NemID (EasyID) keycards came into use in 2010 and contain a list of one-time codes that one uses as a level of security when logging into private and public digital platforms to access services like banking, health care, and other services vital to individuals in Danish society.
When an individual uses all the codes on a NemID-keycard, the keycard remains as a record of the person’s activities over a period of time. It is also an expression of privilege, since the NemID [system] facilitates access to the benefits of the Danish welfare state in one of the world’s richest societies.
Through his Personfølsom Musik (Personal Sensitive Music) series of works, Løkkegaard explores the NemID-keycard as a phenomenon which is on the one hand anonymous and alienating and on the other, private and personal.
Personfølsom Musik / U793-984-537 is scored for pipe organ. Find the score here >>
An album featuring the recordings of Løkkegaard playing two different NemID-keycards was released by Topos in collaboration with Nets in November 2021. The album is editor's pick in the webshop and blog Soundohm, who writes: "In one of the most fascinating gestures of musical conceptualism we've encountered in years, the Danish composer, sound artist, and saxophonist, Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard, delivers “Personfølsom Musik (Personal Sensitive Music)”, a brilliant album of generative sound structures, utilizing digital keycards from beyond the sonic realm."
Soundohm writes further about the composer: "For more than 20 years the Danish composer, sound artist, and saxophonist, Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard, has slowly built a striking sonic universe that’s entirely his own, pushing instruments and traditional musical practices beyond their perceived bounds."
Find more works by Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard here >>