La Nefera

La Nefera is characterized by her multifaceted musical work, her energetic live shows and her social commitment. She is solo rapper, leader of her live band, front woman of the brass band 'Error 404: Band Not Found' and protagonist of the Basel-Ramallah project 'Kallemi'.

In and alongside her music she is strongly committed to social issues, especially networking and the empowerment of women*. She is regarded as co-founder of the only Swiss female hip hop collective 'Vybezbilder'.

La Nefera aka Jennifer Perez wins the Advancement Award 2020 of the canton of Basel-Landschaft!

Michael von der Heide

Michael von der Heide is a musical and linguistic chameleon. Despite his noble name, he knows no pride of place, he amazes and succeeds time and again with projects in the most diverse styles. It is therefore not surprising that Michael von der Heide had gathered a bevy of excellent jazz musicians around him for his trilingual album 'Rio Amden Amsterdam'. In April the song 'Abschied von der Nacht' was released in Colab with Heidi Happy. Michael von der Heide is one of the most famous chansonniers in Switzerland.

In times of the coronavirus, he occasionally takes care of the welfare of many people off stage - as a staff member in a nursing home.

Fabia Zindel

The heart of textile designer Fabia Zindel beats for the screen printing trade. 25 years ago she founded her label MATRIX in the Bachlettenquartier in Basel. Since then, she has regularly developed and produced foulard collections and home accessories.

In 2010 the MATRIX shop opened in St.Johanns-Vorstadt 38, where all collections are presented and sold.  

In 2015 Fabia Zindel was awarded the Basel Culture Prize for her work.

Manuel Battegay

Manuel Battegay has been Chief Physician of the Clinic for Infectiology & Hospital Hygiene at the University Hospital Basel (USB) since 2002 and has been working at the USB since 1994. He is part of the management of the USB's Covid-19 Task Force and a member of the Swiss National Covid-19 Science Task Force. Prof. Battegay has served as President of the European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS), headed the Scientific Board (1998-2002) of the Swiss HIV Cohort Study and was President of the Jewish Community of Basel.

In his youth, however, he wanted to become an actor.  He soothed his passion for acting with visits to the theatre and cinema. He loves socio-political discussions and the authors Philip Roth, Vasily Grossman and Franz Kafka. Among the authors of philosophical writings, he likes Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, who combines philosophy, Jewish theology and social policy in his work. He showed his enthusiasm for photography in an exhibition at Ramstein Optik in 2017.

Renée Levi

Painting and installations are the core focal points for artist Renée Levi. As a professor of fine art and painting, she also teaches at the Academy of Art and Design FHNW. In 2019, she created our Art Basel campaign comprising over 50 original paintings, which caused a sensation. The campaign has been nominated in the category “Out of Home Innovations” by the jury of the Swiss Poster Award.

Alain Claude Sulzer

The multi-award-winning writer lives and works in Basle, Vieux Ferrette and Berlin. In 2019, he was nominated for the Swiss Book Prize for his most recent novel Unhaltbare Zustände (Intolerable Conditions). Alain Claude Sulzer regularly writes essays for the newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

Nicole Bernegger

In November 2019, Nicole Bernegger released her celebrated third album, where she pays homage to the soul music of the sixties and early seventies with occasional Americana moments. During the pre-Fasnacht event Charivari, she took to the stage as Ms Fasnacht. From April onwards, she’ll be on tour with her extensive repertoire.

Josef Helfenstein

Josef Helfenstein came to our small city of Basle in 2016 from The Menil Collection and Foundation in Houston, a city with millions of inhabitants, to be director of the Kunstmuseum. For Josef Helfenstein, the art museum is a public space and functions as a lively place for exchange and discourse. He has published several papers on the art of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, including texts on the German avant-garde, surrealism and American and European art following the Second World War.