Background

Andreas Liebmann and Cecilie Ullerup Schmidt ran Abendschule Import (then known as Klubschule Import) as an addition to their performance ‘Exodus’ for the first time in 2016 in the Rote Fabrik theatre in Zurich. The two-week programme included 12 modules and was almost completely sold out and several newspapers, as well as Swiss Radio, reported on it.
Many visitors described the project and its structure as unique and expressed interest in its continuation.

Therefore, the project was reborn in autumn 2017 as Abendschule Import and was designed to run long-term. Marie Drath and Raphael Jakob joined the team and the Autonomous School Zurich became an organisational partner. In the 2017/18 semesters, more than 20 different courses were held at the Rote Fabrik, Zurich. The course content moved away from more well-known topics such as language, food, dance, although never neglecting them completely, and began to touch on more in-depth and surprising topics, such as flight engineering, laboratory medicine, philosophy, but also political or artistic studies, which bring to attention other perspectives on globally relevant topics.
In addition, Abendschule Import received a request from the Kunsthaus Zurich to hold 2 afternoon courses in conjunction with an exhibition by the Mexican artist Abraham Cruzvillegas.

From summer 2018, Abendschule Import has grown in weight and stature and has been collaborating with more partners – the Belluard Festival in Fribourg, as well as the Wildwuchs Festival in Basel.

The courses in Zurich from 2019 onwards will be held in Cabaret Voltaire. The stage director P Vijayashanthan has stepped into Raphael Jakob’s shoes and is part of the current team.

In 2018, the project Abendschule Import was awarded a prize for its cultural contribution by the canton of Zurich.