Dear reader
When the lights go down in the theatre, there is a sense of promise in the air. In ‘Thoughts on Theatre’, Catja Loepfe, the outgoing artistic and managing director of Tanzhaus Zürich, writes about precisely this moment: that something can begin which would not be possible outside this space. A moment in which perceptions shift, certainties are shaken, and new forms of listening, thinking and being together emerge.
The contributions in this issue also navigate such interstitial spaces, between language and silence, uncertainty and encounter. They explore what happens when we listen more closely and open up new spaces.
Journalist and photographer Julien Felber embarks on a historical journey through the 150-year history of the Gessnerallee. From cavalry horses and barracks life to youth movements and motorway plans, right through to the Free Theatre. He is accompanied by contemporary witness Alice Bamberger, a Zurich local and shopkeeper.
The writer Julia Weber engages in a correspondence with the director Rebekka Bangerter on language and the production ‘Mutterzungen’ (Native languages). This gives rise to a reflection on what words organise, what they lose, and what becomes perceptible between them in the first place.
For her Artist Note, playwright and moderator Fatima Moumouni asks what happens when uncertainty is not hidden but consciously allowed. For whilst uncertainty may be an experiment for many, for people who experience social exclusion, it is often part of everyday life. In her series of conversations ‘Die Neue Unsicherheit‘ (The New Uncertainty), hesitation, searching and not knowing what to say next become a method, a space for vulnerability, contradictions and collective thinking. For it is precisely where control is relinquished that something rare often happens: closeness.
The ‘Klammer‘ (Bracket) is a conversation between sound artist and theorist Salomé Voegelin and artist, musician and theatre maker Dimitri de Perrot. The focus is on the ‘Open Studio‘ project, which took place at Gessnerallee from November 2025 to March 2026. For this, de Perrot invited artists to open up spaces for listening, encounter and collective experimentation.
Our regular features also enrich this issue: Hannah Gottschalk visited Gessnerallee’s poster archive for her photo essay. Artist and musician Rada Leu has created a comic based on the performance ‘MASTEKTOMIE. Ein bittersüsses Abschiedslied‘ (Mastektomy. A bittersweet farewell song) by the independent performance collective CHICKS*. In the fashion column, performance artist, theatre scholar and disability studies researcher Nina Mühlemann presents witchy, dazzling yet comfortable fashion. And artist and actor Rhea Seleger takes a look into the future in the theatre horoscope.
And because good pictures need more space: an image from the photo essay is included with this issue as a poster – as a gift for our readers.
We hope you enjoy reading this issue.
Rahel Bains, Kathrin Veser, Miriam Walther