In the 15th century on the site of the Bern Schlachthaus Theater was the so-called Schinthaus, or slaughterhouse in English, which along with the new construction from the 18th century and the Fleischsaal, or meat hall, shaped the character of the street. On the occasion of the 14th annual SONE Performance Art Festival, the space, which is currently a theater, was converted into an extension of the "Butchers' Alley" for 24 hours and thus into a public passage. All the doors and windows were removed, making the institution a radically open place of urban fluctuation. The high point of the action was when a shepherd led his 300 sheep in a staged procession from the Nägeligasse through the passage, which retroactively gave the slaughterhouse a symbolically positive aura and activated the site as a social and public space. The action of the ritual reinterpretation followed in the history of the site, which is marked by conversion, expansion, and change, reconciling it with the present and opening it for the future. (JO)

Press

∙ Christ, Stefanie, "Festival startet mit tierischem Grossaufmarsch", in: BZ - Berner Zeitung
30.11.2011.

∙ Christ, Stefanie, "Performancekunst im Schafspelz", in: BZ - Berner Zeitung, 24.11.2011.