GENEVA — Artgenève launched its second edition Wednesday with 65 exhibitors of design, modern art, and contemporary art. The fair continues through Sunday at Palexpo, a convention center just north of Geneva. Last year, artgenève organized a show by Tino Sehgal, and this year organzers have invited Polish artist Pawel Althamer and Berlin collective Lou Cantor, who have created “Clouds,” three giant inflatable white sculptures whose bumpy shapes loom over the entrance.

This is the first international edition of the fair, with galleries from Paris, Berlin, and London making the trip to Switzerland. The day after the opening, ARTINFO France spoke with artgenève director Thomas Hug, formerly director of the Berlin gallery Coma. “I didn’t meet any galleries that didn’t have sales yesterday. Geneva has good potential for this kind of fair,” Hug said. “The Geneva region is very different from Basel or Zürich. We’re not trying to compete with Art Basel and we have a very different concept. But the quality of the exhibitions and the artworks is often at the same level as Art Basel.” The fair had over 1,000 visitors in 2012 and Hug expects that number to be higher this year.

Artgenève has been organized by a committee led by Simon Lamunière, the former curator of Art Unlimited at Art Basel. All of the committee members hail from Geneva: Philippe Davet of BFAS Blondeau Fine Art Services, Stéphane Ribordy of Ribordy Contemporary, Marie-Claude Stobart of Blancpain Art Contemporain, Simon Studer of Simon Studer Art & Associés, and Patrick D. Gutknecht of Galerie Patrick Gutknecht.

Some big-name galleries are present, such as Gagosian and Xippas (both have gallery locations in Geneva), as well as Laurent Godin (Paris), Esther Schipper and Mehdi Chouakri of Berlin, and Luxembourg & Dayan (London). Smaller European galleries are also participating, including Sémiose and Martine & Thibault de La Châtre (France) and Bischoff & Weiss (England). As far as modern art and design go, eight such galleries are participating, including the prominent Neuchâtel gallery Ditesheim & Maffei Fine Art.

Fifteen of the exhibitors have chosen to put on solo shows and will be competing for the artgenève prize, whose jury includes Christian Bernard, Andrea Bellini, and Beatrix Ruf, with an award of 10,000 Swiss francs ($11,000). Bernard Jordan (Zürich) is presenting the work of Renée Levin, while The Essential Collection (Zürich) has devoted its booth to Zenita Komad. Two Parisian galleries are also doing single-artist booths, with Galerie Olivier Robert showing Bili Bidjocka and Les Filles du Calvaire showing Emmanuelle Villard.

Twenty percent of the exhibition space at artgenève is devoted to non-commercial events. Two anonymous local collectors are displaying their private collections of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Kurt Schwitters. Several local museums are also associated with the event: The Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain is showing works by Mai-Thu Perret and the Centre d’Art Contemporain has put together an exhibition of works by Yuri Ancarani. Most appropriate to the Swiss location, a non-profit art group called Mountain Climbers has a booth with a retooled gondola, part of a project featuring gondolas designed by 40 different artists and architects.