BASEL.- The 14th edition of the LISTE- The Young Art Fair in Basel will take place from June 9 – 14, 2009. This year, 64 galleries from 24 countries were selected by our expert jury from a pool of almost 400 applicants. They will be showing the most recent works by 160 young artists from 40 countries. Especially noteworthy this year is the number of solo shows, accounting for one-third of the presentations. The LISTE invites you to get to know new, less well-known but highly promising positions. More than half of this year’s artists will be making their Basel debut. The legendary Kunsthalle Bern, this year’s special guest, will be presenting a number of exciting artist projects, among others, a curated bookshop as well as an intervention by Bradley Pitts. Also, plug.in Basel and Kaskadenkonsator Basel will enrich the fair as special guests. With its daily changing show, the Performance Project promises an exciting glimpse into the contemporary international performance scene. Participating artists are, among others, David Sherry (IE) and Alexandra Bachzetsis (CH). New this year will be public conversations with artists after their performances. These conversations will be lead by Initiative CollectingLiveArt, London.

As a trend-setting discoverer fair for young contemporary art, each year the LISTE presents new positions from the young international art scene to around 14,000 art lovers, among whom are collectors, gallerists, curators, art dealers and journalists from the world over. More than half of this year’s artists will be making their Basel debut. As an important international art fair for young positions, the LISTE puts great emphasis on new discoveries and thus makes an important contribution to the promotion of young art and young galleries in the international art market. The fair’s reasonable costs and conditions make it possible for many young galleries to take that very important step onto the international art stage. Our policy of selecting young galleries with trend-setting positions by artists under 40 as well as of limiting participation to only a few years gives the LISTE its unique significance and dynamic. At the same time, this concept forms a bridge to Art Basel, and thus LISTE serves many galleries as a springboard to the world’s most important art fair. Almost two-thirds of this year’s Statement-galleries have already participated in the LISTE, and a good one-third of all of the galleries at Art Basel that are showing young contemporary art started out at LISTE. Gallerists and artists know that the much sought-after spots at the LISTE draw the attention of very important museum people and collectors, that artists at LISTE are invited to institutional exhibits, and that many of their works will find a permanent home in excellent institutional or private collections.