ABOUT LYDSKATTEN
THE DANISH LIVING MUSEUM FOR ELECTRONIC MUSIC
FOUNDED BY:
FREDERIK BIRKET-SMITH
GUNNER MØLLER PEDERSEN
JENS WILHELM “FUZZY” PEDERSEN
EST. 2019
Lydskatten (‘the Sound Treasure’) is a rich collection of music, photos, recordings, film, instruments, equipment, notes, and all kinds of documentation of the electronic music culture dating all the way back to the 1950s.
As electronic musicians, we see this material as a testimony of our predecessors; the methods they used, the challenges they met and the ideals, which drove them to keep exploring new fields of sound to express their presence in a fast developing technological world.
The initiative was launched in 2019 by composers Gunner Møller Pedersen and Fuzzy as well as Frederik Birket-Smith, director of the electronic music institution Strøm, after a meeting in Fuzzy’s kitchen, where the ideas of a living archive emerged.
Archiving and digitization
The music, stored on analog reel tapes, hard drives, and digital tapes, is rescued and digitized in high resolution for the future. During digitization, each recording and sound work is cataloged in an archive with notes.
Communication and performances
Once the music and sound recordings are digitized and preserved for the future, they are performed and communicated—for example, during the Strøm Festival, in the Sound Wells at Frederiksberg, and at TICKON on Langeland. The original material from Gunner Møller Pedersen and Fuzzy’s MUSIKZAG concert at the Glyptotek in 1972 was, for instance, performed and reinterpreted by three younger electronic musicians during the Strøm Festival 2024 (together with Gunner Møller Pedersen himself)
Residencies and studios
In addition to rescuing the music and sound recordings, the instruments and the studio equipment are preserved. All the gear is collected and made accessible so that new generations of composers, artists, and creators can draw inspiration from the past to create new music for the future. This is one of the cornerstone ideas in Fuzzy and Gunner’s concept of the ‘living archive’: That the materials live on, are reinterpreted, and are used in new and creative ways.
KØDBYEN
VINTAGE SOUND LAB & SONIC HERITAGE
A vintage sound lab, electronic music studio, living museum and archive for Danish electronic music history