Out of the Circle Soirées

The salon is one of the oldest formats for the production of thought. Not a panel, not a conference, not a networking event — a room where people with genuinely different ways of understanding the world sit together long enough for something unexpected to happen. The salonnière selects, convenes, and holds the space. What emerges belongs to everyone in it.

Out of the Circle runs seasonally in Zürich. The instinct behind it goes back further — to gatherings Diana has been hosting since 2010. Attendance is by personal invitation and is not transferable. Guests commit to the soirées each season and to the integrity of the space.

Out of the Circle began in Zürich in 2023, at Cabaret Voltaire — a space with its own history of convening the unconventional. The choice of venue is not incidental. In 1916, Cabaret Voltaire brought together artists, intellectuals, and agitators from across Europe at a moment when the existing order was failing. The instinct behind it — that genuine encounter across disciplines produces something that no single discipline can — remains as urgent as it was then.

The format is intimate and by invitation. Guests have included scientists, artists, academics, philosophers, drag queens, directors, and bankers — not because diversity is a value to perform, but because the quality of a conversation depends on who is in it. There are no panels, no moderators, no agenda beyond the conversation itself. What is said in the room stays in the room. That is what makes it possible to speak honestly.

Out of the Circle is a non-profit initiative. Those who support it do so because they believe a space like this should exist. Enquiries from individuals and organisations who share this are welcome.