Switzerland’s premier art fair, Art Basel, is set to unveil an extensive program that spans the entire city for its 2024 edition. The fair will feature 287 participating galleries from 40 different nations, including 22 newcomers who will be exhibiting at the event for the first time.

The 2024 edition will be the inaugural year with Maike Cruse at the helm, following her appointment by the fair’s new CEO, Noah Horowitz, who assumed the role in 2022. Horowitz, previously the director of Art Basel’s Miami Beach edition, succeeded Marc Spiegler as the global director after Spiegler’s departure in 2022.

The city of Basel will transform into an artistic playground for the Parcours section, curated by Stefanie Hessler, the director of the Swiss Institute in New York. This year, Parcours will extend its reach to include Clarastrasse’s storefronts and the Hotel Merian, which will operate as a non-stop hub for artistic performances and exhibitions.

Out of the 287 galleries, 245 will form the core of the fair. Among them, seven galleries, which have previously participated in the Feature or Statements sections, will be present, including Commonwealth and Council, Galerie Crèvecœur, Gaga, and Tina Kim Gallery.

The Feature section will be dedicated to art-historical showcases this year, offering a “condensed” retrospective of artist Jean Tinguely by Galerie Mueller, a newcomer from Basel, and an exploration of the collaboration between Maryn Varbanov and Song Huai-Kuei (also known as Madame Song), presented by Bank from Shanghai.

The Statements section will highlight 18 individual exhibitions, such as “Safe to Visit (2024)” by Angolan artist Sandra Poulson from Jahmek Contemporary Art in Luanda, a complex installation by Argentinian artist La Chola Poblete from Barro in Buenos Aires, and a video installation by Hong Kong artist and filmmaker Tiffany Sia, presented by Vienna’s Felix Gaudlitz gallery.

The Baloise Art Prize, now in its 25th year and valued at CHF 30,000 (approximately $34,000), will be awarded to one or two artists exhibiting in the Statements section. The Baloise Group, a Swiss insurance company, will purchase works by the winning artists for donation to European museums, which will then organize solo exhibitions for these artists.

A variety of additional events will take place across Basel at institutions such as the Fondation Beyeler, Kunstmuseum Basel, Kunsthaus Baselland, Museum Tinguely, and Vitra Schaudepot.

Art Basel will open its doors for preview days on June 11-12, with the fair opening to the public from June 13-16.