Contemporary Art Biennale Basel 2026: International Contemporary Art in Dialogue during the Art Basel week
Artist Tanja Playner with the artwork "Interieur with the striped armchair . Nr 1. Pink" (2026)
Art by Rebeccah Klodt "Untitled" - Contemporary Art Biennale Basel 2026
Artwork "Nobility" (2024) by Nada Kelemen
BASEL, SWITZERLAND, June 17, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- When the international art world turns its attention to Basel in June, Art Basel once again marks the epicenter of the global art market. At the same time, a network of satellite formats has established itself, opening up alternative perspectives.
Among the most noteworthy is the Contemporary Art Biennale Basel, taking place from June 19 to 21, 2026. Organized by the MOCAMAG Museum and curated by Heinz Playner, this curated exhibition platform brings together current trends in contemporary art and places them within a coherent thematic context.
The exhibition will feature works in painting, sculpture, mixed media, works on paper, and digital practices. This diversity of media serves less as a mere breadth than as a precise reflection on contemporary artistic practice at the intersection of materiality, concept, and technological advancement.
This curatorial approach in particular strengthens conceptual approaches and makes complex relationships between works visible – beyond the fragmented perception of classic trade fair formats.
As a complement to Art Basel, the Contemporary Art Biennale Basel broadens the view of contemporary art and thus makes a crucial contribution to the content-richness of the Basel art week.
The American artist Rebeccah Klodt develops an open form of abstract expressionism in which the viewer's interpretation is a central component of the work. Her mostly untitled pieces—influenced by nature, music, and inner perception—combine diverse materials and forms of expression into a multifaceted visual experience.
Czech artist Nada Kelemen sees painting as an energetic field between perception, spirituality, and inner balance. Her multifaceted works emerge from a process-oriented interplay of intuition, materiality, and rhythmic structure, inviting a contemplative experience that transcends the purely visual. Two of your artworks ("Inner love", 2026 and "Nobility", 2024) will be exhibited at the Basel Biennale in 2026.
The artist Tanja Playner develops a visual language that oscillates between order and dissolution, understanding perception as a dynamic system. In her figurative compositions, she destabilizes space, perspective, and orientation, transforming the image into an open field of possible viewpoints. Her paintings invite the viewer to actively participate in seeing and to renegotiate the question of reality and the construction of pictorial space. At the Contemporary Art Biennale Basel 2026 during Art Basel week, she will be showing some large-format works from the series "Interieur with the striped armchair", which were created in 2026.
In her work, the artist Cydney Shanelle addresses contemporary themes and develops a sensitive, decorative visual language characterized by nature, animal motifs and classical aesthetics. Through finely crafted compositions with subtle gold accents, she creates quiet, emotional spaces that reflect personal experiences of memory and loss.
In her abstract paintings, the American artist Sara McKenzie combines scientific thinking with intuitive, process-based practice. Through multi-layered compositions of color, structure, and movement, she explores emotional and spiritual states as well as the invisible forces of inner perception. Her works are conceived as visual metaphors for transformation and invite a contemplative, reflective experience.
The artist Susan Metzendorf integrates mathematical structures into abstract painting using intuitive, multi-layered processes. In works such as "Über_gang" (Transition), she translates personal experiences of change and new beginnings into powerful compositions of color and material that oscillate between order and dynamism. Her works invite the viewer to explore inner processes and understand their individual path.
In her artistic work, Norwegian artist Galina Lorentzen uses textile techniques as a starting point to explore questions of physicality, memory and perception in a multifaceted way. Her works move between materiality and inner experience, opening a contemplative space for dialogue. Shaped by Scandinavian aesthetics and international experience, she understands art as both an aesthetic and therapeutic practice.
German artist Susanne Hessenthaler combines textile techniques with an expressive, sculptural visual language in which sewn forms emerge plastically from the surface. Inspired by art history, literature, and personal experiences, she creates works that oscillate between painting, object, and narrative. Her works explore human emotions, memory, and hope, while simultaneously offering a sensual and tactile engagement with pictorial space.
Vibrant, warm colors of the Caribbean combined with European painting techniques showcase the world of Renata Rolefes, an artist living in Curaçao. In dynamic, expressive compositions, she creates a visual language that blurs the lines between fantasy and reality, characterized by joie de vivre, nature, and cultural diversity. Her works aim to evoke emotions and fill spaces with energy, optimism, and visual luminosity.
Berlin-based artist Mona Moleo develops an intuitive, process-based style of painting at the intersection of abstract expressionism and existential reflection. Her works emerge from meditative states and are conceived as spaces for resonating with emotional and social experiences. With a unique technique that incorporates movement and breath, she creates a direct, physically tangible visual language.
Contemporary Art Biennale Basel
19-21 June 2026
Vernissage: 19 June, 7-9 PM
Public view:
20 June 2026, 11 AM – 5 PM
21 June 2026, 11 AM – 3 PM
www.contemporaryartbiennalebasel.com
Heinz Playner
PAKS Gallery GmbH
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