Project

The Salon Mondial project space is part of the international artist exchange program Atelier Mondial, which was launched in 1986 under the name iaab. The premises on the Dreispitz—including the Salon Mondial exhibition and project space—have been in existence since 2014. The Atelier Mondial team consists of the project manager Alexandra Stäheli and the artist coach and studio coordinator Ken Steiner, supported by an intern. Every year, around sixteen international artists and thirteen artists from the TriRegio area (the local German-French-Swiss border area) participate in the exchange across four disciplines (visual art, literature, fashion and textiles, dance and performing arts). Around seven to ten Atelier Mondial exhibitions and events take place each year, and at other times, the space is rented at an affordable price to artists and institutions for their own projects. The 135-square-meter skylit project room is located in the heart of the Kunstfreilager art space, a stone’s throw away from the FHNW Academy of Art and Design, HeK House of Electronic Arts, and the Genossenschaft Haus Oslo Ateliers cooperative, meaning that there is rich potential for creating networks of institutions and artists from a wide variety of backgrounds. The well-equipped Cuisine Mondiale, connected to the Salon Mondial, creates a space for potential culinary meetups and experimental openings. Atelier Mondial concentrates on artistic, cultural, and personal exchange between artists of the TriRegio area and the rest of the world. For its international artist exchanges, Atelier Mondial has established strong partnerships both in Switzerland and abroad—including with Pro Helvetia Zurich and its outposts, Kunsthalle Mulhouse, Kulturamt Freiburg, HGK, Theater Roxy, Literaturhaus Basel und Freiburg, Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Textilpiazza, VITRINE Gallery, and others. These networks are determined by the profiles of the exchange partnerships in the four disciplines and on the needs of the local and international artists.