The project I slumpens tjänst (In the service of chance) was a preliminary study funded by Kulturbryggan/Swedish Arts Grants Committee that investigated chance as a method for programming contemporary music 2018-2019. In the project, Konstmusiksystrar explored the use of chance and lottery as a means to broaden diversity and to challenge any preconceived conceptions of “high-quality” or what is aesthetically appropriate in the field of contemporary music.
Since the organisation was founded, Konstmusiksystrar has worked with randomisation as a curatorial method for processes of selection. Originally, this method came from a desire to avoid any conflicts of interest as many people in the network knew each other and were friends. Over the years, the use of randomisation emerged to be a controversial method for some of Konstmusiksystrar’s previous collaborators and audience members. In light of these strong reactions from people outside the organisation and a certain ambivalence within the organisation itself, Konstmusiksystrar decided to further explore the use of chance as a curatorial method for programming music.
As part of the project, the project group met with organisations, ensembles and institutions and spoke with them about their processes of selection. The project resulted in three experiment-oriented collaborations with the ensemble Mimitabu and the festivals Svensk Musikvår and Intonal exploring risk-taking and community-building in new music. When the above-mentioned were asked about their previous programming practices, they all replied “That is how we always have done it”.
Konstmusiksystrar, throughout the project, encouraged the collaborators to add elements of risk and chance in order to create space for the unexpected. This meant challenging the collaborators preconceived notions of what was aesthetically appropriate, asking them to specify their criterias for what they considered “high-quality”. It also meant encouraging the collaborators to pay attention to their formal and informal networks in order to make visible how personal relationships impact whose music is or is not performed. By mapping out the processes of selection that the collaborators usually worked with, we were able to instigate discussions about in what areas of decision making they would be willing to explore randomisation or elements of chance.
The collaboration with ensemble Mimitabu resulted in a concert at Cinnober in Gothenburg where members of the audience were invited through a lottery. The lottery was made through an app connected to a database of Gothenburg addresses that was created for this specific purpose. The app selected one hundred and forty people to whom we sent physical concert invitations. Though only a small number of Gothenburg citizens accepted the invitation, there was a noticeable difference to how the concert was received. The fact that the audience was not only the usual concert goers, created a situation of reciprocal risk-taking for both the audience and the performers. Before each piece a short dialogue took place between the musicians and composers and the audience which allowed the audience to ask questions about the music being performed. The musicians and composers reflected on the experience as changing their relationship to the performed music, knowing that some of the audience would not be as familiar with the new music repertoire and wanting their experience to be as inclusive as possible.
Reflecting on the success of the experiment, we realised that we had, albeit on a minimal scale, managed to reach Gothenburg as a community, and made them feel part of the contemporary music scene. The ideas and events of the collaboration are described in depth in “The Quick Fix: Thoughts on Chance and Community” by Kajsa Antosson and Anna Jakobsson in OnCurating.
The findings and overall insights of the project were gathered in a fanzine which explained the power dynamics of the industry through quotes and visual storytelling. The fanzine was released at an event at the bookshop Rönnells Antikvariat in central Stockholm. In addition to a presentation of the project, Konstmusiksystrar also invited a number of stakeholders in the Swedish contemporary music scene to be part of a discussion panel on curating, nepotism and musical diversity. Panellists included Fredrik Andersson (Konserthuset Stockholm), Martin Jonsson Tibblin (Swedish Composers’ Union) and Jörgen Pettersson (Svensk Musikvår), Jenny Sunesson (Stockholm University of the the Arts) and Leo Correia de Verdier (KVAST).
Project steering group: Marta Forsberg, Kajsa Magnarsson, Madeleine Jonsson Gille, Kajsa Lindgren
Visual design fanzine: Elsa Paulson
Logo: Lisa Dalenius
Project leader: Anna Jakobsson
Photos: Hampus Andersson
