MIAMI, FL.- This year’s edition of Art Basel Miami Beach will feature 257 leading international galleries, with work ranging from the Modern period of the early 20th century to the most contemporary. Application numbers have again been high, exceeding those for 2011, with more than 680 galleries competing to participate. Taking place at the Miami Beach Convention Center from December 6 to December 9, 2012, the show, whose main sponsor is UBS, will present a geographically diverse selection of galleries from 31 countries across five continents.

Roughly 50 percent of the galleries come from the United States and Latin America. Exhibiting galleries include 99 from the United States; 34 from Germany; 18 from France; 19 from Great Britain; 14 from Brazil; 11 from Italy; 10 from Switzerland; 9 each from Spain; 4 each from Austria, Belgium and Mexico; 3 each from Argentina and China; 2 each from Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Japan, Portugal, Turkey and South Africa; 1 each from Greece, Ireland, Israel, India, Iceland, Korea, Norway, Peru, Russia, Sweden and Uruguay.

Art Galleries, the main sector of Art Basel's Miami Beach edition, will feature 201 exhibitors. This year’s selection brings a strong showing of Modern material, further underlining the historical dimension of Art Basel Miami Beach. Joining a notable number of returning galleries, the sector includes many participants exhibiting at the show after a brief hiatus - Art: Concept, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Galeria Graça Brandão, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, Kewenig Galerie, Anthony Reynolds Gallery, Esther Schipper and Galerie Daniel Templon – joined by several first-time exhibitors Henrique Faria Fine Art, Galerie Michael Haas, Hammer Galleries, Hirschl & Adler Modern, Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, Craig F. Starr Gallery and Tornabuoni Art.

Art Nova offers younger galleries a platform to present artworks made in the last three years by two or three artists. Since its inception, the Art Nova sector has become known as a space of discovery for works fresh from the studio. With 40 galleries on display, the sector will feature work by more than 100 artists from across the world including juxtapositions such as: Yael Bartana, Tal R. and Tom Burr (Sommer Contemporary Art); Tania Pérez Cordova and Nina Beier (Proyectos Monclova); Becky Beasley and Simon Dybbroe Möller (Francesca Minini); Theaster Gates and Angel Otero (Kavi Gupta Gallery); John Gerrard, Michelle Lopez and Hans Schabus (Simon Preston Gallery); Brigida Baltar, Lucia Koch and Melanie Smith (Galeria Nara Roesler); Julião Sarmento and Leigh Ledare (Pilar Corrias); Dove Allouche, Jonathan Binet and Jessica Warboys (Gaudel de Stampa); and Hao Liang, Yangjiang Group and Zheng Guogu (Vitamin Creative Space).

Presenting a diverse range of projects by a single artist, Art Positions features a tight selection of 16 galleries, 12 of which did not exhibit at Art Basel in Miami Beach last year. An exciting platform for collectors, museum directors, critics and art enthusiasts to gain further insight into the work of individual emerging artists, this year’s presentation will feature many exciting young artists working internationally today: Matt Keegan (Altman Siegel Gallery SF), Pablo Rasgado (Arratia, Beer), Nathan Peter (PSM), Leyla Cárdenas, (Galería Casas Riegner), Colby Bird (Fitzroy Gallery), Christian Flamm, (Galeria Fonti), Felipe Arturo (La Central), Irene Kopelman (Labor), Paulo Vivacqua (Galeria Laura Marsiaj), Julieta Aranda, (Galerie mor.charpentier), Atsushi Kaga (Mother’s Tankstation), Asli Cavusoglu (NON Gallery), Ivan Seal (RaebervonStenglin), Andra Ursuta (Ramiken Crucible), Latoya Ruby Frazier (Galerie Michel Rein), and Agustina Woodgate (Spinello Projects).

Select galleries participating in these three sectors of the Miami Beach edition of Art Basel will present further work at Art Kabinett, Art Video and Art Public. As part of Art Kabinett, select galleries admitted to the Art Galleries sector will present curated exhibitions in separately delineated spaces within their booths. The curatorial concepts for Art Kabinett are diverse, including thematic group exhibitions, art-historical showcases and solo shows for rising artists. As part of Art Video galleries will present works by some of the most exciting artists working in the media today. Organized in association with London's Artprojx, screenings of Art Video will be presented in two different locations: in SoundScape Park on the 7,000-square-foot outdoor projection wall of the New World Centre, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry, and within five viewing pods inside the Miami Beach Convention Center. Art Public will turn Collins Park into a public outdoor exhibition space with large-scale sculptures and performances. Curated by Christine Y. Kim, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and co-founder of the Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND), this sector is produced in collaboration with the Bass Museum of Art.

The gallery presentations will be accompanied by an engaging program of talks and panel discussions as part of Art Basel Conversations and Art Salon, offering audiences access to first-hand information on the main aspects of the international art world and market.

Entering its second decade in Miami Beach, Art Basel week will spotlight museums and private collections in Miami Beach putting on their strongest exhibitions of the year. Miami’s leading private collections – among them the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO), the De la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space, The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, the Rubell Family Collection and World Class Boxing – will be opening their exhibition spaces to guests of the international art show. The museums of South Florida will be staging important exhibitions to coincide with Art Basel Miami Beach, including: 'New Work Miami 2013' at the Miami Art Museum; 'The Endless Renaissance - Six Solo Artist Projects: Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Barry X Ball, Walead Beshty, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Ged Quinn, Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook' at the Bass Museum of Art; 'Bill Viola: Liber Insularum' at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), North Miami; '2012 Rudin Prize for Emerging Photographers' and 'Sylvia Plimack Mangold: Landscape and Trees' at the Norton Museum and 'Postcards of the Wiener Werkstätte: Selections from the Leonard A. Lauder Collection' and 'Esther Shalev-Gerz: Describing Labor' at the Wolfsonian-FIU.

This year marks the eighth edition of Design Miami/, from December 5 to December 9, 2012, with the world’s most prominent design galleries presenting contemporary and historic work. Design Miami/ will again be located alongside the Miami Beach Convention Center.