Switzerland: Art Basel 2011

In the Swiss city of Basel on June 15, 2011 will begin traditional art exhibition Art Basel, which will last up to June 19. This event is one of the most anticipated among art lovers around the world. The magazine "The New York Times" called Art Basel the "Art Olympics", and the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung "Art in its best display".

Art exhibition in Basel will consist of several themed sections. The most important of them is "Art Galleries", where will be presented 300 leading galleries from around the world. The section includes paintings, sculptures, installations, photography and video.

Art Unlimited is a section, which appeared only 10 years ago. It is created for the projects that go beyond the classic art shows. These are video projections, large-scale facilities, massive sculptures and live performances.

This year was created a new section - Book Artists. In the section «Art Feature» will be twenty stands, which present completely different cultures and non-standard art concepts.

It will be the 42th Art Basel exhibition. Last year, except for direct participants, it was visited by more than 60 thousand people, including collectors, art dealers and art critics.

But this year Art Basel was marked by a small scandal. The fact is that selection committee of the exhibition annually selects only 300 galleries among many thousands of applications. And one of the most famous German gallerists Gerd Harry Lybke was not included into the list without any explanations. He participated in every Art Basel during last 20 years and represented such world renowned artists as Neo Rauch, Olaf Nicolai and Jörg Herold. This event drew a considerable response in the artistic circles, and the artists themselves in solidarity refused to send their works to the exhibition. They said: ''As the gallery is not allowed to represent us, we will not send any new works in Basel''.