Basel Biennale for New Music and Architecture

Verein ZeitRäume, Basel, Switzerland

The festival project of the Basel music society ZeitRäume is a foundation initiative the results of which will be presented to the public for the first time in 2015. Both architecture and contemporary music of the highest quality have a long tradition in Basel and this prompted the idea to bring both together in a festival held every two years. The 2015 Biennale will be supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. The combining of music, space and architecture serves as a clear artistic focus, facilitates clear-cut differentiation from existing international festivals and is necessary for a broad anchoring in Basel beyond the close circle of New Music. Organizers here hold by the principle of offering high quality in low-key event formats. New Music should not be presented as a niche phenomenon but as part of everyday life in the city.
“Putting a score” to familiar, unfamiliar and new spaces in Basel is aimed at arousing people’s curiosity, triggering specific musical exploration and holding precise stagings at “everyday locations” like on the banks of the Rhine, in inner courtyards, architecturally /acoustically remarkable spaces in churches, museums etc.

September 10 – 13, 2015 
Rheinufer (public space); Basel Minster; Volkshaus Basel; Badischer Bahnhof/Gare du Nord and Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum