Monthly topics – the new discussion series

Dear visitors to Gessnerallee, dear artists

If you want to bring a little more light, popcorn and good music into your life and that of your little or big friends on a grey autumn Sunday, check out our programme calendar. The four-part children's concert series has been running since 19 October, and after the first edition with musician Cachita and her band, we can definitely say: it's worth it. The next concert will take place on 9 November with the duo IKAN HYU, and given the rapidly rising advance ticket sales, our hot tip is to secure your tickets quickly.

If the weekly newsletter on Wednesday isn't enough Gessnerallee for you, you can now visit not only the artasfoundation's monthly discussion series ‘Art in Conflict’ (next date: 26 November), but also another series of talks starting next week: the monthly topics. The principle is simple: once a month, an editorial team selects a key journalistic topic and shares it live with the audience.

On 5 November, in cooperation with the WAV research collective and ‘Tsüri.ch’, the focus will be on how our pension fund investments affect us; on 3 December, the investigative research team REFLEKT will address abuse of power at Swiss universities; and on 7 January, CORRECTIV. Switzerland will share the results of its research on visible and invisible barriers in everyday life.

More about the content and guests on 5 November

Pension funds are Switzerland's largest investors, but the companies and countries in which they invest are usually a black box. The journalistic project ‘Tausend Milliarden Verantwortung’ (A thousand Billions in Responsibility) is changing that. In collaboration with local media, the WAV research collective and CORRECTIV.Schweiz are publishing detailed information about the investments made by public pension funds. Together with Tsüri.ch, they are also investigating the investments made by pension funds in Zurich.

A look at the books of Zurich's pension funds shows that, on the one hand, they are investing in the world's largest fracking companies and, on the other hand, they continue to insist on a lack of transparency. This raises questions. What expectations do we have of our pension funds in terms of investments and transparency? And what about the supposed conflict between profitability and sustainability?

Our guests are: Olivier Christe (finance and climate journalist at the WAV research collective), Dr Jürg Tobler (head of the asset management division at the City of Zurich Pension Fund) and Lea Trogrlić (economist focusing on the interface between business and the environment).

We look forward to the start of the discussion series next week – come along and secure your ticket now.

So, more debate, more exchange and more Gessnerallee on Wednesday.

Now for our weekly overview of the programme, newspaper articles, news and everything else we want to share with you:

Programme

29 October to 1 November

‘25th ZURICH JAZZNOJAZZ FESTIVAL 2025’ by AllBlues Konzert AG

As every year, we are delighted to be able to rent out our premises to the ‘JAZZNOJAZZ FESTIVAL’. You can look forward to four varied concert nights with the fresh sound of up-and-coming newcomers and the style-defining sounds of stars and legends from jazz and jazz-related genres. More information about the programme can be found at: jazznojazz.ch

5 November, 7.30 pm

‘A thousand billion in responsibility – the balancing act between pensions and a world to live in. A contradiction?’ by the WAV research collective and ‘Tsüri.ch’

The new series of talks at Gessnerallee in cooperation with editorial teams: once a month, an editorial team selects a key journalistic topic and shares it live with the audience. This time, the topic is how our pension fund investments affect us. Tickets

7 and 8 November, 8 pm each night

‘Songs of the Wayfarer’ by Claire Cunningham

Guided by her life experience as a disabled person, her memories of her training as a classical singer, knowledge from the world of mountaineering and Gustav Mahler's ‘Songs of a Wayfarer’, Claire Cunningham sets out to traverse familiar and unfamiliar landscapes. Tickets

You can find an overview of the 2025/26 programme on our website.

Newspaper

‘Rest is also a form of movement’ (only in German)

At the beginning of her career, artist Claire Cunningham began exploring her own language of movement. In an article in our newspaper, she says: ‘I found that my time was better spent exploring my own movements within my own reality. And asking myself: How do I move? How do I see the world?’ Read the article

Furthermore

On 13 November, Gessnerallee will be taking part in National Future Day for the first time, giving schoolchildren aged between 10 and 13 an insight into the exciting career opportunities available at a theatre. In the morning, the schoolchildren will be given a tour of the theatre by theatre directors Kathrin Veser and Miriam Walther, as well as technical director Piotr Rybkowski. In the afternoon, they will meet our technical team and learn more about working with lighting, sound and video in a workshop. The event is already fully booked. For all schoolchildren who are also interested in the Gessnerallee: we will be back again next year!

Buy our newspaper with your ticket

Since the start of last season, we have been publishing four issues of our newspaper per season. Our aim is to bring urgent social debates, exciting personalities, interesting thoughts and sometimes just pure entertainment to the public. You can now combine the purchase of the ‘Gessnerallee Zeitung’ with your ticket purchase directly on our website. You can find an overview of the printed editions here.

We wish you a good second half of the week.

The Gessnerallee team