Berlin, Germany - The House of World Cultures in Berlin, Germany, has announced the launch of its international artists online database. The new research tool for the international art and culture scene is called culturebase.net.

This free service provides detailed portraits on artists from more than 150 countries and territories, from Afghanistan to Zanzibar. So far culturebase.net contains information on about 1,000artists who work in the genres of visual arts, film, photography, design, theatre, dance and music, as well as literature and science.

Profiles written by experts offer detailed information about the included artists. Additionally, audio and video files, images and texts enable the user to have direct insight into artists’ work. All information can be accessed in English and partly also in German, Danish and Swedish in this initial phase.

Furthermore, there is a search method for so-called ‘crossroads’. An example of a ‘crossroad’ is a term like ‘Islam’, ‘Globalisation’ or ‘Deconstruction’. The list of results from a search like this includes all artists who deal with such topics in their works—listed by relevance.

culturebase.net is the result of a strategic cooperation between four European partner institutions: The House of World Cultures in Berlin, The Danish Center for Culture and Development in Copenhagen, Intercult in Stockholm and Visiting Arts in London. The database is a tool for collaboration, which has been initiated by the House of World Cultures. culturebase.net is funded by the European Union program Culture 2000.