Infrastructures of Care
Mesh is a recurring festival for art and technology in Basel. The programme spans exhibitions, performances, screenings and workshops, complemented by a conference of talks and panel discussions. This year's edition, titled Infrastructures of Care, asks after good social relations, fair technologies and a mindful relationship with the environment. Mesh creates spaces for connection, exchange and solidarity, understanding Care as something held in common — something that can be shaped together. At its centre stands one question: how is technology changing the way we live together?
First highlights of the 2026 edition
Mesh opens on Wednesday evening with the opening ceremony and is then open daily from Thursday to Sunday. Exhibitions (Gabriel Abrantes; Sophia Bulgakova; Sohyun Jun; Martin Messier; Tatjana Vall and others), workshops (metaLAB; TouchDesigner and others) and screenings run throughout the festival week, while the evenings are given over to performances and club nights. These highlights show what else takes place on each individual day:
Wednesday, 14 October – Opening
Opening ceremony
Performances: Martin Messier and others
Thursday, 15. October
Conference: Anna Puigjaner and Ethel Baraona Pohl (ETH Zürich Care.); Workshops and Panel (in collaboration with Make/Sense and IXDM) with Shivangi Mariam Raj (The Funambulist), Erin Honeycutt (Cutt Press) and Eric Otieno Sumba
Performances: Kay Yoon; Myriam Bleau and Nien Tzu Weng and others
Friday, 16 October
Conference: Workshops and Long Table (in collaboration with Make/Sense and IXDM) mit Magda Tyżlik-Carver (Aarhus University), T.L. Cowan and Jas Rault (University of Toronto); Panel (in collaboration with Media Architecture Institute) with Gernot Tscherteu (Realitylab), Martijn de Waal (Civic Interaction Design), Caroline Green (University of Oxford), Viktor Bedö (SMUC Kitchen) and others
Performances: Joanna Zybrycka; Nelly-Eve Rajotte; Aïsha Devi
Club Night: Demdike Stare and others
Saturday, 17 October
Conference: Wendy Chun; Christine Binswanger (Herzog & de Meuron); Pau Aleikum Garcia (domestic data streamers) and others
Performances: Buena Tarde & ztaa and others
Sunday, 18 October – Closing
Free admission to exhibitions and workshops
The full programme follows in September. Stay in the loop via social media and our newsletter.
Contents of the 2026 edition
The programme is structured around seven care themes:
Commons of Connection shows how closeness emerges, even when encounters increasingly take place digitally. Memory Machines asks who decides what gets remembered, and preserves suppressed knowledge. Future Playgrounds creates cross-generational spaces for collectively testing out futures. Wild Cities brings cities into focus as habitats for humans, animals, and plants. Non-Public Publics (in collaboration with Make/Sense and IXDM) mobilises practices for defying logics of fragmentation. Circular Systems centres on ecological and technological cycles rather than consumption. Rounding out the programme is the hands-on theme Urban Actions | Spatial Utopias, through which Mesh also takes shape in large-scale spatial installations.
For everyone
Mesh is open to everyone – whatever your age, whether you're curious or experienced, coming alone or with the whole family. Whether this is your first time or you've been with Mesh for years: we invite you to discover spaces for closeness, exchange, and new ideas together with us. From 14–18 October at Dreispitz in Basel – we look forward to seeing you.
Mesh is a recurring festival for art and technology in Basel. The programme spans exhibitions, performances, screenings and workshops, complemented by a conference of talks and panel discussions. This year's edition, titled Infrastructures of Care, asks after good social relations, fair technologies and a mindful relationship with the environment. Mesh creates spaces for connection, exchange and solidarity, understanding Care as something held in common — something that can be shaped together. At its centre stands one question: how is technology changing the way we live together?
First highlights of the 2026 edition
Mesh opens on Wednesday evening with the opening ceremony and is then open daily from Thursday to Sunday. Exhibitions (Gabriel Abrantes; Sophia Bulgakova; Sohyun Jun; Martin Messier; Tatjana Vall and others), workshops (metaLAB; TouchDesigner and others) and screenings run throughout the festival week, while the evenings are given over to performances and club nights. These highlights show what else takes place on each individual day:
Wednesday, 14 October – Opening
Opening ceremony
Performances: Martin Messier and others
Thursday, 15. October
Conference: Anna Puigjaner and Ethel Baraona Pohl (ETH Zürich Care.); Workshops and Panel (in collaboration with Make/Sense and IXDM) with Shivangi Mariam Raj (The Funambulist), Erin Honeycutt (Cutt Press) and Eric Otieno Sumba
Performances: Kay Yoon; Myriam Bleau and Nien Tzu Weng and others
Friday, 16 October
Conference: Workshops and Long Table (in collaboration with Make/Sense and IXDM) mit Magda Tyżlik-Carver (Aarhus University), T.L. Cowan and Jas Rault (University of Toronto); Panel (in collaboration with Media Architecture Institute) with Gernot Tscherteu (Realitylab), Martijn de Waal (Civic Interaction Design), Caroline Green (University of Oxford), Viktor Bedö (SMUC Kitchen) and others
Performances: Joanna Zybrycka; Nelly-Eve Rajotte; Aïsha Devi
Club Night: Demdike Stare and others
Saturday, 17 October
Conference: Wendy Chun; Christine Binswanger (Herzog & de Meuron); Pau Aleikum Garcia (domestic data streamers) and others
Performances: Buena Tarde & ztaa and others
Sunday, 18 October – Closing
Free admission to exhibitions and workshops
The full programme follows in September. Stay in the loop via social media and our newsletter.
Contents of the 2026 edition
The programme is structured around seven care themes:
Commons of Connection shows how closeness emerges, even when encounters increasingly take place digitally. Memory Machines asks who decides what gets remembered, and preserves suppressed knowledge. Future Playgrounds creates cross-generational spaces for collectively testing out futures. Wild Cities brings cities into focus as habitats for humans, animals, and plants. Non-Public Publics (in collaboration with Make/Sense and IXDM) mobilises practices for defying logics of fragmentation. Circular Systems centres on ecological and technological cycles rather than consumption. Rounding out the programme is the hands-on theme Urban Actions | Spatial Utopias, through which Mesh also takes shape in large-scale spatial installations.
For everyone
Mesh is open to everyone – whatever your age, whether you're curious or experienced, coming alone or with the whole family. Whether this is your first time or you've been with Mesh for years: we invite you to discover spaces for closeness, exchange, and new ideas together with us. From 14–18 October at Dreispitz in Basel – we look forward to seeing you.
