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THE TARRENZ – PROJECT - Tarrenz, Austria
ISLAND OF THE BIRD-MEN - St. Kilda, Great Britain
THE TARRENZ – PROJECT
Tarrenz (Austria)
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Idea and concept: Annette Bieker, Thomas Dészy, Frank Schulz
Composition: Thomas Dézsy and others
Texts: Dadaists once and now
Costumes: Jan Kocman
Stage: Salvesen / Reinhold Neururer
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About the project
A place in the middle of the Tirolean mountains, a spirit born in the past plagues the countryside and the people still today, the name: Armada von Duldgedalzen, formerly Countess Tarrenz, who dared to invite the farmers to dinner before massacring them.
The Tarrenz project remembers this dastardly act in five episodes from the life of the Countess, told within the old walls of the town, performed by musicians, singers and actors from Switzerland, Germany and Austria.
But this project is in danger: an armada of about 100 trucks threatens to blockade the town, making the remembrance event impossible. The trucks move in and compose a concert with their engines and horns. Artists and the audience have to flee to the ski area at the edge of the Salvesenklamm and celebrate here the feast with Armada von Duldgedalzen.
Historical background
In the centre of Europe, the municipality of Tarrenz with its 6000 inhabitants in Tirol near Imst on the Inntal motorway has long been a relaxing place for tourists to go. When the painter Max Ernst, the writer Tristan Tzara and other artists met there by coincidence in 1921/22 to spend their holidays far away from the hustle and bustle of the big city, it was still a very quiet place "at the end of the world". In the isolation of the untouched alps the artists began a dialogue about the painful experiences of the first World War, which had just ended, about unbearable social conditions and the reactionary view of culture the establishment had. After that, they were drawn back again and again to the quiet town of Tarrenz where as a result some of the most significant works of the Dada movement were created.
The Tarrenz regional project is a homage to the creativity of these artists, which made the place what it is today.
A music theatre work has been created, that reflects the Dadaist spirit and uses it as a yardstick for modern life – with the participation of artists and cultural institutions from the region and of course the inhabitants of Tarrenz itself.
Performances in Tarrenz, Austria: April 2nd - 4th 2004
(for further information please contact the festival office)
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ISLAND OF THE BIRD-MENs
Theatre an Lanntair (Great Britain)
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Responsible: David Graham
Destination: St. Kilda, Stornoway, Düsseldorf
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The Islands called St. Kilda are 40 sea-miles west of the Outer Hebrides (north-west Scotland) and are often described as the Isles at the Edge of the World. People have lived there, possibly from Stone-Age times, up to 1938. Geographical isolation made intimate co-operation necessary on Hiort (Hirta), the inhabited island. These factors have inspired many travellers’ narratives. We propose a contemporary opera as a celebration of the St. Kildans’ fortitude.
A cultural pulse is still transmitted tram Hirta, in the same way as a radar signal is sent out from the military equipment more recently installed there. The narratives of the St Kildans celebrate solidarity - Individual fates are joined as if by a hand-made rope, the most valued object in that society which knew neither the wheel nor the mirror. The individual face and fete is found within the St. Kilda Parliament, an arrangement of souls, each one contributing to a collective decision. Ultimately that decision was to request evacuation but the moment when the ship came was not the true end of the story.
Island of the Bird-Men will be generated from that same human pulse. It will be developed from musical movement and language, sensitive to the source culture but combining the collective power of diverse art media to one common cause. The work will be underpinned by a text which can follow the vectors of the drama like a musical score.
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