-winning artists in order to donate them to such important museums as the Kunsthalle Hamburg or the SMAK in Ghent.

Every form of artistic _expression will be represented at Art 36 Basel. The repertoire extends from paintings, drawings, and editions through sculptures and installations, and on to photography, performances, and Internet and video art. Works for a few thousand francs by young, as yet undiscovered artists will be on display alongside museum-quality masterpieces priced in the millions. Price labels bearing a yellow dot tell visitors that a work costs under � 5,000.