PARIS.- This year FIAC celebrates its 40th anniversary edition. Pursuing its development and confirming its status as the leading international art fair.

Our main aims of this, our 40th edition of FIAC are to stay attentive to the evolutions and the challenges of contemporary art, to be mindful of the increasingly central role played by art fairs and the important transformations in the gallery world itself, and to be creative and responsive while maintaining a spirit of continuity in the conception of the event.

FIAC 2013 reaffirms the fundamental principles of its identity:

• Its rigorous selection process, which ensures quality standards throughout the fair.

• Its vocation that provides a balanced view of modern art, contemporary art and emerging artists.

• Its openness to different creative practices, including those, which fall outside the core focus of the art market

• And its association with the sites it occupies in the heart of Paris and the harmonious relationship it has developed with public and private stakeholders in the art world.

FIAC is distinguished, among the major international fairs, by its strong national contingent and its distinctive European flavour: 30% of the exhibitors are French compared to Frieze London which presents 25 % of galleries from Great Britain; FIAC is made up by 73% of European galleries compared to 54% at Art Basel in Switzerland.

FIAC 2013 will bring together 184 galleries from 25 countries at the Grand Palais.

France is represented by 55 galleries, followed by the United States with 33 galleries, Germany with 22 galleries, Italy with 13 galleries, the United Kingdom with 12 galleries, Belgium with 11 galleries and Switzerland and Brazil with 5 galleries respectively. New countries represented this year include Canada, Ireland and the Czech Republic. 35 galleries are participating for the first time or are returning to FIAC after a period of absence.

Another factor defining the identity of the FIAC is the consistently applauded quality and unrivalled scope of FIAC’s signature Hors les Murs cultural programme.

Once again this year the programme has been developed and enriched. Radiating from its historic base in the Tuileries Garden of the Domaine National du Louvre, a programme inaugurated in 2006, FIAC extended into the Jardin des Plantes and various spaces of the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle in 2011, then to the Place Vendôme in 2012 and, for the first time this year, along the banks of the river Seine, thanks to the leading project from the Ville de Paris for 2013, les Berges de la Seine. Additionally, in association with the Ville de Paris and the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, FIAC will utilise the surroundings of the Petit Palais, which will host the majestic work by Jean Dubuffet, Welcome Parade, presented by both Pace Gallery (New York) and Waddington-Custot (London).

FIAC’s renowned programme of performances, Ouvertures/Openings, realised and produced in association with the Louvre Museum, is enhanced by the inauguration of a new programme of performances: In Process, developed in association with curator Medhi Brit and dedicated to young artists. The programmes of artists’ films at the Cinéphémère (produced in association with the Fondation d’entreprise Ricard) and at the Auditorium du Grand Palais will be re-edited in expanded versions by means of a new collaboration with MK2 Cinemas. Initiated in 2012, the two conference programmes will once again be held this year, as well as an evening of Carte Blanche invitations to artists at the Silencio throughout the duration of FIAC.

The 40th edition of FIAC will also be an opportunity to discover an exceptional programme of exhibitions and artistic events in Paris and France. The many combined efforts that FIAC develops through initiatives such as the Parcours Privé and the Galleries night on Thursday 24 October, significantly contribute to redefining the international profile of the French art scene.