Goodiepal or Gæoudjiparl van den Dobbelsteen, whose given name is Parl Kristian Bjørn Vester, is a Danish/Faroese experimental electronic musician, performance artist, composer and lecturer, as well as a fully educated horologist. His work engages with the past, present, and future of computer music, compositional practices and resonance computing, and his idea of Radical Computer Music. His tours have included 150 universities internationally.[1][2]

Goodiepal
Background information
Birth nameParl Kristian Bjørn Vester
Also known asGæoudji SYGNOK, Circulation of Events, DEN ÅRHUS TEKNO KRIGER, Mainpal Inv.
Born1974 (age 49–50)
OriginFaroe Islands
Genres
Occupation(s)Musician, horologist, composer, lecturer
Years active1988–present
LabelsV/Vm Test Records, Editions Mego, Fonal Records, Alku
Websitehttps://komponistbasen.dk/node/8812

In 2014, Goodiepal sold Kommunal Klon Komputer 2, a DIY velomobile that he used for personal transport, to the National Gallery of Denmark, where it is now on display.[3][4]

Biography

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Early life

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Goodiepal went to a Steiner School, where electronics were prohibited.[5] This led to Goodiepal's participation in secret demo groups releasing demos on floppy discs for Commodore and Amiga computers, as well as experiments with UNIX and general computer coding.[6] Goodiepal departed from the Steiner school after eight years and embarked on various activities with hacker groups in computer software programming and distribution. He began seriously making and performing music in the winter of 1986.[7]

Teaching and lecturing

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In 2002, Goodiepal gave his first lectures in the US, among other places at CalArts, Brown University and University of Iowa, on the subjects of Radical Computer Music and, similarly, radical software.[8][9] In 2004 Goodiepal was hired as professor of History and Aesthetics of Electronic Music at DIEM (Danish Institute of Electro-acoustic Music), The Royal Danish Academy of Music in Aarhus, Denmark, and served as head of the electronic music department. Goodiepal also eventually taught composition at DIEM.[10][11] In 2008, Goodiepal left The Royal Danish Academy of Music. Upon his resignation, he produced the declaration Five steps in a Gentleman's War on the stupidity of modern computer music and media based art, released as a supplement to the audio piece The Official Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Extra Walkthrough and the series of images called Snappidaggs explaining the methodology behind Goodiepal's concept of Radical Computer Music. In between releases, projects, and installations, Goodiepal lectures extensively all over the world.[12]

Since 2016 Goodiepal has been performing in a performance group, under the name GP&PLS, which includes a diverse set of members including his partner Nynne Roberta Pedersen, Danish actress Rosalinde Mynster, poet Lars Skinnebach, and the American artist Jeffrey Alan Scudder. Their intent as a group is to create protest music, while helping and donating to refugees during the ongoing European migrant crisis.[13]

Selected works

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Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Extra

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In 2002, Goodiepal created a compositional musical language, based around 'musical bricks'. This language was then developed into the Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Extra compositional game scenario.[14]

Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Extra was performed as a lecture at Gallery Andersen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark in 2007 and the 5th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, 2008.[15] The game scenario of the lecture is an exercise in the creation of musical scores to challenge the mindset of 'other' intelligences, considering issues such as utopia, time, notation techniques, language, artificial intelligence, 'unscannability' (being undetected by technology), and the role of the composer.[16][17]

Circus Pentium

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Goodiepal went on to participate in the installation Circus Pentium by Danish artist Henrik Plenge Jakobsen opening at Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark, also in 2004. The work comprised a circus installation with Goodiepal playing the lute alongside other actors and was also shown at Art Basel, Switzerland, and Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands.[18]

EuroBOT

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Goodiepal has consistently kept up performances of a game piece titled 'EuroBOT', as well as classes on 'EuroBOT mythology'. In practice, EuroBOT is akin to a board game or a tabletop role-playing game, with polygonal shapes and figures representing planets. Performances of EuroBOT are characterized by Goodiepal whistling the musical score. In 2008, he performed EuroBOT on the Danish talkshow Den 11. time, which he also composed the opening theme for.

