5 unmissable cultural highlights in Basel this spring

This spring, Kunstmuseum Basel will host ‘Form as Experiment’, offering an invaluable chance to view a series of works by acclaimed US painter Shirley Jaffe. Initially known for leaning heavily toward abstract expressionism, Jaffe’s paintings later shifted as she became influenced by wider cultural factors, such as the music of experimental German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. To mark this innovation, a musical program, ‘Manyness’, takes place on four days (April 14 and 15, May 12 and 13) during the exhibition, featuring the music of composers including Iannis Xenakis, Elliott Carter and Stockhausen. Their music will play for five hours on each day, uninterrupted, providing a suitably atmospheric soundtrack for Jaffe’s work.

‘Form as Experiment’, Kunstmuseum Basel, until July 30, 2023.

If you’re fed up of seeing still life paintings that focus on apples and grapes, step into the cutting-edge confines of Fondation Beyeler to see American painter Wayne Thiebaud’s appetising take on still life, featuring pies, ice creams, cream cakes and other treats. But these works aren’t just eye candy, as they’re also a wry snapshot of American life, which Thiebaud examines in so much of his distinctive work. Alongside the still life paintings in this exhibition – the first of its kind in the German-speaking world to focus on Thiebaud – are colourful landscapes and cityscapes, and people caught in everyday moments, reflecting intimacy and mundanity in equal measure.

Wayne Thiebaud, Fondation Beyeler, until May 21, 2023.

Spring is the perfect time to start appreciating the beauty of the garden once again, and there are few venues better-placed to showcase just how innovative and important a garden can be than the forward-thinking Vitra Design Museum. ‘Garden Futures: Designing with Nature’ is the museum’s exploration of the deep-rooted wonders that a garden can offer, delving into contemporary issues such as social justice, biodiversity and sustainability alongside the well-documented horticultural benefits. A series of special events will sit alongside the main exhibition, including a talk by landscape architect and civil engineer Bas Smets (known for designing the public gardens around Notre Dame Cathedral) and a scenic nature walk from Oudolf Garden to Tüllinger Hill.

‘Garden Futures: Designing with Nature’, Vitra Design Museum, until October 3, 2023.

Maverick Swiss sculptor Jean Tinguely was never short of progressive ideas, and you can see some of the most fascinating at Museum Tinguely, a venue dedicated to the work of this bold artist and commentator. The museum holds around 130 sculptures and 2,000 works on paper, and in 2023 visitors can soak up Tinguely’s work in an extensive new section of the permanent collection. Trace the artist’s journey from delicate early career work to fascinating kinetic pieces that satirise mechanical production to the grand, theatrical ambitions of his final sculptures. A newly purchased work, ‘Eloge de la Folie’ from 1966, is one of the highlights of this fresh layout. This fantastical kinetic sculpture features a flat, black gear train powered by an electric motor, though it used to be set in motion by a dancer, pedalling to move the cogwheels (the sculpture was originally part of a stage set for a ballet).

Museum Tinguely, until spring 2025.

Sitting within the architectural feast that is the Novartis Campus, the Novartis Pavillon is the site’s first publicly accessible building and makes for a suitably eye-catching venue, thanks to its gleaming, ‘zero energy media façade’, powered by 30,000 LEDs and energy-generating solar panels. The pavillon was designed to be a place for community and social encounters, where people can learn about life sciences, healthcare and the wider work taking place around the campus. As part of this, Novartis Pavillon also hosts events and exhibitions, including its permanent exhibition, Wonders of Medicine, which looks at the past, present and future of medicine, healthcare and sciences.