DANIEL BAUMANN I first came to know you as a singer in an Indian restaurant where you got up and sang songs by Frank Sinatra. What does music mean to you? How did you start with singing?
TOBIAS SPICHTIG Images do not exist without music. It possesses a sense of radical presence, a kind of concentration, which cannot be entirely pre-planned or pre-conceptualized. I could not do anything without it, and have also always made music myself. I have played trumpet since I was a child, always trying to imitate Chet Baker. My neighbour in Zürich, the opera singer Jeanne-Roth, gave me singing lessons, and I will always be grateful to her for that. Together with my friend Theresa Patzschke, I then began doing performances, singing songs by Scott Walker, Shirley Bassey or Franz Schubert, accompanied by piano.
DB Can you say something about the keyboard sculpture that was exhibited at Waldo and Deborah Schamoni? Does this totem make music?
TS Yes, the belts that hold them together press the buttons. They each play several chords and can hold them. They are like skyscrapers. I am currently making more music again and have a piano in my studio. I started playing piano three years ago and am slowly getting better at it. But this is just something I do on the side. I am currently writing some pieces with musicians, which we want to release at some point.