Afgang 2026: Michael Mørkholt

Hello Answering Machine

The Answering Machine is a listening computer responding instantly to acoustic input, mirroring or conjuring new forms.

Michael Mørkholt’s artistic research explores the interplay between human musicians and machines in a multi-directional communication network. Rather than positioning the human and the machine as opposing entities in a binary relationship, Mørkholt approaches their interaction as a form of cross-pollination — each influencing and enriching the other.

Central to this inquiry is the development of a computer music system conceived as an intelligent instrument. Here, intelligence refers to the system’s ability to make compositional decisions, as well as its responsive behavior to acoustic input from a live performer. This ability contains complexity, nuance, and non-determinacy. It acts as a co-performer within its own cybernetic logic — listening, interpreting, and intervening.

The interaction between human performer and machine is driven by continuous feedback loops, in which both agents modulate and influence each other. This reciprocal exchange renders the music generative on several levels: algorithmically, structurally, and relationally — formed through interaction rather than imposed form, composing in a quantum state.

This research seeks to expand notions of authorship, composition, performance, and instrumentality — and to reflect on how artistic knowledge can be generated through embodied, technological interaction within a responsive compositional practice.

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Line-up:

Mika Persdotter: Viola

Irene Bianco: Percussion

Carolyn Goodwin: Woodwinds

Michael Mørkholt: Computer

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About Michael Mørkholt

Co-founder of Aar & Dag.
Founder of Lille Kommune.
MFA, Det Jyske Kunstakademi.

Michael Mørkholt is a Danish-based artist, composer and performer working in a field between instrumental music, electronics, installation and performance. Most recent works revolve around generative music systems and automatic modal improvisation.

Mørkholt works within formal experimentation and intuitive physics as a framework for a recurring idea of an interdisciplinary synaesthetic output.

Composed for and played with Solhorn, Aar & Dag, Emnet, MX, ÆMÆX, Jab Mica Och El, Den Nørrejyske Øs Stororkester for Opløst Mønstermusik, Sommersolhvervsorkesteret, Århus Politi-Orkester.