Tagtool

The Hilti Ensemble was invited to Slovakia to take part in Use the City 2009, an initiative leading up to Košice’s reign as European Capital of Culture in 2013.

We opened on Friday the 12th of June with a performance of Hilti’s Odyssey of Oddities, featuring cocoa-sipping space mechanic Hilti and his careless companion, the spaceship Captain. This is an improvised science fiction adventure taking place in the universe of Huntopia, home of a race of chicken-like hat lovers, the Huns. The core ensemble of the project consists of Christian Reiner (voice), Philip Zoubek (keys), Maki Dorninger (Tagtool Drawing), and Mathias Fritz aka iink (Tagtool Animation).

It was the first time we did a narrative performance like that in public space, rather than in music or theatre venues. Even though it’s definitely a different ballgame – it’s harder to be subtle, and to build up atmosphere – it worked surprisingly well, with a crowd gathering behind us, and ambient sounds like airplanes and church bells adding to the show.

Saturday was a day of workshops with art and design students at the former military barracks of the town. We started by warming up with the instrument, followed by double Tagtool sessions to music. Again we were surprised how quickly the participants sussed out the system.

In the evening we hosted a free-for-all Jam Session with live music at the barracks, with Christian and Philip performing on voice and Fender Rhodes.

Much respect to the organisers of the festival, starting now to pave the way for the real thing in 2013. For sure the Capital of Culture presents a massive opportunity for this city and will have a lasting impact.

And Hilti was there to kick things off.