Regionale 26 at Kunsthaus Baselland: Exploring Permeability and Cross-Border Contemporary Art
Kunsthaus Baselland is presenting Regionale 26, a major group exhibition developed through a cross-border partnership of 18 institutions across Germany, France, and Switzerland. Centered around local contemporary art production in the tri-national region around Basel, this year's exhibition explores themes of permeability, breaking down boundaries, and navigating the spaces between the familiar and the foreign.
Co-curated by Ines Goldbach, Alexandra Stäheli (Atelier Mondial), and Ines Tondar, the exhibition spans the upper floor of the new Kunsthaus Baselland building, the neighboring TransBona Hall, and the exhibition space at Atelier Mondial. Seventeen invited artists living and working in the tri-national region present large-scale installations, performances, sculptures, and media works addressing political, ecological, and socio-cultural dynamics.
Visitor Experience and Highlights at the Exhibition
Visitors exploring the galleries will encounter a diverse range of artistic mediums reflecting on borders, both physical and conceptual:
- Sound and Environment: Shadwa Ali presents How Basel Changed the World, a dense acoustic portrait of Switzerland that weaves together city noises, construction sites, and natural soundscapes, informed by a residency at Atelier Mondial. Sonja Feldmeier’s multi-channel video installation Slow Fox captures the environmental impact of massive tree felling in the Jura region.
- Performance and Architecture: Artist-performers Nils Amadeus Lange and Mario Petrucci Espinoza engaged audiences during Museum Night with Just the two of us, an intimate performance combining couple dances, language, and song to activate the surrounding architectural space.
- Sculpture and Materiality: Karin Kurzmeyer’s Big Pots series showcases unglazed clay vessels that function as independent characters communicating through spatial arrangement. Meanwhile, Hannah Cooke’s Red Flags series utilizes textiles to critique the art world's canon and historical power imbalances.
- Visuals and Reflections: Works by Daniel Karrer, Georg Gatsas, Bettina Grossenbacher, Victoria Holdt, Josefina Leon Ausejo, Fabio Luks, Elia Menang Setiadi, Miriam Schmitz, Marcia Tello Cornejo, Helena Uambembe, Noémie Vidonne, and Chi-Hun Yang offer further commentary on landscape, memory, ecology, and the architectural boundaries of urban life.
Media coverage for the exhibition has been featured across regional platforms, including bz Basel and Radio X.
Plan your cultural itinerary and discover more contemporary art experiences across the city through Musemap, where you can check out current exhibitions on the what's on guide, browse the museums list, or explore the interactive map view.
