page_title: Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich)
section_title: Recent events
hierarchical_section_title: Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich) / Recent events
caption_attribution_description: English: David Woodard, Ma Anand Sheela and Christian Kracht reading at Cabaret Voltaire, Zürich
context_page_description: Cabaret Voltaire was the name of an artistic nightclub in Zürich, Switzerland. It was founded by Hugo Ball, with his companion Emmy Hennings, in the back room of Holländische Meierei, Spiegelgasse 1, on February 5, 1916, as a cabaret for artistic and political purposes. Other founding members were Marcel Janco, Richard Huelsenbeck, Tristan Tzara, and Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Jean Arp. Events at the cabaret proved pivotal in the founding of the anarchic art movement known as Dada.
  It closed in the summer of 1916.
context_section_description: In recent years, the building which had housed Cabaret Voltaire in 1916 fell into disrepair, and in the winter of 2001/2002 a group of artists describing themselves as neo-Dadaists, organised by Mark Divo, squatted the building to protest its planned closure. They declared that it was a signal for a new generation of artists to align themselves with a revival of Dada.
  Over a period of three months there was a number of performances, parties, poetry evenings and film nights. Among the participating artists were Ingo Giezendanner, Lennie Lee, Leumund Cult, Mickry3, xeno volcano, elektra sturmschnell, Aiana Calugar, and Dan Jones. The building was decorated on the outside as well as the inside. Thousands of people from around Zürich took part in the experiment. On April 2, 2002 police evicted the occupants.
  A new cabaret has since opened in the building, with an extensive programme of events such as, Hugo Ball: Fuga saeculi, in 2008, curated by Bazon Brock and included a performance of Gabriella Daris' corporeal poem LopLop: WORD or WOman biRD (an homage to Max Ernst's namesake collage from 1921) as well as a film projection by Werner Nekes, and the Summer 2008 exhibition Dreamachine: David Woodard, Sheela Birnstiel, Christian Kracht.
  Nowadays The Cabaret Voltaire adopts personalities and celebrates them as Dadaists such as Alexander Archipenko, Tatsuo Okada or Mikhail Bakunin. They also sponsored the restoration of Bakunin's grave plate in the Bremgarten cemetery in Berne, adding a portrait by Swiss artist Daniel Garbade and Bakunin's quote: "By striving to do the impossible, man has always achieved what is possible".
caption: David Woodard, Ma Anand Sheela and Christian Kracht reading at Cabaret Voltaire in 2008
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