Atelier Mondial is celebrating its birthday! Switzerland's oldest multidisciplinary exchange programme was founded in 1986 by the Christoph Merian Stiftung (CMS), at the time under the name iaab (International Studio and Exchange Programme of the Basel Region). The idea behind the initiative was to support artists from the Basel region through a stay abroad, giving their work fresh impulses; at the same time, artists from abroad who spent several months in the live-in studios in St. Alban-Tal were to bring new energy into our local art spaces.
Much has changed over the years: iaab has become the multidisciplinary and trinational Atelier Mondial, with a new location on the Dreispitz, supported by the CMS, the cantons of Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft and Solothurn, as well as the regions of South Baden and Alsace. The original idea of exchange remains at its core, even though today the focus lies more strongly on connecting artist communities within the Tri-Regio and across the many partner locations worldwide.
Atelier Mondial celebrated its 40th anniversary at Artstübli – Kunst & Kultur on the occasion of the exhibition Fragments of Conversation. For several years, Atelier Mondial has been working together with Artstübli kunst & Kultur, regularly presenting the results of its residents' work in the form of group exhibitions.
Photo: Wiktoria Tundys