Since 2012 Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard has experimented with multiplying instruments in attempts of making the sound of the instruments transcend their inherent sonic norms and reappear in another form.

The multiplication brings out timbral phenomena, interference of sound waves and vibrations, and brings out what Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard calls the sound’s potential of transformation. He describes this as the quality in a musical piece, when you no longer hear recognizable instruments, but instead the individual sound, as well as the individual musician, is dissolved into the collective sound. A sonic as well as human synthesis.

Løkkegaard works with music instruments not only as sources of sound but also as cultural markers embedded within different systems and hierarchies — all revolving around the focus on how to create a safe environment for performing music, and dissolve shame or trauma connected with a particular music instrument and the act of performing music in general.

The work of Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard has been presented at a variety of different venues and museums such as York Art Gallery, MoMA, Overgaden — Institute of Contemporary Art, ISCM, Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary CPH:DOX, Roskilde Festival, Dark Music Days, Gothenburg Art Sounds, Nordic Music Days and Akusmata. His works has been released on labels such as Topos (DK), Archive Officielle (CA) and Important Records (US) and several of his compositions are available via EditionS.

He is a founding member of the intermedial platform Topos, is associate professor at RMC in Copenhagen, and has given lectures at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Simon Fraser University (Vancouver), The Royal Danish Academy of Music, Artistic Research Forum (N), Goldsmiths University of London.

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