Schwarzer Panther

The business of engaging the public is no longer organized solely as a mass enterprise; instead, individuals are targeted through personalized online environments shaped by their preferences and desires. Fragmented by technology into individualized experiences, commodified and monetized, public attention has become one of the most valuable economic assets today.

Is it possible to speak of public opinion amid this fragmentation? What effect does this have on our political reality? How does it influence our participation?

The seminar The Business of Public explored these questions, with particular attention to the relationship between artistic practice and the public realm, and was developed in collaboration with gfs.bern, a Swiss public opinion research institute.

A group of students from different departments of HKB—music, fine arts, and art education—was joined by a theatrology student from the University of Bern and research associates from gfs.bern in a collaborative process that gradually evolved into a theatre production. Throughout the process, each participant assumed a different role, ranging from research, writing, production and directing to stage and graphic design, acting, music, and singing. In this interdisciplinary exchange, different practices came together, generating new forms of understanding and connecting different perspectives.

The result was Schwarzer Panther, a theatre play based on the story of Suma.

In 1933, the black panther Suma escaped the Zurich Zoo. The reward of 2000 CHF was offered for her capture and return. The play follows Suma’s fate, reflecting on the volatile climate of public opinion through the lens of her tragic story.