- Two Electric guitars on a cross-border ferry
Grenzstück Nr.1 was composed in Summer of 2019. to be performed as part of Transborders Festival (Fluxus am Fluss). The whole festival was based on idea of exploration of state border of Austria (Styria) and Slovenia in the past (Iron curtain), present (democratic curtain) and in the future (famous 2020 and after).
In this area there are plenty of witty border crossings; some of them symbolic, some of them humorous and some of them enigmatic.
Probably the most famous is this one based in Weitersfeld (Austria)/Sladki Vrh (Slovenia) – to cross the border over the river Mur, you have to jump onto local ferry run by Slovenian military.
Grenzstück Nr.1 is written for two Electric guitars, which players perform the piece on the ferry itself. Two performers are symbolically from two neighbour countries, one Austrian and one Slovene. The performance is not only a unifying experience of two cultures, but also exploration of proximity of two different languages, German and Slovenian.
Since the festival audience was mostly based on Austrian side of the river, the piece started at the Slovenian side, so that the audience had a feeling of thundering guitar wall of sound coming from the distance. During the performance, the ferry was slowly floating to the other side of the river, creating unique transborder phenomenon – the piece started in one country and concluded in another one.
