Our season starts in two weeks!

Dear visitors to Gessnerallee, dear artists

From 11 to 21 September, we will open the 2025/26 season with the programme focus ‘(Un)gentle Learning’. The content will deal with processes of transition, mourning and learning. ‘(Un)gentle Learning’ invites you to a place where these moments can be celebrated together.

With what is probably the most beautiful, fluffiest, most pleasant relaxed space ever seen in the city of Zurich, created by Theres Indermaur and Stephanie Müller. The first Covid-safe reading of ‘Muskeln aus Plastik’ (Muscles Made of Plastic) with Kay Matter. With two premieres by local artists Ceylan Öztrük and Tiran Willemse with Melika Ngombe Kolongo (Nkisi). And two international guest performances from Great Britain and Italy by Jo Bannon and Diana Anselmo. And last but not least, we experience at an enormously high pace of discourse how Cemile Sahin writes images as fast as shots and, around Hannan Salamat and Fatima Moumouni, the clever minds of Amani Abu Zahra, Anouchka Gwen, Artan Islamaj, Edwin Arsenio Ramirez, Julia Skof, Marilyn Umurungi, Max Czollek, Melinda Nadj Abonji, Nina Mühlemann and Zarina Tadjibaeva engage in heated discussion about Switzerland's most legendary myth. And after the heated debate, there will be dancing to DJ dibbasey!

We offer means accessibility for various performances and formats. All relevant information can be found on the website in the respective event announcements or on the ‘Accessibility’ page. If you have any questions, please contact barrierefreiheit@gessnerallee.ch.

Secure your tickets now – we look forward to seeing you!

11 to 15 September, 18 to 21 September, various opening hours

‘Stars Are Never Sleeping, Dead Ones and the Living’ by Theres Indermaur and Stephanie Müller

Relaxed Space

Flowing fabrics, round rooms, a multitude of light fixtures and the soft splashing of water. The installation ‘Stars Are Never Sleeping, Dead Ones and the Living’ is an interactive, sensory spatial experience and at the same time an inclusive place of tranquillity – balancing stimulation and reduction, isolation and reception. The installation forms the spatial centrepiece of the season's opening. More information

11, 13, 14, 15 September, 8 pm each evening

‘Fourth Eye, 4.40 AM’ by Ceylan Öztrük

Relaxed performance

A multi-layered stage work about dawn and the twilight state of the mind, in which states of being manifest themselves and shift again. Artist Ceylan Öztrük uses disorientation as a method for an exploration that reveals the fragility of constructed self-images and the architecture of spaces of thought and perception. To the tickets

12 September, 8 pm, and 13 September, 6 pm

Pas Moi by Diana Anselmo

Relaxed performance, LIS (Italian sign language), surtitles in English and German. Interpretation in DSGS (Swiss German sign language)

Based on the development of the first devices for generating, transmitting and recording sound, Diana Anselmo analyses the close link between technological innovation and normative ideas about bodies from a deaf perspective. To the tickets

14 September, 4.30 pm

‘Muscles made of plastic – a crip-queer reading’ by Kay Matter

Relaxed performance, hybrid event, Covid-safe space

The reading from Kay Matter's intuitive and moving debut invites chronically ill people and their allies to engage in conversation in a relaxed setting. The reading is not only intended as a space for listening, but also for sharing lived experiences. To the tickets

18 September, 8 pm

‘Neutrality Theatre – The Swiss Myth Put to the Test!’ by Hannan Salamat and Fatima Moumouni

Relaxed Performance

An evening dedicated to Switzerland's most legendary myth – open, multifaceted, uncomfortable and by no means neutral. A piece of remembrance culture with clever minds from Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Moderated by Hannan Salamat and Fatima Moumouni. Guests include Amani Abu Zahra, Anouchka Gwen, Artan Islamaj, Edwin Arsenio Ramirez, Julia Skof, Marilyn Umurungi, Max Czollek, Melinda Nadj Abonji, Nina Mühlemann and Zarina Tadjibaeva. To the Tickets

‘Neutrality Theatre – Disco of Good Services’ with DJ dibbasey

Party

After Neutrality Theatre comes the party: we turn good services upside down, transforming the dance floor into a place of unrest, radical diversity and ecstasy. Neutrality stays outside. Afrobeats and Britney Spears? dibbasey loves everything Afro-influenced, but as a child of the 2000s, he also likes to surprise with nostalgia. Only one thing is certain: the booty will be shaking and the dance floor will be shaking. To the tickets

19 and 20 September, various times

'Sleight of Hand' by Jo Bannon

In German and English spoken language, with integrated audio description

An intimate, 60-minute performance for 5 people at a time. Fascinated by the carefully choreographed magic tricks that give the performance its name and the way blind and visually impaired people like herself move through the world, Jo Bannon has created a tactile installation for curious fingers and incredulous eyes.

Tickets (in German)

Tickets (in English)

20 and 21 September, 8 pm each evening

‘When the Calabash Breaks’ by Tiran Willemse and Melika Ngombe Kolongo (Nkisi)

The breaking of a calabash signifies loss in the household or community, but depending on the context, it can also signify the loss of a life or a profound change in life. This break is the subject of ‘When the Calabash Breaks.’ Between intense and multi-layered sound and energetic movements, the project uses improvisation as a transformative and political practice. An open-air performance at Judith-Gessner-Platz with free admission. More information

21 September, 6 pm

‘KOMMANDO AJAX’, reading by Cemile Sahin

To conclude ‘(Un)gentle Learning’, Cemile Sahin picks up the pace once again with a reading from her novel ‘KOMMANDO AJAX’. The story brings together the lives of a Kurdish family in exile in the Netherlands with the jet set of the international art world. Cemile Sahin focuses on attention to detail, betrayal and friendship, and the question of how to write images as quickly as shots. To the tickets

Newspaper

‘(Un)gentle Learning’ feels like it sounds: so small that it can be held in one hand, large enough to lean on, careful and with an eye for detail, not spectacular, but stretched out over time. The English word “gentle” can be translated as “soft”, “delicate” or “careful”, but none of these capture its meaning quite as well," writes our dramaturge Isabel Gatzke in her article about the season's opening programme focus (only in German). Curious? Read more here or in our fifth print edition.

Speaking of print: if you would like to read more of our cultural stories, which are written with love and care, then subscribe to the Gessnerallee newspaper now. We will be publishing a total of four issues in the coming season. The next – fifth – issue will be published in September. Orders can be placed at zeitung@gessnerallee.ch.

Furthermore

For anyone who wants more Gessnerallee in their life in the coming season, we offer an annual pass. There are three price categories to choose from: dream price CHF 350 / desired price CHF 250 / small price CHF 150.

Unless otherwise indicated, the annual pass includes all theatre, dance and performance shows as well as concerts and club evenings. The annual pass can be purchased at the box office or online.

We look forward to starting the new season with you!

The Gessnerallee team