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GORM ASKJÆR

EN SYMFONI TIL ET STED

Project in collaboration with the ensemble Lydenskab. During a 3 year period (2019-2022) Gorm Askjær and the classical ensemble Lydenskab created works for five places in five municipalities in Region Midt. The works are composed by Gorm Askjær for the classical ensemble Lydenskab, with texts by citizens, compiled and reworked by authors Ursula Andkjær Olsen, Claus Handberg and Gerd Laugesen. Each minisymphony create a site-specific work from citizen-involving processes. The process and the way in which the local community is involved sets the tone for the final result, which has been a unique concert performance for each place.

Each symphony lasts approx. 60 minutes and features composed music, audio installations, lyrics, video and scenographic elements. The symphonies are dedicated to selected locations in Region Midt, as well as the people and events that are part of the locations. We explore the connection between ourselves and the world, past and present, local communities, our own smaller stories, and the greater unifying stories. The works are created in collaboration with local citizens, cultural institutions and relevant artists from other artforms. Each work has its own local distinctive sound imprint from the specific place, process and people who helped create it, but all works will also have similarities in structure and content, and thus the project will both carry stories of individual local identities but also a unified, shared history of the new diverse Central Jutland identity.

The poetic texts that reflect the local communities are drawn up in writing workshops with the authors. Here, citizens are made co-authors of the symphony's lyrics. The sounds of the place are incorporated by Gorm Askjær, who has a broad musical profile, primarily from jazz and into classical music. Lydenskab and Gorm Askjær are inspired by the anthropological approach and investigate stories, sounds, codes and more in relationships and societies. In this way, the project leaves the artists as a media that exposes a local culture.


Each site facilitates a series of meetings / living labs with local citizens, associations, schools, cultural institutions, artists, etc., where ideas, stories and audio material are collected based on tried and tested methods. The material is processed by the professional artists involved. Through workshops and open samples, local forces will be more directly involved in the design of the final work of art, where some will also contribute either 'live' or via recorded audio / video material. The final work of art is presented at a concert at the selected location.

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