In the beginning, it was just an idea about seeking out the processes of change and describing their effects on contemporary art scenes in countries which had been separated from Western Europe by a 40 to 80-year old impenetrable border. We slowly moved away from this approach, and attention switched to countries and regions whose "cultural landscapes" are not only formed by a long tradition of artistic diversity, but also by historical, political, social or economic conflicts and reforms.        

In 2003, young poets, such as Rati Amaglobeli and Pako Swimonischvili or the famous composer Giya Kancheli were presented alongside an exhibition of enamel miniatures, new media artists and movies from Georgia's rich cinematic history. The fact that the panel discussion "Georgia - where are you headed?" took place on the same day demonstrators stormed the Georgian Parliament to overthrow President Eduard Shevardnadze during the bloodless Rose Revolution ensured the event received lots of media coverage.        

Literature from Chernivtsi, a city which was once part of the Habsburg Empire, but is now in the Ukraine, the Chernobyl disaster (exhibition) as well as music by Valentin Silvestrov were the main topics in 2004. And as fate would have it, the closing panel discussion "Ukraine - where are you headed?" occurred just as the Orange Revolution demonstrators gathered at Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Independence Square, in Kiev demanding a recount of votes in the presidential election.

The 90 anniversary of the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks was the catalyst for an extensive portrait of Armenia. The topics "Paradise on earth", "Silent voices" and "Memory and identity" ensured new approaches and dialogues. The first ever international public symposium on the subject of the Armenian Genocide also took place - without invitations and without police protection. Special highlights were the religious singing of the world's oldest established church and a specially commissioned piece of music by the composer Tigran Mansurian, which was premiered by the world class musicians Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Sol Gabetta together with the Hilliard Ensemble and Kim Kashkashian. A retrospective of Sergej Paradzhanov's work accompanied by some of his films, many of which had never been shown in the West before, gave film buffs the chance to discover new ground.        

A symposium to celebrate 15 years of independence in Estonia focussed attention on the rapid speed of modernisation in this country, which resulted in Estonia becoming the first Baltic nation to join the European Community.

For the first time we offered an exciting programme of performance art with the sensational production "Magic Flute - Alchemic Tragedy" by the Von Krahl Theatre from Tallinn. New compositions by Erkki-Sven Tüür, Helena Tulve and Arvo Pärt were well received, just like the exhibition of young visual artists, the lyric poetry of Elo Viiding and Kristiina Ehin and the prose of Tõnu Õnnepalu. Furthermore, we were able to launch a new competition for young composers. Another new feature in 2006 was that Estonia was the first country to provide financial support for the festival. Something which festival countries have continued to do ever since.            

The guest in 2007 was a country that had experienced enormous upheavals and became an EU member shortly after the festival. The theatre scene in Bucharest plays an extremely important role in coming to terms with the experiences of the post-Ceausescu era. The texts and productions by Peca Stefan, Lia Bugnar, Ana Margineanu and the Monday Theatre@Green Hours are humorous, self critical and energetic. We were lucky enough to present these key exponents of the scene who subsequently went on to enjoy, among other things, great success in London and Berlin.

The exhibition "Remix - Fragments of a Country" presented at the Venice Biennale in 2006 was shown at CULTURESCAPES 2007 in cooperation with the Swiss Architecture Museum (S AM). Dan Perjovschi displayed his bitter sweet, ironic wall drawings on the back wall of the Kunsthalle Basel. Traditional Romanian music of the past and present - from religious Christmas songs to the Roma band Shukar Collective - was showcased. Portrait concerts by Aurel Stroe, Myriam Marbe, Ștefan Niculescu, Doina Rotaru, Horaţiu Rădulescu and Violeta Dinescu formed the backbone of the festival together with a number of jazz concerts. 2007 marked the year that the festival spread beyond Basel to other Swiss cities: Bern, Zürich and Uster also hosted a number of events.         

This development continued in 2008, allowing CULTURESCAPES to become a nationwide network festival with further event partners in Geneva and Chur. This year's festival focussed on the contemporary Turkish dance and theatre productions: in addition to Taldans Company, Aydın Teker and Şahika Tekand, the first production of "The Ugly Human" ("Çirkin İnsan Yavrusu") was also staged by the oyun deposu group. Political and social questions, for example the complex relationship between Turkey and Europe, were addressed during panel discussions and at extremely popular lectures at the Volkshochschule beider Basel as well as public readings by authors in the Literaturhaus Basel and at BuchBasel.

Turkish citizens living in Switzerland confirmed that it was a gathering of the most influential Turkish musicians: Burhan Öçal, Taksim Trio, Fazıl Say, Erkan Oğur, Önder Focan, Mercan Dede and many more. With several semas (religious dancing and music of the Dervishes) of the group from Konya as well as a concert with Sufi music and the works of Bach, we encouraged social interaction on several levels. For example, who would have thought that a youth orchestra whose members come from ten cities around Turkey could play Beethoven so wonderfully? An intensive discussion with the Turkish Ministry of Culture showed the problems which a festival can face when it depends on the support of the presented country, but the official cultural representatives of the respective country actually wish to paint a completely different picture.        

Greatly encouraged by our experiences, a work published by the innovative Swiss publisher Christoph Merian Verlag allowed us to create a completely independent medium, combining background and general information with journalistic-critical debate.

To ensure we covered the "whole" of the South Caucasus, we followed up a request from the Azerbaijan Ministry of Culture. We invited wonderful musicians from Baku - the jazz capital of the former USSR - such as Aziza Mustafa Zadeh, Salman Gambarov and Isfar Rzayev-Sarabski. The violoncello concert "Deniz" [Ocean] was premiered: a commissioned piece by the Azerbaijan composer Frangiz Alizade. Alim Qasimov, the living legend of mugam, also played live. The programme also included puppet and pantomime theatre as well as artist residencies. Social taboos, such as homosexuality in films and literature, were also addressed. A special opening ceremony was visited by the two heads of state, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the then Swiss President, Hans-Rudolf Merz.         

We achieved a new dimension in 2010 with CULTURESCAPES China. The figures really speak for themselves: over 400 Chinese artists, in excess of 180 events with more than 50 partner events and over 60,000 visitors. Co-productions with the video and performance artist Wang Jianwei, the choreographer Jing Xing, a commissioned piano concert by Wang Xilin and the eight-hour performance "Memory" (about the Cultural Revolution) by the Living Dance Studio from Beijing, to name just a few of the highlights.

We were also able to boast new visual art partners: the Cartoon Museum Basel and the Kunsthaus Baselland as well as the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein. Smaller towns, such as Solothurn, Vevey and Thun, helped the network to spread and become more diverse throughout Switzerland. Visitors crowded into the Volkshochschule beider Basel to listen to the many lectures. The programme of the Arts Council of Switzerland Pro Helvetia "Swiss Chinese Cultural Explorations" was an integral part of the festival with nine cooperation projects between Swiss and Chinese artists in the fields of theatre, music and visual arts.         

The currently planned festivals, Israel 2011, USA 2012 and the Balkans 2013, provide a context within which controversial and sensitive issues will have to be addressed and represent an enormous challenge for CULTURESCAPES:

Israel - as it is often only seen as the aggressor, a fact which does not facilitate a deeper look at the multifaceted artistic landscape of this country and the resulting dialogue. The USA - a gigantic country whose multilingualism (12% of the population speak Spanish) and unique media landscape exercise a special fascination. Both result in reverberations and reactions in art and cultural life which often go unrecognised here in Europe. The Balkans - an obscure yet significant corner of Europe with a highly explosive recent and ancient history and a diverse mixture of cultures that poses the question of: What does the future hold?