KiFF

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KiFF culture in the feed factory

The KiFF ( acronym for “Culture in the Feed Factory”) is an event location in Aarau , the capital of the Canton of Aargau . It is located in the premises of the former Kunath feed factory in the Telli district and is one of the leading venues in Switzerland . The KiFF is run by an association that receives financial support from the city and the canton. After the association was founded in June 1988 and the factory building was converted, the cultural center started operations in August 1990. A new building called KiFF 2.0 is currently planned on a parcel immediately south of it.

description

The KiFF cultural center consists of a main hall for concerts, a foyer with a bar and a small stage, a club called Silo with a lounge and smoking room and the factory palace puppet theater . The center is managed by IG KiFF , an association with 400 members. It is headed by a seven-person honorary board of directors, ten permanent employees coordinate the daily work. There are also around 120 voluntary helpers (called activists) and, depending on requirements, several hourly wage workers in the areas of cash, cloakroom, gastronomy and technology. The institution receives financial support from the Aargauer Kuratorium, the Canton of Aargau, the City of Aarau and private individuals.

Numerous artists and bands from various alternative styles of music perform at KIFF. The best-known international acts that have appeared at KiFF include Agnostic Front , Bad Company , Beatsteaks , Blumentopf , Cannibal Corpse , Chumbawamba , Die Ärzte , H-Blockx , Fettes Brot , Leningrad Cowboys , Napalm Death , Seeed and Voivod . An appearance at KiFF is also often part of a tour of well-known Swiss performers, including Baschi , Eluveitie , Lovebugs , Lunik , Patent Ochsner , Sens Unik , Steff la Cheffe , Stiller Has , Stress , Subzonic , The Young Gods and Züri West . Parties, theatrical performances, readings, and comedy events are also held.

history

Fritz Kunath (1897–1938), an entrepreneur who immigrated from Strelitz in Mecklenburg and was naturalized in 1932, founded a poultry farm in 1926 in Aarauer Telli . In addition, he traded with equipment for poultry farming and with feed . In 1936 he built the first factory in Switzerland for the production of livestock feed and renamed the business Kunath's poultry farm and feed factory . After the death of the company founder, the widow Käthe Kunath continued the business until 1971. In the same year the company was renamed Kunath Futter AG . This relocated production to Burgdorf in 1988 .

At the end of the 1980s there was a great need for cultural freedom in Aarau. The then owner of the company, Georg Kunath, suggested to the theater group Theaterunser (today Theater Marie ) that they let the factory that became free. Various other actors from the alternative cultural scene were also interested, especially since the smaller rooms were suitable as studios . After signing a lease, the association “KiFF - Interest Group Culture in the Feed Factory” was founded on June 22nd, 1988 . As a result, numerous volunteers converted the factory building into a cultural center. The budget of just under half a million Swiss francs consisted of contributions from the city and canton and a loan from the owner. The opening took place on August 17, 1990 with a theatrical collage.

In the early years, theater productions and music events used the KiFF roughly equally. The latter gradually gained in importance. In 1994, for example, the German punk band Die Ärzte managed to organize a concert that had to be held in the Bärenmattehalle in Suhr due to a lack of space . After ten years, the theater group disbanded and moved into the Tuchlaube theater in the old town. In 1994 a bar was opened in the back of the building. A smoldering fire broke out there in the spring of 1999 , which also caused damage to the rest of the building. The subsequent renovation cost 1.4 million francs and was completed in May 2001 without the event operations having to be interrupted. After the renovation (a restaurant and a clubhouse were added), the club diversified the musical offer, combined with increasing professionalism.

For a few years the financial situation deteriorated noticeably, as the increased demands of the visitors caused ever higher costs. The turning point came in 2007 with the installation of a second stage in the foyer. This enabled two events to be held in parallel and different target groups to be addressed. The number of visitors began to increase significantly and from 2008 the association was able to present a balanced financial result. In 2009, the canton of Aargau declared the KiFF to be a “cultural beacon”, which involved additional financial support. This made it possible for the association to pay off the debts that had accumulated during the renovation. In May 2016, the 25th anniversary celebration drew over 6,000 visitors.

KiFF 2.0

In December 2017 the association presented a new building project called KiFF 2.0. After almost three decades of use, the feed factory has become dilapidated. In particular, the safety and production-related conditions no longer meet today's requirements for concerts. Refurbishing the existing building is not financially worthwhile, which is why a new building is planned immediately south of it, for which Georg Kunath is making a plot available. Two modular concert halls for 300 and a maximum of 1000 spectators are planned, which would make it possible to hire more attractive artists and musicians and thereby improve the income potential. The gastronomy is also to be expanded. The architectural competition began in February 2019 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Yes, I do. (PDF, 457 kB) KiFF, 2018, accessed on May 8, 2019 .
  2. ^ Hall of Fame. KiFF, 2007, archived from the original on October 8, 2007 ; accessed on May 8, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Annual report 2016 (PDF, 782 kB) KiFF, 2017, accessed on May 8, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Annual report 2017 (PDF, 3.9 MB) KiFF, 2018, accessed on May 8, 2019 .
  5. ^ Marc Fehlmann: Kunath, Fritz Otto Edmund. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  6. ↑ Gabriela Suter: The Telli are changing - from an industrial to a residential area . In: Ortsbürgergemeinde Aarau (Hrsg.): Aarauer Neujahrsblätter . tape 92 . here + now , Baden 2018, ISBN 978-3-03919-429-2 , p. 60 .
  7. ↑ Markus Christen: From the industrial stage to the lighthouse. In: Aarauer Neujahrsblätter 2018, pp. 95–96.
  8. ↑ Markus Christen: From the industrial stage to the lighthouse. In: Aarauer Neujahrsblätter 2018, pp. 96–98.
  9. ↑ Markus Christen: From the industrial stage to the lighthouse. In: Aarauer Neujahrsblätter 2018, pp. 101–103.
  10. ↑ Stefan Künzli: Starting signal for a new KiFF - from June 2020 construction should start. Aargauer Zeitung , December 22, 2017, accessed on May 8, 2019 .
  11. ^ Starting shot for the architecture competition. Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen , February 8, 2019, accessed on May 8, 2019 .

Coordinates: 47 ° 23 '55.3 "  N , 8 ° 3' 49.7"  E ; CH1903:  647194  /  249 952