BASEL, SWITZERLAND.- 72 exciting projects as can be seen and purchased at no other art fair in the world are assembled in the conceptually open exhibition architecture of the «Art Unlimited» hall. Artists from 27 countries will be participating. The roster of participants reads like a Who's Who of the international art scene, the list ranging from Daniel Buren and Marina Abramovic to Walter de Maria, with the spotlight also on young talents.

For the first time, the «Art Unlimited» hall will feature a special presentation of artists' books. The «Artists' Books» exhibition presents a selection of particularly noteworthy specimens of the genre produced since the turn of the millennium. The «Art Lobby» communication forum offers the public opportunities to meet artists, curators, and collectors personally. «Art Unlimited» is generously supported by UBS.

Thanks to the unique interaction of artists, galleries, the Art Basel Committee, the curator, the Show Management, and Art Basel's technical team, this is an exhibition of contemporary art that draws worldwide attention, complementing the wide array of art on offer at the international art show and offering visitors the chance to make exciting discoveries. Out of the record number of 170 applications submitted, the Art Basel Committee has chosen 72 projects for this year's edition of «Art Unlimited». The open exhibition concept was devised by Simon Lamunière, an experienced curator from Geneva.

There will be a new performance by the well-known performance artist Marina Abramovic (Sean Kelly Gallery, New York) at the «Art Unlimited» preview on June 13. Lying naked on a raised platform, with a human skeleton on top of her, she will be addressing the eternal subject of life and death. The ninety-minute performance «N-O-C-K-O-U-T» by American artist Doug Aitken (Galerie Presenhuber, Zurich, 303 Gallery, New York), which will be given on the opening day of Art Basel (June 14), is lighter and more playful in approach. Five people stand around a table. First they drink and talk. Slowly the conversation gives way to the participants' drumming on the table: verbal communication yields to sound and music. «N-O-C-K-O-U-T» is a way for Doug Aitken to explore new forms of individual and social communication.

Sawn-off tree trunks of various sizes stand in a black pond. To get from one end of the pond to the other with their feet dry, spectators must hop from one tree trunk to the other. The installation by German artist Matti Braun (Ester Schipper, Berlin, BQ, Cologne) is based on his research into the work of Indian film director Satyajit Ray. The pond is an allusion to the opening scene of a script by Ray that was never filmed: «The Alien», in which an alien spaceship makes an emergency landing in a lotus pond and sinks. Beyond its concrete significance as a possible film set, the pond is a traversable metaphorical projection screen for the many links Braun establishes between script, author, and further protagonists and objects.

Few works by the old master of Land Art, Walter de Maria (Peter Freeman Inc., New York), have appeared on the market recently. At «Art Unlimited» he will be showing a three-part stainless steel sculpture entitled «10-Sided Open Polygon, 11-Sided Open Polygon, 12-Sided Open Polygon, 1984».

The installation «Baraque de Chantier», by German artist Olaf Nicolai (Eigen + Art Berlin), is based on a construction by the famous French architect Le Corbusier. In 1954 Le Corbusier put up a wooden hut measuring 8 sqm in area next to his house in the South of France to serve as his studio and later as the basis for his concept of the «living unit», which led to the apartment block and his urban theory. Nicolai's «Baraque de Chantier» is a replica, on a scale of 1:1, of Le Corbusier's «Cabanon,» but this time in transparent acrylic glass.

The politically controversial wall separating Israel and Palestine is the subject of the video piece by Catherine Yass (Alison Jacques Gallery, London). Her subjective shots show the wall as an overpowering barrier and reflect the impossibility of seeing across to the other side. The film concentrates exclusively on the wall; the surroundings and buildings behind it are hardly visible. By this means the viewer experiences the wall, not only as a physical, but above all as a psychological barrier.

«Invisible Cities» is the title of Jonas Dahlberg's (Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin, Stockholm) video work. According to the artist's definition, «Invisible Cities» are ones with a population numbering between 10,000 and 100,000. Cities that exist, that appear on maps, but that have neither a face nor a history for the artist. Dahlberg has listed 10,000 cities worldwide that meet the criterion. They are home to some 10% of the world's population.