‘I like to say that here, the regional is international. It may be a neat turn of phrase, but it’s very true.’ Sandrine Wymann knows a thing or two about this: she has been running La Kunsthalle Mulhouse, in the French city on the border with Switzerland and Germany, for 15 years. Because of its industrial past, it is sometimes called the ‘Manchester of France’. When its director arrived there in 2009, contemporary art was still finding its feet: how best to adapt to this changing landscape, shaped by students, immigration, and commuting?

Today, La Kunsthalle is an art center that has taken full advantage of its distinctive characteristics. Starting with its location at the heart of the Fonderie building, whose high concrete vaults also house the Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA). ‘Of course, artists come from all over the world, but I want their projects to be anchored in Mulhouse,’ insists Wymann. Recently, La Kunsthalle’s 700 m² space was the setting for the acclaimed group show ‘Power up: imaginaires techniques et utopies sociales’. Curated by Géraldine Gourbe, Fanny Lopez, and Wymann, it took a feminist look at technical utopias through the work of artists such as Carla Adra, Claude Parent, Liv Schulman, and Suzanne Treister. In early June, the spotlight will be on Younes Rahmoun, one of the most prominent North Africans of his generation. His exhibition ‘Darra-Zahra-Jabal’, whose title translates from the Arabic as ‘Atom-Flower-Mountain’, is an invitation to travel. Through his spiritual installations, the Moroccan artist invokes the imaginings of the seed, the one that takes root far from its native soil.

At La Kunsthalle, mobility is as much a theme as a way of operating. ‘I’m keen to collaborate, and the venues of the Grand Est region, whether for exhibitions or live performance, are obvious partners,’ emphasizes Wymann. ‘We are preparing a project for 2025 with the CRAC Alsace – Centre rhénan d’art contemporain in Altkirch and the Centre européen d’actions artistiques contemporaines (CEAAC) in Strasbourg. Our subject is the river Ill, which flows through the three towns. La Kunsthalle is part of a rich regional artistic ecosystem. For example, the CRAC Alsace, just 30 minutes away, explores issues of colonialism in the region, with a particular focus on the Portuguese-speaking world. In June, they will host a project by Madrid-based sculptor Julia Spínola; for the vernissage and garden party there will be a shuttle bus from the fair during Art Basel in June. And then an hour and a half from Altkirch lies the capital of the Grand Est region, Strasbourg. The city is home to the European Parliament, but is also the heart of Alsace’s heritage – its cathedral had Victor Hugo raving about this ‘prodigy of the gigantic and the delicate.’ The glassed-in nave of Strasbourg’s Musée d’art moderne et contemporain (MAMC), which launched in 2008, opens onto the old town and features the monumental painting Le Christ quittant le prétoire (1867-1872) by local artist Gustave Doré. The importance of graphic arts in the region has remained a hallmark, as evidenced by the Museum Tomi Ungerer in Strasbourg, as well as a renowned illustration department at the Haute École des arts du Rhin (HEAR).

Heading north east, Metz offers an example of another creative hub stimulated by cross-border dynamics. ‘When I arrived, I knew about the richness of these exchanges and the beauty of the Vosges landscape. I’m also thinking of the history of the Nancy World Theatre Festival, where Robert Wilson performed Deafman Glance in 1971, which was a founding factor in the conception of art venues as laboratories for experimentation,’ says Chiara Parisi, the director of the Centre Pompidou-Metz. She says she follows the region’s cultural news with interest, in particular that of the amateur photography association, La Conserverie, un lieu d’archives, and the CAC – la synagogue de Delme. Since its inauguration in 2010, the Centre Pompidou-Metz, France’s first decentralized national museum, has established itself as an architectural landmark with visitors greeted by its undulating roof designed by the architects Shigeru Ban and Jean de Gastines. The center, whose surface area is equivalent to that of Beaubourg in Paris, hosts between five and seven exhibitions of Modern and contemporary art each year. While 2024 began under the sign of Jacques Lacan, with an unprecedented exploration of the dialogue between art and psychoanalysis, the summer will be spent in the company of André Masson, the self-proclaimed ‘rebel’ of Surrealism, and the German artist Katharina Grosse, whose immersive spray paintings fill the great nave and forecourt with their shimmering colors.

A 20-minute walk through the old town takes you to the tree-lined former convent of the 49 Nord 6 Est – Frac Lorraine, currently celebrating its 20^th anniversary with the exhibition ‘Presque partout’. Works from the collection, characterized by a feminist and Queer focus, take their place within a labyrinth imagined by Soshiro Matsubara, an artist renowned for his camp theatricality.

‘Luxembourg is unique for the many nationalities that live there, with everyone experiencing Europe and globalization within a tiny space,’ says Bettina Steinbrügge. The German was appointed head of Mudam, Luxembourg’s museum of contemporary art, in 2022, after eight years at the helm of the Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany. ‘The country’s history is becoming a universal narrative. This provides a ground for experimentation that I see as a great opportunity,’ she explains. Since February, the ambitious exhibition cycle ‘A Model’ has been bearing witness to this. The three-part proposal inaugurates the new direction with a reflection on the role of the museum in the 21st century. Some thirty artists, including Anna Boghiguian, Nora Turato, Jason Dodge, General Idea, Superflex, and Rayyane Tabet, engage in a dialogue with the collection, the institution, and society. ‘Mudam’s location not only changes the way we perceive art, it also has an impact on the way artists work,’ adds the director, recalling another of the site’s particularities: the contemporary nature of its collection, which began in the 1980s. ‘As curators, we’ve learned to redefine our objectives beyond the simple blockbuster, tourist attraction, or appealing to the global jet set. Our mission is also to become increasingly local,’ says Steinbrügge of the commitment she has taken on, whereby the museum also becomes ‘a forum for intergenerational educational discussion,’ offering the population ‘reinvented meeting places.’

In mid-June, Steinbrügge and her team will head to Basel. For her, the fair is a ‘cultural hub’ where ‘dialogues are created, new talents discovered and connections between players in the art world strengthened.’ As for Wymann, she is delighted with the ‘boon’ Art Basel represents for ‘exhibition spaces peripheral to the fair.’ She concludes: ‘It’s up to us to show that the programs in outlying venues are of high quality, and that it’s not complicated to get there!’