BEIRUT.- The third edition of the international fair of modern and contemporary art BEIRUT ART FAIR will be held from 5 to 8 July 2012 at the Beirut International Exhibition & Leisure Center (BIEL), with 40 galleries from the Middle East, Europe and North Africa, showcasing their flagship artists. With the participation of 27 new top-notch galleries, BEIRUT ART FAIR asserts its role and its influence on established and emerging international art scenes and wishes to impose its status as a hybrid fair.

In 2011, the fair was attended by 25 international galleries and has proposed several cultural exhibitions, which attracted over 10,000 visitors - collectors, journalists, artists, amateurs and professionals from the world of art.

The enthusiasm associated with the first two editions demonstrates a true artistic and economic development in the «ME.NA.SA.» region, which stretches from Morocco to Indonesia.

Alongside the galleries, numerous exhibitions will be enriching the cultural program, which promises wonderful discoveries stamped «ME.NA.SA.», in the fields of street art, VJing, comic strips, video, sculpture and installations.

In addition to these «events within the event», a series of lectures and roundtables will take place, reaffirming the role of Beirut as the cultural capital for the Arab world, Iran and Turkey. Professionals from the world of art as well as collectors and critics, are invited to exchange ideas pertaining to different subjects in order to understand contemporary art emanating from the «ME.NA.SA.» territory, in all its richness and diversity.

The 40 galleries of modern and contemporary art participating in BEIRUT ART FAIR represent all facets of plastic art, through painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, video, performance, street art and comics.

This year the fair expands its scope with design with the participation of several international galleries, which have chosen to exhibit the work of their creators, in Beirut in July.

Among the participants, a number of galleries from previous editions return and renew their confidence in BEIRUT ART FAIR. These include Agial Art Gallery (Lebanon), Emmagoss Art Gallery (Lebanon), Galerie Janine Rubeiz (Lebanon), Galerie Epreuve d’Artiste (Lebanon), Raja’ Nehme Sertin art Gallery (Lebanon), Art Sawa (Dubai, UAE), Ayyam (Lebanon /UAE/Syria), ATHR Gallery (Saudi Arabia) Al Motharaf (Saudi Arabia), Espace Kettaneh Kunigk - Tanit (Lebanon /Germany).

New European galleries join as well this 2012 edition: Galerie Trait noir - Aroya (France), Galerie Sophie Lanoë (France), VDA Galleries (Spain), China Today Gallery (Belgium), Galerie Prinzessin Michaela Nikolajewna Wolkonsky (Germany), ABK ART (France) and Sabrina Amrani Art Gallery (Spain). The Maghreb region is represented by Le Sous Sol Art Gallery (Morocco), participating for the first time in the fair as well as Le Violon Bleu (Tunisia), which is collaborating for the second time with the fair.

As for the galleries of the Middle East exhibiting at this 2012 edition, we highlight the participation of Artbahrain (Bahrain), the Tajalliyat Art Gallery (Syria), Kozah Art Gallery (Syria), Dara Gallery (Sudan), Esquisse Gallery (Lebanon), Waddah Faris (Iraq), Joanna Seikaly Art Gallery (Lebanon), Art Chowk The Gallery (Dubai, UAE/Pakistan), TASHKEEL (Dubai, UAE), Art Factum Gallery (Lebanon), The Running Horse (Lebanon), and Azad Art Gallery (Iran).

Design galleries exhibiting for the first time at BEIRUT ART FAIR comprise of the following galleries: Smogallery (Lebanon), Musk & Amber lifestyle concept store (Tunisia), Carwan Art Gallery (Lebanon), 20-21 Gallery (Lebanon), Ghassan Zard Abou Jaoude Gallery (Lebanon), Maria Halios Design (Lebanon), Karim Bekdache (Lebanon), Rami Boutros Design (Lebanon) and SPARE ARTS GALLERY (Lebanon).

An exchange platform between merchants, artists, collectors and art aficionados, BEIRUT ART FAIR presents an entirely dedicated program to the “today’s” art (painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video, design…).

Renowned artists or waiting to be discovered, rising talents or stars of the «ME.NA.SA.» art, all the masterpieces showcased at BEIRUT ART FAIR testify to the effervescence of contemporary creation in the “fertile crescent”.

The diversity of trends presented at the fair is a reflection of the artistic exuberance that is moving the art world of today and tomorrow.

This year, BEIRUT ART FAIR has accentuated its exceptional artistic initiative with the support of cultural institutions, and received the patronage of the Arab World Institute as well as the labeling of the Cultural Council of the Union for the Mediterranean. Moreover, the 2012 edition has once again appealed to sponsors and partners invested in the BEIRUT ART FAIR project, which gathers a committee of collectors that brings together hundred personalities from the arts community in Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and also in Europe.