01 February 2012

Prowling the Cabaret Voltaire


A recent trip to Switzerland provided me with the opportunity to accompany Tav Falco and the Panther Burns as they prowled around the old city district of Zurich to arrive at the historic Cabaret Voltaire (see "Swiss Tour Photo Highlights"). Opening in 1916, the cabaret featured art, music, spoken word and performances in varying degrees of racousness and excitement. The Cabaret Voltaire is also known as the founding location of the Dada art and cultural movement, spearheaded by Hugo Ball and friends, and was a magnet for artists from across the avant-garde. Stopping in for a few drinks and a look around on a quiet afternoon, we virtually had the place to ourselves to soak in the art, absinthe and atmosphere.

"In this house on 5 February 1916 the Cabaret Voltaire opened and Dadaism was founded."    

Tav Falco at the side entrance


Window display at the front entrance





Guitarist Grégoire Garrigues and Tav



Left-right: die Bardame, Grégoire Garrigues, Laurent Lanouzière, Tav Falco,
Giovanna Pizzorno and Raffaele Santoro.




Tav Falco at the Dada coffee table


Grégoire Garrigues next to an image of Hugo Ball reciting in the Cabaret, 1917.

Self portrait in ceiling

Art by Marcel Duchamp, highlighted

Finally, as recommended by our host, Andreas, we visited the Cabaret loo



4 comments:

  1. I can't believe you'd visited the Cabaret Voltaire! That's pretty incredible. I'd take one Cabaret Voltaire over ten thousand Hard Rock cafes any day of the week.
    Zurich: clearly a place proud of its deviant history...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, and it was actually a comfortable place to hang out. I didn't want to leave!

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    2. It kinda reminds me of the Shadowbox cafe that used to exist in Hamtramck. And I just noticed the menu has absinthe! Did... did you try any??

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    3. Well it was still morning, er, 1:00 in the afternoon, so coffee was on our agendas at that time. But upon a return at a later hour, I would definitely be inclined toward a glass of die grüne Fee.

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