Debate, comedy and radical theatre

Dear visitors to Gessnerallee, dear artists

Following four completely sold-out shows to enthusiastic audiences as part of ‘Steps’, the Migros Culture Percentage dance festival, and a wonderful children’s concert with Fai Baba & Amour sur Mars last Sunday, another packed and exciting week of pressing issues awaits you here at the Gessnerallee. First things first: there are only a few seats left for all performances this week, so don’t hesitate and book your tickets now.

Today, Wednesday 25 March at 5.30 pm, the monthly series ‘Art in Conflict’ explores art in crisis zones, focusing this time on how art and education can work together to create learning spaces that people can shape themselves – beyond control and discipline. For the idea of education as self-empowerment has much in common with concepts of socially engaged art. This time, our guests are Lera Lerner (artist, curator, mediator, founder of the Imaginary Museum of Displaced Persons) and Fairooz Tamimi (author, journalist, Action for Hope). Free admission; participation via Zoom and in person is possible. More information

Tomorrow, Thursday 26 March, sees the premiere of the fourth instalment of the popular ‘OPEN STUDIO’ series, this time curated by Fazil On Yu, who, in the sound-narrative performance ‘Until They Hear Black Voices’, gives voice to the stories of Black people in Switzerland and Europe – a narrative of complex struggles, loss and identity. The starting point is audio recordings, interviews, poems and original music pieces that he has collected and produced in Zurich. Fragments that not only document, but seek a new form of storytelling – between installation and performance, between sound and body. Click here for tickets

For all fans and those who wish to become fans: Zurich-based artist Fatima Moumouni continues her discussion series ‘Die Neue Unsicherheit – Disco Edition’ from Friday 27 March! Here, moments of conversation – which are allowed to be thoughtful, self-critical and decidedly insecure – are brought to the stage – guests and the host are equally unsettled.

The topics for this edition: “Loving white people” and “Talking to the right wing”. Guest: cultural mediator, educational innovator and Afrofuturism researcher David Zabel. The discussion will be followed by a performance by artist and stand-up comedian Naya de Souza, also known as @Bundaskanzlerin. The meme queen, whose art also explores whiteness and cis-heteronormativity, will perform a short comedy set and then host the after-party: a karaoke session featuring the “blackest white hits of history”. Click here for tickets

Last but not least, on Sunday 29 March, the internationally acclaimed production «CADELA FORÇA TRILOGY – Chapter I: The Bride and The Goodnight Cinderella» by Carolina Bianchi and Cara de Cavalo finally comes to Zurich. A play that, in its vulnerability and immense power, is a radical reflection on violence against women, art and death: a courageous descent into the underworld. Click here for tickets

And now a look ahead to April, newspaper articles, news and everything we want to share with you.

April Programme Preview

‘Undercover Journalism: Insights into Covert Investigations’ by the REFLEKT investigative team

Wednesday, 1 April, 7.30 pm

How does undercover investigation work? What risks does it entail – legally, personally, journalistically? And what surprising or absurd situations do you encounter along the way? Journalists from REFLEKT and the weekly newspaper WOZ offer insights into an otherwise hidden world based on current undercover investigations. Tickets

Programme focus: Communities of Hope

9 to 18 April

This programme focus invites you to explore practices of solidarity and hopeful strategies for community-building, whilst celebrating queer aesthetics. All programme events will take place as Covid-safe events. Featured works include ‘Belonging Space’ by Stephanie Müller & Theres Indermaur, ‘MASTEKTOMIE. A Bittersweet Farewell Song’ by CHICKS* independent performance collective, ‘JUICE’ by River Roux, as well as readings by Mani Owzar and Hadija Haruna-Oelker, a concert by Anouchka Gwen and a writing workshop, also with Mani Owzar.

Newspaper

Hope as a unifying practice

​​From 9 to 18 April, the ‘Communities of Hope’ programme at the Gessnerallee invites visitors to explore, together, practices of solidarity in coexistence and strategies for hope. Noa Winter offers an in-depth look at the programme. Read the article (only in German)

‘Like after a hug’

Following a break, Anouchka Gwen returns to the stage as a solo artist – with a newfound sense of closeness to herself. The musician talks to Rahel Bains about vulnerability as a strength, belonging within the cultural scene, and why hope is always a collective act. Read the article (only in German)

Being together with differences

Hadija Haruna-Oelker is a journalist and mother of a disabled child. She has a migrant background and knows how important it is to live with one another rather than against one another. Precisely because we are so different, so much separates us. In her profile, author Marah Rikli shows that Haruna-Oelker’s work is less an indictment than an invitation. Read the article (only in German)

‘Confusion is the perspective’

‘We all live in constant conflict with our own morality. In my work, this moral crisis is omnipresent’, says artist Carolina Bianchi in an interview with Miriam Walther. Read the article (only in German)

We wish you a good second half of the week.

The Gessnerallee team