The programme in October and November

Dear visitors to Gessnerallee, dear artists

When the nights grow longer and the days grow greyer, there is no better remedy for low spirits and anxiety about the future than spending time with others in beautiful places. October and November at Gessnerallee offer a wide range of opportunities to enrich this time with moving and exciting artistic works, lively discussions and rousing concerts.

Dance and choreography enthusiasts will get their money's worth with ‘Epique! (for Yikakou)’ by Nadia Beugré, ‘Songs of the Wayfarer’ by Claire Cunningham and ‘La Tendresse du ventre de la baleine’ by Géraldine Chollet. Those who enjoy discussion and debate will find a wealth of information and perspectives in the artasfoundation's series of talks on artistic creation in crisis areas and in the ‘Monthly Topics’ – a new monthly series introduced this season that addresses key journalistic topics in cooperation with editorial teams. The WAV research collective and ‘Tsüri.ch’ will kick things off.

If you want to listen to good music with friends of all ages, big and small, young and old, you can snuggle up in cushions and beanbags or dance wildly at the children's concert series at ‘Cachita’ and/or ‘Ikan Hyu’ in Stall6. There's even more music at the ‘Robertson Head Music Machine’ concert and the ‘25th ZURICH JAZZNOJAZZ FESTIVAL 2025’.

And for all print media fans, there are lots of zines at the ‘volumes art publishing fair’.

So, let's go! Here's an overview of the programme:

Programme overview

2 and 3 October, 8 pm

‘Epique! (for Yikakou)’ by Nadia Beugré

This musical performance takes the audience on a mysterious journey to a village engulfed by forest, accompanied by collective memories and the voices of powerful, often forgotten women. Tickets

15 October, 5.30 pm

‘Upheaval as a space for art – voices from Syria and Serbia’, artasfoundation

Artistic creation in crisis areas is confronted with challenging questions. In this series of talks, various actors come together to reflect on their experiences. This time with Abdullah Alkafri (Ettijahat – Independent Culture) and Milan Vračar (Kulturanova). More information

17 October, 9 pm

Robertson Head Music Machine with Claudia Bühler, Stephen Thomas, Heinz Rohrer, the weathereye

Country blues from this century and others. With guitars, vocals and percussion instruments – and with Gessnerallee sound engineer Stephen Thomas. More information

19 October, 3 pm

Children's concert with Cachita

Finally back at Stall6. As part of the children's concert series, four Swiss bands and artists will be performing their latest songs on stage – for anyone who wants to enjoy good music with friends and family, young and old alike. At the first concert in this popular series, musician Cachita will be making a clear statement with her clever and quick-witted lyrics. Tickets

29 October to 1 November

‘25th ZURICH JAZZNOJAZZ FESTIVAL 2025’

This year, the ZURICH JAZZNOJAZZ FESTIVAL will be grooving across the stages of the Gessnerallee for the 25th time, presenting a variety of concert nights with the fresh sounds of up-and-coming newcomers and the style-defining sounds of stars and legends from jazz and jazz-related genres. Tickets

5 November, 7.30 pm

‘A thousend billion responsibility – the balancing act between pensions and a world to live in. A contradiction?’ by 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

Songs of the Wayfarer by Claire Cunningham

In her new solo performance, the Scottish performer and choreographer asks what it means to wander and try to climb great heights. One of the UK's most important disabled artists is coming to Zurich. Tickets

9 November, 3 pm

Children's concert with ‘Ikan Hyu’

In the second concert in the concert series for all ages, Ikan Hyu create the sound of an ‘entire band’ on stage as a duo. With the attitude of a modern rock duo and a unique approach, the two mix techno elements with rap, pop, rock and punk, making a lot of noise and, above all, having an incredible amount of fun. Tickets

21 and 22 November, 8 pm

‘La Tendresse du ventre de la baleine’ by Géraldine Chollet

The works of Lausanne-based choreographer Géraldine Chollet are haunting, impressively danced and create an empathetic pull that is difficult for the audience to resist. In ‘La Tendresse du ventre de la baleine’, the audience is enthralled by eight dancers and the rousing energy of the music provided by Zurich DJ Iman Waser and guitarist and singer Billie Bird. Tickets

22 and 23 November, from 1 pm each day

‘volumes art publishing fair’ by Anne-Laure Franchette, Patrizia Mazzei, Gloria Wismer

The volumes art publishing days is a two-day fair for zines and art books, where local and international independent publishers and self-publishing artists who work with small-format production methods present their works. In addition, there will be a number of low-threshold activities such as games, interactive exhibitions, performances and other exciting formats related to art publishing. More information

26 November, 5.30 pm

‘Peacebuilding between stage and research’ by artasfoundation

What does it mean to try out new, practice-oriented approaches in peace work? What methods, approaches and tools do the performing arts offer for this? We will discuss this in a series of talks on artistic creation in crisis areas with Diana Rojas (director, performer, researcher at the HKB) and Chimène Costa (artistic director, dancer, actress, cultural manager). More information

Newspaper

‘What does memory sound like?’ (Only in German)

Journalist Giulia Bernardi met dancer Nadia Beugré for a chat. An interview about the choreographer and dancer's artistic work, her background and the (re)construction of past events. To the article

Furthermore

As part of the Cultural Office's ‘Support Access’ project, two events on the topic of accessibility are taking place, which we highly recommend attending. On Friday, 24 October, the first part of ‘Ableism in Film and Television’ will be presented as an online lecture, and on Thursday, 6 November, the workshop ‘Aesthetics of Access’ will take place.

We are also looking for an event technician with a focus on lighting (70–80%) to start in January 2026 or by agreement. We look forward to receiving your application by 31 October 2025 at veserwalther@gessnerallee.ch. To the job advertisement

And we look forward to your visit.

The Gessnerallee team