Summer break and start of season advance sales

Dear visitors to Gessnerallee, dear artists

Last Saturday, we celebrated the end of our first season under new direction at Gessnerallee with barbecues, a flea market and a music programme curated by Year-To-Date. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who celebrated this cosy event with us.

Before we say goodbye to the summer break from 12 July to 10 August, we are currently busy preparing for the start of the 2025/26 season. We are already looking forward to the programme focus ‘(Un)gentle Learning’, with which we will start the second season from 11 to 21 September. 

In this weekly letter, we give you an overview of the start of the 2025/26 season and other programme highlights for the next season. We have also put together a number of our favourite articles from the newspaper for the summer break.

Overview of the start of the 2025/26 season ‘(Un)gentle Learning’

In terms of content, this programme focus is about dealing with processes of transition, mourning and learning. After all, everyday and radical moments of transgression and change not only characterise individual biographies, but are also omnipresent in terms of what is happening in the world. Advance ticket sales for the events start today. So make sure you get your tickets now.

11 to 14 September, 18 to 21 September, various opening times

‘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. Where am I? The installation ‘Stars Are Never Sleeping, Dead Ones and the Living’ is an interactive, sensual spatial experience and at the same time an inclusive place of rest - a balance between stimulation and reduction, isolation and reception. The installation forms the spatial centre of the start of the season. More information

11, 13, 14, 15 September, 8 pm 

‘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 and shift again. The 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, 8pm, and 13 September, 6pm 

‘Pas Moi’ by Diana Anselmo

Relaxed performance, LIS (Italian sign language), surtitles in ENG and DE. Interpreted in DSGS (Swiss German Sign Language)

Diana Anselmo uses the development of the first devices for generating, transmitting and recording sound to analyse the close link between technological innovation and normative notions of bodies from Deaf's perspective. To the Tickets

20 and 21 September, 8 pm

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

The breakage of a calabash means loss in the household or in the community, but depending on the context, also the loss of a life or a profound life change. ‘When the Calabash Breaks’ is about this break. Between intense and multi-layered sound and energetic movements, the project uses improvisation as a transformative and political practice. An outdoor performance at Judith-Gessner-Platz with free admission. More information

21 September, 6 to 7.30 pm 

‘KOMMANDO AJAX’, reading by Cemile Sahin

At the end of ‘(Un)gentle Learning’, Cemile Sahin is stepping 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 focusses on attention to detail, betrayal and friendship and the question of how to write pictures as fast as shots. To the tickets

After the ‘(Un)gentle Learning’ festival, the programme continues with great events for which tickets can also be purchased now or at the beginning of September at the latest:

Outlook to further programme highlights of the 2025/26 season

On 3 and 4 October, the internationally renowned choreographer Nadia Beugré will take the audience on a mysterious journey to a village engulfed by the forest with her production ‘Epique! (for Yikakou)’, internationally renowned choreographer Nadia Beugré will take the audience on a mysterious journey to a village engulfed by the forest, accompanied by collective memories and the voices of powerful, often forgotten women. Two weeks later, on 19 October, as part of our four-part children's concert series, we invite young and old and big and small to a concert by the musician Cachita, who makes a clear statement with her clever and quick-witted lyrics.

On 7 and 8 November, the internationally renowned artist Claire Cunningham will draw inspiration from Gustav Mahler's ‘Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen’, her life experience as a disabled person, the memory of her training as a singer and the knowledge of mountaineers and disabled friends. In the production ‘Songs for the Wayfarer’, Cunningham sets out to cross known and unknown landscapes. Tickets go on sale at the beginning of September.

And then we are particularly looking forward to the start of our newly launched ‘Monthly Topics’ conversation series on 5 November, in which editorial teams will each set a monthly topic and invite people to take part in a conversation. The research teams WAV, REFLEKT and CORRECTIV.Schweiz and others will be taking part next season. In November, the focus will be on the responsibility of pension funds and the balancing act between retirement and a world to live in.

In March, things will become highly international again with three guest performances as part of the Migros-Kulturprozent Dance Festival Steps. We will be visited by the Staatstheater Mainz with the production ‘Sphynx’ (10 March), the Shechter II Company with ‘In Your Brain’ (13 and 14 March) and the Junk Ensemble with ‘Dances Like a Bomb’ (18 March). Here too, advance sales start at the beginning of September. And on 29 March, one of the most exciting works of political theatre will come to Zurich. ‘CADELA FORÇA TRILOGY- Chapter I: The Bride and The Goodnight Cinderella’ by Carolina Bianchi Y Cara de Cavalo. A highly poetic evening into the human abyss that deals with the brutal violence against women as a result of knockout drops. The internationally acclaimed production is finally coming to the city on the Limmat. A city that goes straight to the heart of the subject matter. Tickets are already on sale.

Newspaper

As the start of the season is still a little while away, we have put together ten articles from the last four issues for you to enjoy on relaxed summer days. Of course, the printed edition is even better for reading. Order all four issues now at zeitung@gessnerallee.ch.

Aesthetics of Access - exploring artistic accessibility

An explanatory piece about art that offers disabled and deaf/hard of hearing visitors an equally aesthetic experience as the non-disabled, hearing public. To the article

‘Das Theater war das Leben, das Leben war Theater’

André Donzé and Küde Brun worked as technicians at Gessnerallee for a quarter of a century. On their retirement, they look back and tell us what interested them even more than the technology: what happens on stage. Read the article (only in German)

Berlin spart sich seine Seele weg

In Zurich, Berlin is considered one of the most important centres for the performing arts. At the beginning of this year, the city cut 12 per cent of its cultural budget. What happens when this beacon is cut? A story with several twists and turns, but still without a happy ending. To the article (only in German)

Das Leben, ausgehaucht

Chaos, grief, looking to the future and a final escape for the soul: about the death of parents. To the article (only in German)

‘Das Spielen ist meine Medizin, mein Zuhause’

In June, the LAB Junges Theater Zürich presents the play ‘Begehren’ (Desire) at the Gessnerallee. Two LAB players share their thoughts on life in and out of the theatre and reveal what they associate with the term ‘desire’. To the article (only in German)

Der Lesbian Gaze und der Blick als Einladung

Sometimes the focus is very close to the body, sometimes on the big picture that makes up the person: In theatre, the gaze becomes a field for negotiating relationships and desire between the performers and with the audience. To the article (only in German)

Die Normen über den Haufen werfen

Choreographer, dancer and activist Anna Chiedza Spörri was a guest at Gessnerallee in March with ‘PERSPECTIVES’. In the piece, she showed what it feels like to be exposed to racist microaggressions every day. To the article (only in German)

Transrealitäten im Theater

Two queer theatre makers, activists and experts approach a classification of their socialisation in East Germany and the development of gender diversity in theatre. An exchange of emails. To the article (only in German)

Wo, wenn nicht hier, können wir noch?

In this format, various authors write about their ‘thoughts on theatre’. A contribution by Yuvviki Dioh, Diversity Agent at the Schauspielhaus, on the beginnings of a hopeful and effective place that she finds - with all its difficulties - in the theatre. To the article (only in German)

You can find more articles on our website or in the four print editions published to date.

If you would like to read more of our lovingly and carefully realised cultural stories, then subscribe to the Gessnerallee newspaper now. We will also be publishing a total of four issues in the coming season. The next issue will be published in September. Orders can be sent to zeitung@gessnerallee.ch.

So the time has come:

We are now saying goodbye for the summer break. The next weekly letter will be published on 20 August. And we wish you a wonderful summer.

The Gessnerallee team