Up-and-coming artists: These faces are shaping the future of Swiss culture

They are young, they stand out and surprise us. We want to see more art from these cultural workers. Because they are looking for – and finding – their own voice in the midst of a vast mass of very good, strong craftsmanship. Because they add a new, previously unknown perspective to their artistic field and take artistic risks without regard to loss or convention. And last but not least, because they want to be so intense that it becomes uncomfortable sometimes. Her name has long been a household name in professional circles. It’s time to become one for a wider audience. Clear the stage for these eight artists!

Hell is other people, says Jean-Paul Sartre. Perhaps Jozo Brica, 32, would make this more precise: Hell is the ones you have to serve in the cell phone shop. Brica knew it himself: how he started to hate it more and more every time he asked how his weather app was working. The elder, but also the grandson, who bought the elder’s cell phone to “connect” with him.

Along with Jozo Brica, a comedian who has just been missing is touring the country. A nasty punch line, wrapped in a gentle flow of South East European-flavored language, masked behind a friendly, boring face that reminds us of a just-resurrected Lionel Messi on the surface of the earth after spending about eleven weeks working in Amsterdam. on an underground “Minecraft” party. His works made him a worse person, says Brica. That moment when a big man appears in the store with a strange Samsung cell phone. Then Brica said: “What is that? . . where did you get that from?! Did you run away? Welcome to Switzerland!” And welcome to the new comedy in Switzerland!
The creator of Linus

The fact that the role of Lucia Kotikova is called acting is almost a lie. The 26-year-old’s actions have as little to do with the words “watch” or “play”. No, when Kotikova is on stage, watching becomes an almost physical experience. Her presence is so unconditional – and she’s not afraid to let it go to the point of discomfort.

For example, as a slightly autistic Greta in the Grimm adaptation “Hansel & Greta & The Big Bad Witch” by Kim de l’Horizon. Or as a documentary character in the 90-minute monologue based on “Book of Blood” by Kim de l’Horizon, where Lucia Kotikova responds to the fluidity of the character with an amazing range of acting styles.

Anyway, Kotikova came to the theater after a botched high school diploma through a gap year at the Bochum Theater Since 2021, she has been a member of the Bern Theater ensemble, and in 2024 she was recognized as the best young actress of “Theatre. Today.” What’s next? We’re excited. Anna Kardos

It may seem unusual to include a 60-year-old on this list. But with the opening of the Zurich Children’s Hospital on November 2nd, Christine Binswanger is finally stepping out of the great shadow of Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, of which she has been a member since 1991, today as senior partner. With the children’s hospital, she, who comes from a family of doctors, has been successful in developing the rehabilitation center she opened in Basel in 2002.

The building in Zurich is an embodiment of people-friendly architecture as warmth and purpose are nicely combined here. The 200-bed house, which looks like a huge pavilion, has a unique combination of wood, concrete and nature. The patient rooms, located on the second floor, are equipped with large windows and wooden ceilings and floors. Green gardens allow intimacy and openness at the same time. Nature is seen as part of the healing process. You can’t make a place where no one wants to be more pleasant. Excellent work by Binswanger, which could be followed by many more. Peer Teeuwsen

“I came to stay!” Of course, that’s just proof. And when it comes from a 22-year-old who is currently establishing himself as the best rapper in Switzerland, you can laugh. Fair enough. What we love about Gigi is that she is so different. Her new album has just been released, which begins with a sigh: ode to the moon. The earth does not go around it, but if it stopped, the world would be different. How does that sound? Well, “The Moon” is a poem and lasts 49 seconds. No beats or instruments, just a quiet hum and the power of Gigi’s words.

