AIO FREI & FRANZISKA KOCH
Performance
Aio Frei & Franziska Koch with Miao Zhao, Njomza Dragusha, Tristan Amor Rabit, Vivian Wang
Durchgang Kasernenareal, Zürich
Since that night, the earth will have rotated 13’629 times around its own axis. That night, the moon rose over the Kasernenareal at around 7:25 pm. You also had imagined an observatory on the roof, next to all the urgently needed spaces to continue your work. That full moon night, your collective fury broke forth as a piercing, shattering storm of sound.
«Grausam ist der Lesbenton, nieder mit dem Herrensohn.» [Dyke sounds strikes like disaster, down with the sons of the masters.] Slogan on a banner, protest action for a “Frauenkulturzentrum” in the barracks area, Zürich, 1987.
The military facilities of the Zürich Kasernenareal [barracks area] were built in 1876, a time of military expansion and imperialist encroachment on many regions of the world. To this day they remain a symbol of patriarchal power structures in Europe and of colonial fantasies of war and conquest, the politics that ultimately led to the First World War. In 1986 the military left the area in District 4 after roughly one hundred years. This prompted more than 30 feminist groups active in Zürich to join forces. They demanded that a «Frauenkulturzentrum» be established in two of the former armouries: «Kasernenraum, ein Lesbentraum». [barrack walls and beams these are lesbian dreams.] With activist actions and political campaigns, they made their claims for more space and urgently needed resources known.
«Unsere Zukunft oder keine.» [Our future or none] Slogan on a banner, protest action for a “Frauenkulturzentrum” in the barracks area, Zürich, 1987.
Today, some forty years later, emancipatory educational programmes are being cut back in favour of new armament, and anti-feminist, transphobic and racist policies are being enshrined in law. The human rights systems created after the First and Second World Wars have been blocked and hollowed out by the states that once installed them. Imperialism continues its patriarchal violence – through wars, oppression, internment camps, settler regimes and genocides.
«Why am I here, when the right of return belongs to those who, for thousands of years, planted the olive trees.» Leslie Feinberg, «I am at your side», 2007.
Break/core refers to one of the political actions of the 1980s surrounding the demand for a Feminist Cultural Centre in Zürich. On the evening of 29 May 1988, after the city and canton had ignored and rejected their demands, around hundred feminists gathered in front of the barracks. In an angry protest, they smashed hundreds of plates: «Der Abwasch hat ein Ende.» [Washing dishes is over] In its energy, sounding and resonance, this action is emblematic for the long-standing, polyphonic and dissonant queer-feminist struggle for space, participation, self-determination and demilitarisation.
«We understand the meaning of spaces. In temporal and spatial terms. We see our actions as a link between the past and the future. (...) Then we should bear in mind that the concepts of «forward» and, correspondingly, «backward» belong to linear thinking. (...) We reject this patriarchal thinking because it is modelled on a line that leads nowhere.» From «Flügelschläge – Ein Frauenkulturzentrum für Zürich», video essay, Videowerkstatt Frauenzimmer, 1987.
Based on archival materials held in public and private places, and conversations with activists who participated in the struggle for the Feminist Cultural Centre at the time, Aio and Franziska develop a multi-layered composition with plates. It deals with non-linear historiography and fractures in memory culture, with intersectional solidarity, self-organised queer-feminist work, the erotics of anger and dissonance, with mourning work and politics of friendship through planetary constellations. The resulting score poem is translated into an improvised live performance together with the artists Miao Zhao, Njomza Dragusha, Tristan Amor Rabit and Vivian Wang.
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Composition/Score/Poem: Aio Frei & Franziska Koch
Performance: Aio Frei, Franziska Koch, Miao Zhao, Njomza Dragusha, Tristan Amor Rabit, Vivian Wang
Posterdesign & Riso-Print: Aio Frei
Printed Ceramics: Ursula Vogel
Documentation Performance: Jerlyn Heinzen, Moritz Haase
The intervention is curated by Zaira Oram [Francesca Brusa]
The artists extend their deepest gratitude to:
Gabi Mengel, Mirjam Rudin, Sibylle Dorn and Ursula Habersaat for their memory-work and for the generosity in sharing their personal recollections and archives; Gabriella Giacomin for her connecting support; Romy Rüegger and Bettina Stehli for their hints, traces, contacts and door openers; Doro Röthlisberger and Gertrud Vogler for their photographic work; Francesca Brusa for the invitation and smooth cooperation; Alice Cantaluppi for the plate collection and for hosting us in the countryside; Ursula Vogel for last-minute printed ceramics; Suza Husse for last minute translation; Jerlyn Heinzen and Moritz Haase for documentation,;the Social Archive Zürich; and all those who fought before us for spaces of relationality, dissonance and solidarity.
bio
Aio Frei is a non-binary sound artist, relational listener, sonic researcher and graphic designer based in Zürich. They co-founded the experimental record- and artbook store OOR Records, and co-curated OOR Saloon, a production context for queer-feminist listening practices. Since many years, they are deeply interested and invested in questions concerning «ethics of listening» – in socio-political, environmental, non-extractivist, mindful, embodied and queer practices of listening within its situated contexts. Aio's transdisciplinary practice interweaves critical artistic research, sonic organizing, relational forms of composition and graphic design/printed matter.
Franziska Koch is an artist, sound performer, educator, improviser and organizer. She works on sound performances, sound translations, experimental exhibition and workshop formats based on collective, experience-based and improvisational practices. She is co-founder of the experimental record and art bookstore OOR Records and co-curates with Aio Frei OOR Saloon, a production context for queer-feminist listening practices. Franziska is a lecturer for artistic practice in the BA Fine Arts and the Soundminor at ZHdK.
Miao Zhao is a musician, clarinetist born in China, based in Zürich. A performer known for her capricious and unpredictable artistic presence, she moves fluidly between various musical contexts—ranging from solo harsh noise performances to clarinetist in Swiss contemporary music ensembles, as well as projects situated within experimental, pop, ambient, new age, and other unclassifiable, interdisciplinary contemporary musical cultures. Her work is driven by a commitment to reimagining what it means to be a musician of today, fostering artistic practices that are autonomous, experimental, and culturally resonant.
Njomza Dragusha is a community organizer, educator and researcher based between Zurich and Prishtina. Her practice focuses on transforming hierarchical structures into models of collective ownership—guided by intersectional feminist perspectives.
Tristan Amor Rabit is an artist and researcher based between Berlin and Zurich. Working across media, their practice explores contemporary embodiment and the sensuality of the body, summoning spaces of mourning and ambiguity that emerge through shifting states and the inevitability of meaning. They are also co-initiator of thank you for the reminder, a loose collective dedicated to imagination, gathering and collective agency.
Vivian Wang is a composer, sound artist and musician, creating works across a range of intersections in art, culture and space. She is a founding member of experimental rock group The Observatory and has performed as a noise and improv musician since 2001. Using environmental sounds, field recording and elemental approaches, Vivian has developed durational works for expanded media and interactive installations.
