Asking People to Do Things is a project that investigates the musical and curatorial fundamentals of asking others to create/perform, and pushes them to extremes. 

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There are 5 discernible components to the greater project.

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1. askingpeopletobuildthings.com

An online, anonymous discussion board allowing users to contribute suggestions towards a utopian, collective vision of experimental music-making. When the online-platform closed, a final amalgamation of the crowd-sourced ideas from different categories such as: instruments, scoring devices, texts, staging, and tools, was coalesced into a panoramic blueprint for the 'Asking people to build things' event. Anonymous suggestions in the first iteration of the project included: A fighting game tournament, algorithmic composition programming, DIY speakers made of tortilla chips, a suspended bucket of balls, and wearable instruments made from discarded objects.

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2. Aarhus vox pops

Current Resonance visited Aarhus with a camera and microphones in advance of SPOR festival to ask the public questions, ask them to do things and ask them to consider the sound of city. The findings were compiled into short video interludes for the Asking People To Do Things concert (5.)

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3. Business card scores

Extending our asking ethos beyond our own events, Current Resonance distributed small audience scores printed on business cards to festival-goers. Cards called them to reframe their concert experiences, collaborate with other audience members, adopt new behaviours or to engage in asking others. The three categories of cards were solo cards, ensemble cards and rare solo cards. Examples of cards can be seen in the image gallery.

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4. Asking People To Build Things

A 5+ hour event where Current Resonance invited audiences to help them build and realise as many of the suggestions from the online forum (1.) as possible. When the preparation period finished, the event closed out with a sprawling, anarchic improvisation session, putting our newly minted, DIY-flavoured tools and ideas to the test.

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The event also featured the following compositions / performances:

Sebastian Adams - How to Build a VIOLIN in TWENTY MINUTES 

Maya Verlaak - Craft

Dalin Waldo - PiAioioOi-NæGzuz †

Greta Eacott - Breathing Exercise

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† = commissioned by Current Resonance

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5. Asking People To Do Things

A tightly curated programme of works that embark on varied approaches to musical asking e.g. interactive, gamified requests; deep listening; and callbacks to the Asking People To Build Things event. Current Resonance commissioned three new works for the concert by young composers with ties to Aarhus. The programme also featured works by all four members of Current Resonance as well as a series of VOX POP interludes (2.) - Full programme below.