You have to have the courage to do that, especially since all eyes in Swiss hip-hop are currently focused on the young Graubünden native, who will be releasing her EP in 2023. “heart palpitations” has shown what she can do: how she gets straight to the point, how she wraps things up neatly, how she argues intelligently and yet shows herself as a vulnerable person. With her sense of humor and a flow that carries her verses at a speed that leaves you time to think if it’s still rap or pop. Whatever: 2025 could be Gigi’s big year. Frank Heer

You can’t imagine fear being so cloudy, soft and white. But in Francesca Sanna’s picture book “Me and my man” she is not a threat, but a good friend of the main character. She is there at all their events and looks after the girl. But then the girl moves to a foreign country, and something strange happens to her fear: she grows bigger and bigger, eats herself full and suddenly she doesn’t want to go on no more, she doesn’t want to leave the house at all. . Frank Heer

The young photographer Francesca Sanna has the gift of looking at the world from an unusual perspective and capturing it in impressive images. For example, a family escape is told in such a way that one picture manages to show the emotions of different characters. A mountain and a girl can argue with each other about who should avoid the other. It’s the same with “My Fear”. Her cloudy clarity makes it clear: she is there to protect and help. You just shouldn’t give them too much. Anna Kardos

As a child, Ralph Tharayil was embarrassed when his parents spoke Malayalam in front of others. He was afraid that they would look as stupid as the Indians in Giacobbo/Müller. Growing up in Liestal as the son of South Indian parents and now living in Berlin, the question of origin came back to him again and again. Ralph Tharayil created the most amazing and beautiful childhood story in German literature.

“Take the Alps Away” is a novel in the form of a poem in which a brother and sister move around, playing and chipping away at cars, while the parents become multi-armed theology in their “weight-bearing”. With this story between the magic of being a child and the shame of being born, Tharayil makes the language shine. The artist, who juggles words and sounds, theatre, music and literature, knows that “surprise has no place”. This season Ralph Tharayil is author in residence at the Theater Bern, where “Take the Alps away” is being presented for the first time. Martina Lubli

She already has enthusiastic readers, only the German feature section is still a little sleepy: Rebekka Salm, born in Liestal in 1979 and living in Olten, has two: “The Name of Things ” (2022) and “How the Rabbit Runs” (2024). Everything that is often lacking in it, cosmopolitanism, urgency, real narrative energy with a simultaneous sense of form: it is in abundance here.

Rebekka Salm has charm, wit, depth, she writes with enthusiasm without hitting, and she knows how to write interesting conversations. In her first novel she told the story of an oppressive town from the point of view of twelve different people; In the book she tells about two families who do not want to remember but are still unable to escape from history. The author has just moved from the brave little publishing house Oltner Knapp to the German group publisher Ullstein: If that goes well! Pope Manfred

Swiss films are rarely remembered for being really good. And they are very good because they do not adhere to conventional storytelling, they mourn a lot and believe that the audience is willing to engage in the unknown. Petra Volpe did this with “Traumland” (an anti-Christmas story about a prostitute), Carmen Stadler with “Sekuritas” (a house in danger of being demolished calls for another love story). Then came “Soul of a Beast” (2021) by Lorenz Merz, this charming love story in an apocalyptic setting, sensual and surreal, unbelievable and somnambulistic.

With this, Merz tells something that obviously feels a lot and that even as an outsider is moved by. This rarely happens in Swiss films. Whoever can do that is Merz’s namesake, Valentin Merz. His erotic and funny crime novel “De noche los gatos son pardos” could have won the competition in Locarno in 2022 just as easily as the real winner, Julia Murat. This year, Valentin Merz’s short film “Les bouches” reminded us why he is one of the most original commentators in Swiss filmmaking. If something is going to happen with the better reputation of Swiss film, we urgently need more talent like this. Denise Bucher

Her first trip was through Berlin. Anna Erhard and her band sailed through the city’s waters on a boat and played wherever there was an audience on the shore. That was during the pandemic. The singer and songwriter is currently traveling in Germany and England. With “Botanical Garden” She has created a lively little indie-pop hit that will instantly calm your ears.

But the native rock of Graubünden that lives in Berlin-Neukölln can also shake and shake, worry and stand, and sometimes it makes a real noise. Above all, Anna Erhard writes songs that stick. “I’m looking for situations that could go wrong,” she told “NZZ am Sonntag” three years ago. This idea is what is needed to improve artistically. Because there is nothing new without danger. The fact that she sings in English is the result of the spirit of the times, but it would not be necessary at all, because Erhard would come even closer to herself if she trusted in her own language still happen. And if things go wrong she won’t let herself be stopped. Frank Heer

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