Regionale 27: Far Reach

Anteprima: scritta prima dell'apertura della mostra

About 800 artists from around Basel, Alsace and South Baden answered this year's open call, and about 200 more in Bangladesh. Twenty-four made the cut: 16 from the tri-border region and eight finalists of the Samdani Art Award, Bangladesh's prize for emerging artists. Six of the eight are women, two are indigenous, and none has had a major international show before.

The Regionale usually stays inside the Dreiländereck, with venues across three countries showing local artists. The Kunsthalle's curators, working with the Samdani Art Foundation, treat a region as shared ideas rather than distance. Even the local artists draw on places from Egypt and Georgia to Uzbekistan and Eastern Siberia. For plenty of Baslers the region ends at the Saturday shop in Weil am Rhein. This one reaches Dhaka.

You'll meet two dozen names, nearly all new to the Regionale, so come curious rather than for a star. Entry is CHF 12, including S AM, free up to 18, and Thursdays run to 20:30. Closed 24 December.