MIAMI, FLORIDA.- Art Basel Miami Beach, the new international art show, which celebrated its inaugural event last year, has exceeded all expectations. Top-flight exhibits, a high-caliber international audience (30,000 visitors in 2002), good sales, great media attention ­ the first appearance of Art Basel Miami Beach on the American continent was a complete success. The second edition of the international art show will take place from December 4 to 7, 2003. A record number of more than 500 galleries applied for participation, 93% of which exhibited last year. All the sections of the exhibition have been strengthened with a total of 40 newly admitted galleries, which makes the range of participants at this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach even more outstanding than before. «We wanted to increase the quality of Art Basel Miami Beach even further, and we succeeded. Art Basel Miami Beach is clearly the best art fair on the American continent», comments Samuel Keller, Director of Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach on the results of the judging process. Art Basel Miami Beach is an international art event which combines an art fair with an exciting pro-gram of special exhibits, visits to private art collections and crossover events featuring music, film, fashion, architecture and design. At the heart of the event are the 165 leading galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and South Africa and which will exhibit visual art from the 20th and 21st centuries. «Art Nova» is a new sector that will be introduced, featuring young galleries showing only the latest works.

Collectors, gallery owners, artists, curators, critics and art aficionados have already booked for the art world’s annual winter meeting place. The second edition of Art Basel Miami Beach is taking place from December 4 to 7 in Miami Beach, Florida (USA). On the eve of the opening, guests from all over the globe are invited to the glamorous Vernissage. Art Basel Miami Beach¹s exhibits and events are located in the charming Art Deco District of Miami Beach. The centerpiece is the International Art Show at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Here’s where all art forms (paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, photo-graphs, original prints, performance, digital and video art ­

may be viewed and purchased. Prices begin at a few hundred dollars for multiples and works by young artists, and range all the way to mil-lion-dollar museum masterpieces.

The outstanding list of participants makes Art Basel Miami Beach the America’s most star-studded art show for classics of the 20th century and contemporary art. A total of 175 leading galleries (see www.ArtBasel.com for list of participants) from the world’s most important art centers will be exhibiting at the art show. Of them, 43% are from the USA and Canada, 43% from Europe, 9% from Latin America, 4% from Asia, and one gallery is from South Africa.

UBS, a leading global financial institution, extends its successful partnership with Art Basel by sponsoring Art Basel Miami Beach. In addition to its support of Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach, UBS has a long and distinguished tradition as a sponsor of major visual arts projects and initiatives. UBS has its own art collection - The UBS Art Collection - that is widely regarded to be among the finest collections of contemporary art in the world and also is home to The UBS Art Gallery which provides 4,000 square feet of exhibition space for non-profit institutions on the ground floor of the firm’s New York City headquarters. UBS was also a founding corporate partner of the Tate Modern Museum in London in conjunction with its opening in 1999.

With the newly launched «Art Nova» section of the show, Art Basel Miami affirms its commitment to promoting the very latest work in art. The new «Art Nova» section provides galleries with a more economically priced chance to present the latest works of their artists ­ works created in the current or previous year. This enables the visitors not only to enjoy exciting encounters with works fresh out of studios around the world, but also to scout out developments in art. The special

«Art Nova» sector will feature the following galleries:

Galerie Luis Campaña, Berlin

Casa Triângulo, São Paulo

Cohan Leslie and Browne, New York

Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco

Galerie Martin Janda / Raum Aktueller Kunst, Vienna

kurimanzutto, Mexico City

The Modern Institute, Glasgow

Galleria Franco Noero, Torino

Gallery Kenny Schachter Contemporary, New York

Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin

Torch Gallery, Amsterdam

Emily Tsingou Gallery, London

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In spring, the Selection Committee, consisting of the renowned art dealers Jane Corkin (Jane Corkin Gallery,Toronto), David Juda (Annely Juda Fine Art, London), Dr. Ursula Krinzinger (Galerie Krinzinger, Wien), Lawrence Luhring (Luhring Augustine, New York), Mary-Anne Martin (Mary-Anne Fine Art, New York), Lucy Mitchell-Innes (Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York), Tim Neuger (neugerriemschneider, Berlin), Shaun Caley Regen (Regen Projects, Los Angeles), Angel Samblancat (Prats/Polígrafa, Barcelona), Frederic Snitzer (Frederic Snitzer Gallery, Miami), Luisa Strina (Galería Luisa Strina, Sao Paulo) gathered in New York for the selec-tion meeting. From a record number of over 500 applications from around the world, they chose 165 of the leading galleries from the most important art centers. Of last year’s exhibitors, 93% applied again. With the 40 newly admitted galleries, this year’s list of participants constitutes a further increase in excellence compared to last year. The star-studded range of galleries for contemporary art is boosted by Alexander and Bonin (New York), Paula Cooper Gallery (New York), CRG Gallery (New York), Rosamund Felsen Gallery (Santa Monica), Gemini (New York), Anthony Meier Fine Arts (San Francisco), Andrea Rosen Gallery (New York) Jack Shainman Gallery (New York), Galerie Grita Insam (Wien), Galerie Hauser & Wirth & Presenhuber (Zurich), Galerie Jamileh Weber (Zürich), Galerie Fischer (Düsseldorf), Galerie Bärbel Grässlin (Frankfurt am Main), Galerie Johnen/Schöttle (Köln, München), Schipper & Krome (Berlin), and Galerie Guiermo de Osma (Madrid). As last year, 30 of the best-known galleries for 20th-century classics will be present, including the legendary art dealers Jan Krugier, Richard Gray, Achim Moeller, Annely Juda, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Mary-Anne Martin, Robert Landau and Leslie Waddington. This year, they will be joined by Acquavella Galleries (New York), Barbara Mathes Galllery (New York), Kicken Berlin, and Galerie Thomas (Munich). All of them show rare works of 20th-century art.

