In the early 2000s, Culturescapes started as a small yearly event driven by its founder’s dedication to music and poetry and deep regard for cultures, then underrepresented in Western Europe. The notion of ‘culture/scape’ brought together culture and landscape and pointed towards cultural landscapes of various countries, cities, and world regions, their often unseen histories and unheard knowledges. Over the years, learning about these cultural topographies shepherded a learning process of the festival itself: from presentation to active listening, support to collaboration, producing to networking.
As curators, we saw the increasing need to share the growing cycle of the festival with our partners, both from the regions in focus and in Switzerland, to learn from and with them, to co-create. This was the path from the intense yearly festivals that stretched over two months and comprised hundreds of events to more concise biennial ones. The focus on countries changed to the focus on the world critical zones, where relations between communities and their environments, between societies and visions of their pasts and futures, were of global importance. In 2021, there was Amazonia. In 2023 — Sahara. Together with our artistic advisors, co-curators, and partners, we strived to create spaces for mutual learning and reflect on the changing role of cultural institutions nowadays. Hence, for the first time, Culturescapes Sahara will have two chapters going deeper into the region and its various cultures in 2025.
At Culturescapes, we believe a cultural festival is a shared garden that needs care. It does not age. It grows.
Jurriaan Cooiman, director
Kateryna Botanova, curator
In our new brochure you will find a detailed overview of our work over the last 20 years, as well as greetings from Beat Jans, President of the Basel City Government, Peggy Patience Grueninger, Head Corporate Donations and Philanthropy, Roche, Rudi von Planta, Head of Culture and Development, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and Pius Knüsel, President of the Culturescapes Foundation: Culturescapes 2003-2023.
Photo: Kateryna Botanova and Jurriaan Cooiman. Photographer: Bettina Matthiessen
