A gallery called Wartesaal (waiting lounge) by Manuela Schlumpf and Adi Ehrat is on the top floor. The gallery focuses on non-commercial representation of young artists such as Thomas Galler, Alexis Saile, Barbara Davi, Franziska Koch, Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs, and Hendrik Stromberg.

As evening drew on, the building filled up, and people started to crowd out onto the street

That was when, in a small window display, brightly lit by fluorescent light, artists Ariel Zumstein and Niklaus R_egg started their performance. One wore a native Indian costume and the other was the cowboy. Their heads stuck out of a white wooden box, from where they stared at the audience in silence. Since nothing moved for quite a while, I left the building. However, according to Mark Divo, a heated argument between American Indian and cowboy was fought later on.

Party guests and passersby crowd in front of a display window, waiting for a performance.
Two artists in Indian and cowboy costumes mesmerize a child

Another performance I unfortunately missed was “Midnight Mass” by self-proclaimed Pastor Leumond. It was a mocked mass based on an imaginary religion, and the party guests joined him as worshipers. Delivering a meaningless sermon and singing mass with guests, he brought a lot of excitement to the party.

It might be due to the location in the red-light vicinity that such uncontrolled and creative activities can exist in a rather quiet and conservative city. Will Perla Mode be the spring of the next art movement? Let’s see.

Perla-Mode
Address: 84 Langstrasse, CH 8004 Zurich
Tel: +41 (0)44 240 0481