From Latin America, the 16 best galleries were selected. Eight of them are from Brazil, six from Mexico, and one each from Argentina and Costa Rica. New admissions in the «Art Galleries» sector include Cabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud and Marilia Razuk Galeria de Arte (beide aus São Paulo). Together with the European and North American galleries presenting artists from Latin America, the art scene from the Caribbean and South American area accounts for around half of all exhibiting galleries.

At Art Basel Miami Beach, young artists have the opportunity to present their work in one-person shows. These ar-tists will be represented by their galleries in «Art Statements», the sector which, at

Art Basel, has jump-started the careers of many young artists over the years. «Art Statements» provides galleries with a platform guaran-teeing a high degree of attention from col-lectors, curators and the media ­ at greatly reduced rates. When making its choice for this sector, the Selection Committee focused primarily on artists who are not yet well-known or who are not easily represented. The following twelve artists have been selected for «Art Statements»:

Haluk Akakce             Gallery Bernier / Eliades, Athens

Santiago Cucullu         Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston

Carlos Garaicoa        Lombard-Freid Fine Arts, New York

Mark Hosking             Kerstin Engholm Galerie, Vienna

Ian Kiaer             aspreyjacques, London

Gabriel Kuri             Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York

Pedro Reyes             Galería Enrique Guerrero, Mexico

Ruth Root             Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York

Taro Shinoda             Gallery Side 2, Tokyo

Monica Studer &

Christoph van den Berg     Nicolas Krupp, Basel

Laura Vinci            Galeria Nara Roesler, São Paulo

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Of the 12 artists, two each are from Great Britain, Switzerland and Mexico, and one each is from Brazil, the USA, Turkey, Japan, Argentina and Cuba.

Major international art journals, an art bookstore and cultural organizations from Latin America not only further broaden the information on offer at the central exhibition hall of the Miami Beach Convention Center, but also play an important role in the commu-nication of contemporary art.

«Art Positions», one of the most sensational satellite exhibits of

Art Basel Miami Beach is located right on the beach, just a few min-utes¹ walk from the Convention Center. Young galleries, whose budgets do not yet allow them to participate in international art shows, will be taking advantage of an interesting and economical presentation form for new art. Working together with the Basel ar-chitects Steinmann & Schmid, Art Basel Miami Beach has devel-oped mobile exhibition spaces in the form of renovated shipping containers. Grouped into a small container village, they will un-doubtedly attract a great deal of public attention. Last year’s partici-pants are joined this year by Fusebox from Washington, Galerie Frank from Paris, Kevin Bruk Gallery from Miami, Koch und Kesslau from Berlin, Pierogi from Brooklyn, Gabriela Senn Galerie from Vienna, Sies + Höke Galerie from Duesseldorf, Sommer Contemporary Art from Tel-Aviv, Spencer Brownstone Gallery from New York and Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects.

In Collins Park, also just a few minutes’ walk from the Miami Beach Convention Center and «Art Positions», in the Rotunda of the Miami Beach Public Library, interested visitors can see video projections and a video store with a comprehensive program of works on video. The «Art Video Lounge» is being created by LO/TEK of New York, the American avant-garde architects.

Art Basel Miami Beach integrates crossover events on subjects such as film, fashion, music, design and architecture. Also being organized are interesting presentations by and for art collectors («Art of Collecting»), visits to public and private art collections and museums, exclusive receptions and wild parties. South Florida¹s museums will be launching new top-flight exhibitions to coincide with Art Basel Miami Beach ­ exhibitions which will complement the new art show and provide further draws for an international public. This year, too, the Host Committee (see www.ArtBasel.com) composing over one hundred personalities from cultural, political and business life, offers its support to Art Basel Miami Beach and will help the city to provide an especially warm welcome to exhibitors and guests. The Chairpersons are the collectors Irma & Norman Braman, the Honorary Chairman is the Mayor of Miami Beach, David Dermer. The Miami municipal government has declared its goal of making Art Basel Miami Beach a highlight of the cultural and social life of both Americas. Many important museums in the USA will be organizing trips to Miami, and numerous art collectors¹ associations in Latin America and Europe have already announced their visit. The associate sponsor BMW is providing 20 vehicles of its 700 series for the transport of VIP guests of Art Basel Miami Beach within Greater Miami. Reduced-price flights and special rates in 30 hotels of all categories are available from the official travel agent of Art Basel Miami Beach, Turon Travel, Inc, 2 Wooster Street, USA New York, N.Y. 10013, tel.+1/212-925 54 53, USA/Canada toll free 800 952 7646, fax +1/212-219 18 65, demetra.turontravel@wspan.com or www.ArtBasel.com.