The Autonomous Music School

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In 2007, Goodiepal opened an autonomous school on the first floor of The Blue House in London, designed by FAT Architecture, for people interested in Radical Computer Music and other of his arts. The school, open from 9 am to 10:10 am every weekday, was free of charge.[19]

EMEGO 211

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In 2016, Goodiepal released an album on Editions Mego entitled EMEGO 211, using the Wikimedia Commons as the device of dissemination, which also thereby released the album into the public domain.[20]

Books

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  • Goodiepal & ALKU. El Camino del Hardcore - Rejsen Til Nordens Indre. 2012.[21]
  • Radical Computer Music & Fantastisk Medie Manipulation. Co-published with Pork Salad Press. 2009. ISBN 978-1-934399-12-5.[22][23]

Audio releases

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Honors

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  • Narc Beacon was awarded an honourable mention at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, in 2002.[24]
  • In 2005, Goodiepal was commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers to create a sound piece representing Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, and Greenland at the World Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan. The result was a generative computer music program playing Goodiepal music through countless speakers in three exhibition spaces in the exhibition's Nordic pavilion.[25]
  • Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Extra was presented at the 5th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, 2008.
  • On 27 October 2008, Goodiepal received a first class merit certificate at StoryTellerScotland. He is now officially allowed to call himself a Master Storyteller of the highest accord in the UK.[26]
  • In November 2010, Goodiepal received the Danish Heinrich Prize at Den Grå Hal, Christiania, for his war on the Royal Academy of Music.[27]

References

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  1. ^ See Danish newspaper "Information"[clarification needed] from 29 January 2010
  2. ^ "Scanned letters of recommendation from various visited universities and institutes". Archived from the original on 2015-06-27. Retrieved 2015-01-05.
  3. ^ "Goodiepal-værk optaget på SMK." Statens Museum for Kunst.
  4. ^ Kommunal Klon Komputer 2 on display.
  5. ^ Jerome Maunsell, "Brand Disloyalty" from The Wire (UK), issue 221, July 2002, p. 12 - online at [1]
  6. ^ Ralf Christensen, "Gåden Goodiepal: hvor jeg kommer fra, og hvor jeg slutter" from Politiken (DK), 9 March 2003, 2nd section front page
  7. ^ Mads Kjeldgaard, "En Excentrikers Genkomst" from Citat (DK), April 2009, p.2-3 - online at [2][permanent dead link]
  8. ^ The Wire (UK), issue 298, Dec 2008, p. 21, 23, 27, and 29 Archived 2013-05-18 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ The Wire (UK), issue 298, Dec 2008, p. 21, 23, 27, and 29 Archived 2013-05-18 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "Eurobot Advanced Music Class." DIEM - Danish institute for electroacustic music.
  11. ^ The Wire (UK), issue 298, Dec 2008, p. 21
  12. ^ The Wire (UK), issue 298, Dec 2008, p. 21, 23, 27, and 29 Archived 2013-05-18 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ "Goodiepal & Pals: 100% næstekærlighed, åbne grænser og protestmusik". Kulturmagasinet Fine Spind Magasin. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  14. ^ Hans Bodenhof, "Tre års tænkepause" from Gaffa (DK), May 2000, p. 34 – online at [3]
  15. ^ Torben Zenth (ed), Ny Dansk Kunst/ New Danish Art (Copenhagen: Kopenhagen Publishing, 2008) p. 58-61 + p. 488-95
  16. ^ Jerome Boyd-Maunsell, "Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Extra", Frieze (UK), issue 111, Nov-Dec 2007, p. 48 - review of the school book Mort Aux Vaches Ekstra Extra (Copenhagen: Pork Salad Press, 2007)
  17. ^ Ten Questions: Goodiepal. Kunstkritikk. 29.04.13.
  18. ^ Henrik Plenge Jakobsen, J'accuse (Copenhagen: Pork Salad Press, 2006), p. 192-207
  19. ^ The Wire (UK), issue 282, Aug 2008, p. 9 + Frieze, issue109, Sept 2007 p. 97
  20. ^ "README: EMEGO 211 — NOTES". Future Cities of the Future. Retrieved 2016-04-28.
  21. ^ El Camino Del Hardcore - Rejsen Til Nordens Indre. Barcelona: ALKU, 2012.
  22. ^ Anne Hilde Neset, "Wanted: Goodiepal" The Wire (UK), May 2010
  23. ^ Sandra Brovall, "Konservatorium anmelder lydkunstner for tyveri" (DK), May 2010 - online at [4]
  24. ^ "Prix Ars Electronica archive". Archived from the original on 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2009-04-15.
  25. ^ The Wire (UK), issue 298, Dec 2008, p. 27
  26. ^ Geiger (DK), issue 16/17, winter 2008/9, p. 4
  27. ^ "Den Ukrainske Mafia & Heinrich Prisen." Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine (DK), The Danish Composers´ Society, November 2009.
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