CORNICHON REVISITED

In 1934, a group of Swiss actors, directors, musicians, dancers, and visual artists founded the «Cabaret Cornichon» in Zurich. Among them were the young painter Elsie Attenhofer and the actor and director Max Werner Lenz, who were linked by a turbulent love affair. Through sharp wit and music, the group challenges the growing threat of Nazism and Switzerland's own far-right Frontist movement. Sometimes their criticism is direct, sometimes more subtle - especially after 1939, when Switzerland introduces press and film censorship to avoid provoking the Axis powers. Today, many of the questions raised by the Cornichon feel strikingly relevant once again. What can culture achieve? What holds a democracy together? How much accommodation - and how much resistance - can Switzerland afford? And how credible is its neutrality? In the song «On the One Hand - On the Other Hand» the Cornichon ensemble sums up its message in one memorable line: «we always find a little compromise/ somewhere between mere honesty and hard currency». The musicians Andrina Bollinger, Dino Brandão, Lo & Leduc and To Athena immerse themselves in the artistic and political legacy of Cabaret Cornichon and reimagine the songs for a contemporary audience.