Stammtisch

Sitting at a big table and coming together in conversation: The Stammtisch has become an established fixture at the Theater Spektakel, where hosts and guests share ideas and insights. This year's topics focus on «Arrivals + Departures» by YARA + DAVINA, an installation addressing the cornerstones of life – birth and death. We are invited to participate in the discussions and to think carefully about the time in between the arrivals and departures – for the sake of our environment and posterity. (II)

 

 

 

Death Café

with Sarah Buchmann

Thu 19.8.

During these uncertain times – in the midst of a global pandemic and social isolation – we create room for an exchange on the last part of life: dying and death. Is the topic of death a taboo? What about mortality? Do we give enough room to our demise and that of our loved ones before reality catches up with us? How do we say good-bye? Not least since Covid-19, political questions around death have also been brought to the fore. Such topics and everything else on our minds and hearts will be discussed at the Death Café. Sarah Buchmann, founder of the Death Café, and Kerstin Schlagenhauf of the Zürcher Bestattungsamt discuss death with the audience.

Language: German, English

 

No Rescue, but Alarm

with Watch the Med Alarmphone

Fri 20.8.

Each year, thousands of refugees cross the Mediterranean to arrive in Europe. They leave behind their homelands and families in the hope to find safety and a better life at the other shore. Instead, they are coerced to perilous crossings and illegalized. Once at sea, they are exposed to the violence of human traffickers and the pushback of the European community. Who is there to help when a boat is in distress? The internationally organised network Watch the Med Alarm Phone receives such emergency calls. The initiative helps to localise the boats and informs rescue organisations. Some of the people answering such calls live in Zurich. They talk about their work and the destinies between departure and uncertain arrival.

Language: German

 

Thinking life and death within and beyond the colonial project and fiction

with Izabel Barros

Sat 21.8.

«It takes no courage to die, it takes courage to live» Izabel Barros’ mother used to say. Colonial practices continue to threaten the lives of individuals and entire communities. Europe tends to naturalise the social extinction of some individuals and groups with the same «normality» as it celebrates the lives of the so-called normal. Together with Izabel Barros, the audience thinks about the concepts behind the words «life» and «death» in an attempt to overcome the colonial fiction and prepare for a de-colonial world. As a historian and activist, Barros questions existing power structures and promotes transdisciplinary and global cooperations with an anti-colonial approach.

Language: German, English, Portuguese

 

Birth Café

with Pascale Schreibmüller and the association Regenbogenfamilien

Sun 22.8.

The concept for «Birth Café» was created by artist and birth activist Laura Godfrey-Isaacs. The aim is to support open conversations about birth in order to build understanding and respect for its psychosocial, cultural and bodily significance for everyone. Such conversations tend to be seen as a specialist area, whereas how we are born, as well as how we give birth has a fundamental effect on all our lives. Together with the midwife, activist and art theorist Pascale Schreibmüller and members of the association Regenbogenfamilien, the audience discusses various perspectives and personal experiences. The Birth Café opens on Sunday afternoon with tea and cake right next to the playground. Children are most welcome.

Language: German

 

Non-Arrival (Transnational Adoptions)

with Nicolas Walker and Yara Dulac Gisler

Mon 23.8.

Transnational adoptions are characterised by numerous, complex conditions: Cultural, economical, legal and social conditions interlock and affect human relations. The adopted children often experience a constant state of «Non-Arrival» – be it structurally imposed or self-determined refusal. The artists Nicolas Walker and Yara Dulac Gisler have explored this limbo space. With their audio-installation «In Absence Of (Experience Creole), 2021» they demonstrate how adoption can impact bodies and what strategies of resistance those bodies adopt – far beyond the limits of the colonial narrative.

Language: German

Encounter: Gestures of Tenderness

with Jessica Huber and Anja Temperli

Tue 24.8.

To look after oneself and others. To be affectionate. To take care. Can we touch each other with our eyes or voice when we cannot be physically close? The physical encounter, as a starting point for social interaction, has been challenged by the pandemic in previously unimaginable ways. Have we unlearnt physical closeness? With which gestures do we encounter each other? During this conversation, the non-verbal communication is at the forefront. In simple physical and sensorial exercises, we get to explore how we can encounter in mindful ways. Jessica Huber and Anja Temperli guide the audience through the exercises. This encounter is followed by the performance «I lost**» by Jessica Huber and Michelle Ettlin. A quota of tickets is reserved for interested participants at the box office.

Language: German

Spiritual Companionship 

with Géraldine Chollet

Wed 25.8.

Prenatal classes, baby showers, conversations with the midwife: We prepare ourselves for a birth – after all, a birth is a life-changing experience. But how do we prepare for other turning points – such as the loss of a limb in an accident? Who supports us when we experience a deep crisis due to an illness? Who accompanies a dying person on their last journey? Nondenominational, spiritual guidance is still relatively rare in Switzerland, yet there is an increasing demand for it. Géraldine Chollet – a dancer and choreographer – is also training as a spiritual companion. What are her experiences and how are her professions related? In this talk, she gives insight into her work.

Language: English, French

 

Rebellion gegen das Aussterben

with Extinction Rebellion

Thu 26.8.

The idea that our society is constantly changing for the better remains unsubstantiated. So far, the earth has experienced five mass extinctions, during which the majority of all living beings have died out. The sixth mass extinction is probably already under way. Homo sapiens might be the first being on earth to consciously witness its own disappearance and that of many other creatures. The activists of Extinction Rebellion try to make the current climate and ecological occurrences aware to a wide population and to drive change by increased democratic co-determination.

Language: German

Vakuum zwischen Ankunft und Abweisung

with Hanna Gerig (Solinetz)

Fri 27.8.

Human beings seeking protection and asylum in Switzerland are placed in a Federal Asylum Centre (BAZ) for the duration of their procedure. There are two such centres in the Canton of Zurich: one following the procedures of the City of Zurich, and one without procedures in Embrach. Here, those end up whose asylum application is rejected. Sealed off from the outside world, they often live under degrading circumstances while preparing for the departure from a country where they are not welcome. Hanna Gerig works for Solinetz, an organisation promoting the rights of people seeking protection in Switzerland as well as the visiting rights of the occupants of the federal asylum centres. How do we encounter human beings who are not granted the right of protection in Switzerland?

Language: German