From 17 to 21 May 2016, the festival "Zurich meets London - A Festival of Two Cities" took place in London. The program included a culinary marketplace in the famous Borough Market, Dadaist art interventions in a boxing ring, jazz concerts, film screenings, and numerous scientific workshops and lectures. With a total of 25 events, more than 30,000 visitors were addressed. In addition, more than 10 million people could be reached online and on social media. At the political level, there was a lively exchange with the main London boroughs (City of London, City of Westminster, Southwark and Camden), focusing on issues of urban development, economic development, policing, equal opportunities and social cohesion.
A connecting element of "Zurich meets London" was Dada and its 100th anniversary. In Borough Market, Fabian Spiquel from Maison Manesse serves a Dada Gala dinner, 16 Zurich food manufacturers introduced Londoners to Tirggel, Biberli and chocolate specialities, and the veggie restaurant Tibits presented itself with an innovative pop-up restaurant. Finally, the Zurich radio station GDS provided musical delights. FM, which broadcast live from Borough Market for a week. At the end of the ZHdK art project Instant City Reloaded, a twelve-hour Dada marathon took place at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, during which cultural professionals climbed into a boxing ring with their performances. In addition to classic Dada films, the Institute of Contemporary Arts screened short projections that shed light on Dada from today's perspective.
The scientific programme of "Zurich meets London" dealt with questions of the future. Neuroscientists from University College London and the University of Zurich showed how the innovative and interdisciplinary approach of computational psychiatry leads to a better understanding of the brain. Scientists from ETH Zurich and its partner universities in London discussed the future of the Internet with experts from Google UK. What financial markets have learned from the crisis and how they should be regulated in the future were discussed by experts at a joint event of the London School of Economics and the University of Zurich.
With "Zurich meets London", Zurich is consolidating its contacts with London. Already in 2010, the city was present at the conference for sustainable urban development in London. In the summer of 2012, Zurich used the Olympic Games in London for events on the topics of game design, design and life sciences. With the festival in London, the city and canton of Zurich as well as Zürich Tourism are continuing their joint international appearances after Shanghai 2010, New York 2014 and Milan 2015 in order to further promote the exchange and networking of Zurich.
Final Clip of the Festival
