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Digital Musics & Sound Art Anerkennung - Honorary Mention 2021

Music for Krügerrand - Quartet for Gold Bullion Coins

Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard
Music for Krügerrand is a multimedial work by Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard in which the materiality of gold coins and the sonic properties of gold are investigated. Music for Krügerrand features eight gold bullion coins and eight oscillators and was premiered at Copenhagen Contemporary by a quartet consisting of Danish billionaire Lars Seier Christensen alongside Ying-Hsueh Chen, Jaleh Negari, and Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard.  

In this performance the following eight gold bullion coins were used: 
Krügerrand, 1 oz. (1978, 1980, 1981, 1983)  
American Eagle, 1 oz. (2017)  
100 Corona (1915, 1915)  
50 Pesos Centenario (1947)  

The purity of a gold coin can be determined by the sound emitted when the gold coin is struck with another gold coin. The sound generated is a high frequency tone with a very long sustain, and depending on the diameter, thickness, and alloy of the gold coin, a tone with a specific pitch and timbre is given.  Music for Krügerrand studies the materiality and the sonic properties of gold, and moreover it deals with man's age-old fascination with the precious metal; which could be described as the psychology of gold. 

In nature, gold occurs in very small quantities, and when refined gold is unaffected by the ravages of time. Thus, gold appears as a constant—a very concrete symbol of something desirable and unbreakable; a constant material of great gravity representing a continuum of stability.  

Due to these properties, gold has been given great value, has caused numerous tragedies and conflicts, and is today the subject of dreams of wealth and acts as an anxiety barometer measuring the status of the world. Thus, the price of gold usually increases in times where the future seems uncertain, whereas the price of gold often drops when we enjoy a more positive view of the future. The political implications of gold throughout history are countless, and as for the Krügerrand coin itself, the historical load is a heavy and grim one.  Music for Krügerrand – Quartet for Gold Bullion Coins was released in 2020.

Links: https://nielslyhne.com/krugerrandlp.html
Thanks to: Lars Seier Christensen, Ying-Hsueh Chen, Jaleh Negari, Bjarke Svendsen, Topos, Copenhagen Contemporary and G((o))ng Tomorrow.
Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard (DK) considers his work to be a basic research in realities and is interested in how bubble-like systems unfold themselves as human conditions. The meetings between the individual body and these different bubble-like systems are key drivers in Løkkegaards praxis and he's interested in how to escape these bubbles, and if not escape them, then how they can be warped, wrestled, and renegotiated. Løkkegaard works within many different media, but is particularly interested in music instruments and other sonic artifacts not only as sources of sound, but also as cultural markers embedded within different saturated systems that are unspoken, unseen, or unheard of. Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard studied at the School of Architecture at The Royal Danish Academy of Art and the RMC in Copehagen, where he currently works as associate professor.