Slowly Arriving brings 19 artists from 12 countries back to Basel — the place of their artistic production, their transatlantic projections and, in some cases, their creative crises.

The guest exhibition, curated by Ines Goldbach and Alexandra Stäheli, is on show at Kunsthaus Baselland from 4 to 21 November 2021. Since 1986, the international artist exchange programme Atelier Mondial — rooted in the border triangle comprising Alsace, South Baden, Basel-Stadt and Baselland — has been engaged in an artistic dialogue between Basel and the world. The programme focuses on promoting lively artistic creation within the region through international artistic residencies, as well as by bringing new creative and artistic innovation and inspiration from abroad back to the Basel region. The exhibition Slowly Arriving takes this exchange as its focus and explores the latent potential that Basel offers the artists (particularly those from abroad). What affect does the residency have on artistic production in the region, what inspiration
is Basel able to convey as a city of art (especially through the Campus of the Arts, located in the Dreispitz quarter, which already has a geographical proximity to the international workshops of the guest artists and the studios of the art students)?

What happens when the regional artists return to Basel with an extensive accumulation of impressions from their time abroad? How does it feel and what takes places within an artist‘s thought processes and work, when they arrive at an unfamiliar place and instantly lose touch with common artistic practices and motivations, because their new environment functions so differently to the one they are used to? When treasured artistic strategies and theories suddenly no longer work or become obsolete? What comes into focus, in a moment of stillness and slowdown?

Slowly Arriving has been conceived as a retrospective on, and simultaneously an overview of, artistic production in the context of Atelier Mondial within the last 10 years; the show gathers 15 artists, one creative working with textiles and thee writers, who, under the auspices of Atelier Mondial, undertook a 3–6 month residency — some of whom were at the very beginning of their artistic careers when starting their residency, which was also their first time abroad. Others already had experience in the art scene which they could reflect on and their residency in Basel (or the wider world) gave them important insights for their work and careers. Without exception however, all these artists experienced a moment of slight irritation when beginning their residency. In some cases, this quickly faded away, in others it became a new thread in the artist‘s work, or else it wove itself entirely into the melody of a life story characterised by flight or being on the road.

The region of Basel is represented by the exhibition showcasing the work of Eva Borner, Stefanie Salzmann and the young collective of female artists fffff, comprising Leah Nehmert, Mariana Murcia and Laurie Mlodzik, who will open the exhibition with a performance.