Thank you for this article, you are speaking out directly from my heart.

Cabaret Voltaire used to be a place of subversive and open minds — not only back in 1916. I visited it several times in 2010 and some years later — they were an open platform for neo-dada, art experimenters, performance art and cultural discussions, vivid and loud place. I saw amazing happenings like the marriage of COM+MERZ etc.

Just… They were always under siege. The right-wing movements of Zürich tried several times to close this scandalous place of disruption. Luckily — and here is the power of Swiss democracy — the local citizen referendums saved Cabaret Voltaire at the last moment with pro-DADA votes several times. This fight took time and continued, being enduring and exhausting for all participants, and short before Anniversary of Dada, Cabaret Voltaire had to be restructured to just another sight-seeing café, research site and memorial of Dada movement. Political and cultural decisions…

That’s a pity, and you happened to visit this place in aftermath, indeed.

I know creative and openminded people behind Cabaret Voltaire in the 2000–10ies, this capitulation was traumatic for all of them.