arteba'08 Contemporary Art Fair

arteBA Contemporary Art Fair, is the most popular cultural event in the city of Buenos Aires and the most important one of its kind in Latin America. This is when the galleries display their best Latin American artworks, offering the general public the chance to come face to face with truly unique collectors’ pieces. It is also an opportunity for the newer art centers from all over the region to present their younger artists and reveal the very latest trends, which are simply absent from other art fairs. 83 contemporary art galleries from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Perú, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela, and from Spain, France and United States, will be participating in the fair.

The Open Space section in arteBA’08 aims at promoting the participation of renowned artists whose large format works could not be exhibited in the more reduced space of a stand. Priority is on the side of those works produced within the past five years. One of the essential goals of the Open Space area is offering the local and international range of art collectors installations and large format works.

arteBa will be the perfect frame for the official launching of the book "Arte Contemporáneo Argentino. Artistas por Artistas" (Argentine Contemporary Art. Artists by artists). The book records the artwork of 30 different artists of our country, that are between 20 and 40 years of age, and therefore, it is a valuable contribution to the promotion and documentation of their work.

In 2007 MacStation Apple Center launched the Paradigma Digital Prize, considered among one of the best national prizes to be awarded in this field. The artists to be awarded have been publicly announced last November 2007 and MacStation will have a space at arteBA'08 to show these artworks. There will be a special act to grant the prizes to the winning artists of this current edition. There will be a catalogue so the public can get acquainted with the Prize.

arteBA Foundation called for the fifth edition of arteBA-Petrobras Prize for the Visual Arts. Each one of the eight selected projects will be awarded the amount of $ 7,000 to be used for its realization and exhibition at arteBA `08 Contemporary Art Fair. Having been exhibited at the Fair, a second International Jury will award the First Acquisition Prize -a sum of $ 30,000 (thirty thousand pesos)- and the Second Non-Acquisition Prize –a sum of $10,000 (ten thousand pesos). The prizes will be awarded once the in situ installation of the works is completed. All these eight projects show a diversity of materials and means of realization plus different perceptual and imaginary levels.

arteBA’08 celebrates the creativity and talent of three Argentine vanguard artists: Gyula Kosice (1924), Enio Iommi (1926) and Clorindo Testa (1923) -an event curated by Ana Martínez Quijano. The tribute is paid to the creativity and talent of three vanguard artists who built up a set or art works that are essential to the history of Argentine modern art and whose activity has not ceased but continues with plenty of energy. There will be a special space devoted to each of these artists. Visitors to the arteBa fair will receive some literature with the history and work of these artists who, during the fair, will also exchange their ideas with the public.

Dates: May 29th to June 2nd, 2008
Opening times: every day, from 1 pm to 10 pm
Entry fee: AR$ 20. Children under 12, free. American Express card holders: 2x1
Location: La Rural, Predio Ferial de Buenos Aires, Pabellones Azul y Verde, Av. Sarmiento 2704
arteba'08 website