Basel Social Club returns for its fifth edition from June 14–20, 2026, transforming a vacant multi-story office building designed by Diener & Diener, just minutes from Basel SBB train station, into a temporary social stage for art.

This year’s edition reconsiders the workplace not as a site of production, but of critical reflection. Once a symbol of efficiency and growth, the office today reflects shifting realities shaped by digitalization, remote work, and artificial intelligence. Basel Social Club engages this condition through exhibitions, performances, music, gastronomy, and informal encounters that explore questions of labor, time, productivity, and rest.

Unfolding vertically across the building’s stacked floors, the architecture becomes part of the curatorial framework. Spatial layers and circulation routes echo contemporary notions of the “underground” — as both a site of cultural resistance and a metaphor for the hidden structures and tensions of late capitalism.

The building remains continuously activated throughout the week, with artists responding directly to its architecture and atmosphere. A dedicated night program expands the experience into the late hours, while an “Out of Office” zone offers space for pause and retreat.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:  

Puppies Puppies (Jade Guarano Kuriki-Olivo) , Jesse Gouveia , Elliot Reed , Lingrou Xie .