Contracted. Stored

‘Verdingt. Verwahrt.’ is a long-term project by the transdisciplinary artists’ collective #BigDreams from Zurich. It is being developed with and by Hanspeter Zablonier; a Jenischer, a former indentured child, a trained baker and confectioner, who has been in care for 28 years.

Long Night of Detention: On 6 and 7 November, #BigDreams will be broadcasting from the Rote Fabrik with a 28-hour programme. The programme will explore detention from various perspectives. The focus will be on questions of justice, security and, ultimately, the sense and nonsense of detention: What does a criminal justice system punish when it is based on future danger rather than past guilt? What does the state owe to people it detains indefinitely? How does a path from preventive detention lead back to freedom?

The programme is aimed not only at the live audience but also at those who cannot attend: people in preventive detention and other prisoners, who will be able to stream or listen to at least parts of the programme. Details on streaming will be announced shortly.

--------------------------------

Friday, 6 November 2026

19:00–19:45 / Clubraum
Launch of the #BigDream podcast: ‘Until Further Notice’.

8.00 pm–9.00 pm / Club room
‘Punish, Treat, Detain?’ Public discussion on the sense and nonsense of
the enforcement of measures with Susan Boos and Elmar Habermeyer, Director of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at PUK.

21:15–22:00 / Club room
Reading from Susan Boos’ book ‘An Eye for an Eye: The Limits of Preventive Punishment’.

22:00 / Club Room
Apéro Riche and start of the evening programme with music by Hanspeter Zablonier.

Saturday, 7 November 2026

14:00–16:00 / Club Room
‘A Danger to Society: A History of Swiss Correctional Measures.’ The second episode of the #BigDreams podcast ‘Bis auf Weiteres’ as a live panel discussion with guests at the Rote Fabrik.

19:00–19:45 / Club Room
Introduction: The Zablonier Case and Swiss Law on Custodial Measures by Stephan Bernard, Hanspeter Zablonier’s solicitor

20:00–21:45 / Club Room
‘Measures and Restraint’ – a conversation with Hugo Portmann, a former detainee and the ‘king of escapees’, and Brigitte Hürlimann, a lawyer and journalist, about life in detention and the path back to freedom. Followed by a Q&A session with the audience.

21:45–23:00 / Club room
Closing remarks and end of broadcast.

--------------------------------

Background

In 1999, Hanspeter Zablonier was originally sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for a criminal offence. Although he has served his sentence, he is still unable to leave prison to this day. He is ‘held in preventive detention’. This detention is inextricably linked to his Yenish heritage and forms part of a Swiss history of persecution and repression of minorities. Zablonier’s dream is to run his own restaurant in freedom. In July 2026, #BigDreams brought this dream to life: At the ‘Schlüssel’ restaurant in Zurich, a menu told his life story over seven evenings, whilst he himself was imprisoned in Pöschwies. The violent act for which Hanspeter Zablonier was convicted is neither to be glossed over nor called into question. What is up for discussion is what came afterwards. #BigDreams Live at the Rote Fabrik is the continuation of this long-term project, which explores violence and the mechanisms of exclusion and confinement.

#BigDreams is a transdisciplinary artists’ collective from Zurich, founded in 2020 by Sabina Aeschlimann and Daniel Riniker. It works at the intersections of theatre, performance and media campaigns, with a focus on the justice system and the prison service.

A project by and featuring: Hanspeter Zablonier, Sabina Aeschlimann, Lee Fischer, Daniel Riniker, Eva Willenegger, Sebastian Aeschlimann, Ramon Süsstrunk, …