Open Invitational Brings Supported Studios Into Basel’s Art Week
Basel’s art crowd may be focused on the fair tents, but a different kind of exhibition is unfolding a short walk away. Open Invitational has mounted its fifth edition at Franck Areal, the multi-use community space near Art Basel, bringing together six supported studios from the United States and Switzerland in a free, booth-free presentation.
The project’s premise is simple, but its implications are not. By placing artists with developmental disabilities in direct view of collectors, curators, and museum professionals during one of the art calendar’s most concentrated weeks, Open Invitational creates a setting where visibility can translate into institutional attention. That has already happened for several artists in the program.
Cynthia Stickler, an artist in her 70s presented by New York’s Community Access Art Collective, is among the most affecting names on view. Her small ink sketches, enlivened by restrained crayon color, pull the eye with an unusual quietness. They are priced at around $500, yet Stickler has never had a solo exhibition.
Michael Angelo Mangino, shown by Studio Route 29 in Frenchtown, New Jersey, offers another example of how quickly recognition can build when the right audience is in the room. His acrylic compositions on paper, priced above $1,000, were also shown at Open Invitational’s Miami debut in 2024. There, he caught the attention of Scott Ogden, who gave the artist a solo show at Shrine gallery in New York last year.
Theo Baransky followed a similar path after being noticed by curator Matthew Higgs at the Miami edition, later receiving a solo exhibition at White Columns. Marlon Mullen has since had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, where the presentation focused on works from the past decade that riff on art magazine clippings.
The institutional momentum extends beyond individual careers. In 2024, SF MoMA marked 50 years of Creative Growth by exhibiting more than 140 artists and adding newly acquired works to the conversation. The Los Angeles Country Museum of Art is also planning a major survey for 2028. Then, in December, Nnena Kalu won the Turner Prize and accepted it live on BBC News, a highly visible milestone for an artist working within a supported studio framework.
That recognition has sharpened the stakes around supported studios themselves. In March, ActionSpace co-hosted the “Curating and Coalition” symposium with Stanley Picker Gallery and curator Lisa Slominski, where speakers emphasized that decades of advocacy helped make Kalu’s prize possible. The larger argument was clear: supported studios are not peripheral services, but essential infrastructure for artists whose practices have long been excluded from the mainstream contemporary art system.
Presented with Living Museum Basel, Open Invitational’s Basel edition suggests that the center of gravity is shifting. The question is no longer whether these artists belong in the conversation, but how quickly the art world is prepared to catch up.
