About us

Born 1950 in Basel, Dr. André Baltensberger holds a PhD in Musicology and Economics. He was principal at the Music Academy Basel as well as delegate for the music colleges in the directorate of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Northwestern Switzerland. Before this he had been working as business economist in the printing industry and later took up a post as a reserach assistant at the Paul Sacher-Foundation in Basel. For ten years he was the general secretary at the conference of the cantonal governments in Bern as well as director of the Swiss Foundation for Federal Collaboration in Solothurn. 

The focus of his work, next to questions relating to federal government, are music of the 20th century, choruses, tropes and sequences in the High Middle Ages as well as the music history of the renaissance era. He obtained his PhD in 1987, his thesis focussing on the French-Grecian composer Iannis Xenakis. He also is a trained pianist, harpsichord player and vocalist. He is married, has one son and lives in Riehen near Basel.

Dipl. Ing. (Industrial Engineer)

Born in Dresden in 1943, Michael moved to Basel in1989 after previously living in Zürich and Berlin.

Michael graduated in Technology and Business Administration from the Technical University Berlin and subsequently worked as a director of studies and an assistant lecturer, as well as a consultant and a manager, initially at GDI Rüschlikon and then at the WWZ Forum of the University of Basel. He is currently course coordinator und director of an MBA programme at the University of Basel.

Born in Mannheim in 1975, Christian has lived in Switzerland since 2002. He studied Art History and History in Lausanne, Vienna, Lille and Heidelberg and has a PhD in Art History.

Curator for precious metal and ceramics of modern times at the Swiss National Museum as well as employee and program curator at Neues Kino Basel. President of Keramikfreunde der Schweiz and member of the Committee of Experts of the Jewish Museum of Switzerland. He previously worked at museums in Neuchâtel, Basel, Lausanne, Strasbourg, Vienna and Lille.

Publications on «L’argenterie Lausannoise» (2007), «Basler Goldschmiedekunst» (2013 und 2014) und «Prêt à porter. L'histoire du sac plastique et papier en Suisse» (2016).

Pius Knüsel, born 1957 in Cham, Switzerland, graduated from the University of Zurich in German Literature and Philosophy.

Working as a freelance journalist, he was a co-founder of a political-cultural weekly paper for Central Switzerland in 1981. He worked as the cultural editor at Swiss Television from 1985 until 1992 and as an independent music promoter. Pius was the founder, artistic and business director of the Moods Jazz Club in Zurich from 1992 until 1997, as well as a board member of the European Jazz Network.

From 1998 until 2002 Pius was the head of the department of cultural sponsoring of Credit Suisse (retail branch) and in 2002 was appointed director of Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council. Since 2012 he is working in education for adults, teaching arts management and cultural policy at various universities in Switzerland and abroad.

Pius is also member of the boards of Mummenschanz Foundation, of Locarno Film Festival and of the Asociation of Swiss Adult Education Centres.

Born 1960 in Bern, Daniela Settelen-Trees has lived in Basel since 1989. After her studies of art history in Bern, Basel and Munich, worked as an art historian in museums, galeries and foundations.

Since 2008 she is the directior of the GGG Atelierhaus in Basel, among other mandates in cultural management, and has published several art books.

Born 1976 in Khmelnytsky, Ukraine (then USSR). Kateryna is a curator, cultural critic, and writer with master degree in cultural studies. She was director of the Foundation Center for Contemporary Art in Kyiv, Ukraine, and a founder and editor-in-chief of Korydor, an online journal on contemporary culture.

She worked as a trainer and consultant for various programs within EU Eastern Partnership Culture Programme, dealing with cultural policy analysis, cultural industries and cultural journalism in the region. She consulted the EU National Institutes for Culture EUNIC on issues of global cultural relations and collaboration. Kateryna is a regular contributor to various media.

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Why did you want to work with CULTURESCAPES?
I joined the team as a curator of exhibitions in 2014. But soon I realized that as a festival, CULTURESCAPES provides a unique platform for combining many things I always valued about my work in the cultural field: multidisciplinary approach, research into local cultural landscapes of global reach and importance, and connecting a variety of artistic voices with diverse audiences. Over the years, we developed CULTURESCAPES into a platform for empowerment and awareness regarding the rising topical issues of our times. I am happy to see CULTURESCAPES as a growing space of care and mutual learning between different and distant societies and cultures with a common goal – imagining a better and more sustainable future.

What do you particularly like about CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia?
As outsiders, we are easily overwhelmed by images of powerful rivers connecting the continent from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, or the endless green masses of the rainforest. Shocking news of wildfires, or, more recently, COVID-casualties, also catch attention. With CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia we want to enable voices of artists, activists, writers and researchers from different parts of the region, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to tell stories of Amazonia as a realm of the fight for environmental protection, for human and cultural rights, as an interconnected space of different kinds of knowledge and visions of human and non-human cohabitation. These stories and knowledges are of utter importance to everyone today, regardless of who we are or where we live.

Born in Basel in 1988. Works for CULTURESCAPES since May 2015.

She studied European Literatures at the Humboldt University in Berlin. 

Since 2010 she has been working in Basel and Berlin, mostly in the fields of cultural management and public relations. Since 2016 she has been responsible for production, projects and communication at the literature festival BuchBasel. She also works projectwise for Mobile Academy Berlin or the Literature Archive in Marbach.

Born in Basel in 1982. Works for CULTURESCAPES since May 2015.

She studied Comparative Literature at the University of Geneva and at Freie Universität Berlin.

From 2007 to 2010 was working in various positions for festivals in Berlin (including House of World Cultures, the International Literature Festival or Tanzfabrik). From 2011 to 2013 she was a research associate at the Department of Cultural Analysis at Zurich University of the Arts. Since 2014 she is freelancing with projects at the interface between research and exhibition.

Born in Belgrade in 1985. Works for CULTURESCAPES since August 2015.

Bilingual Matura at the Swiss School of Milan followed by studies in Philosophy, Slavic Studies and Political Science at the University of Zürich, and Fashion Management at Mod'Art in Paris and Belgrade. 

Various experience in journalism, as well as festival organisation and production. Former editorial member of Radio Basel, member of the organisational committee of Belgrade fashion week from 2010 to 2012, and marketing assistant for a design and customer relations agency in Zürich since 2012. 

Born in Schopfheim (Germany) in 1976. Alexa joined CULTURESCAPES in 2012.

She studied International Culture Management in Freiburg before travelling through South America and Asia.

Alexa was responsible for communication and events at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein from 2000 to 2009. She subsequently worked as a PR specialist at the Burghof Lörrach and for the STIMMEN-Festival. Since 2014 she is the co-director of KlangBasel music festival.

Born in Basel in 1991. Works for CULTURESCAPES since August 2015.

Master of Arts in Sociology and Psychology from the University of Glasgow, with international exchange year at the University of New South Wales, Australia.

Various jobs and independent projects in the fields of culture, sustainability and politics, including: campaign for an unconditional basic income, the environmental plattform UP, or KlangBasel. She is also part of a collective that runs an analogue photography lab. 

Born in Basel in 1965. Works for CULTURESCAPES since 2008.

Thomas worked at Kaserne Basel until 2001 before becoming a self-employed light and sound technician for various companies, such as Biennale Bern, Anna Huber Company, Christoph Marthaler, and was the technical director of the Music Festival Bern.