Fylkingen

Fylkingen - New Music and Intermedia Art is an artist-run, non-profit association for experimental music and art. The association was founded in 1933 and currently consists of approximately 300 Swedish and international artists who develop and present new work in Fylkingen's own venue located in Stockholm, Sweden. The association is run by an active board and programming group. In addition Fylkingen Records produce and distribute recorded media. In 2018, Fylkingen celebrated its 85th anniversary, making it one of the world's oldest forums of its kind.

Fylkingen is supported by the Swedish Arts Council, The city of Stockholm’s cultural administration and Stockholm County Arts Council.

80 YEARS OF PRESENTING NEW AND EXPERIMENTAL WORK

Fylkingen was founded in 1933, and originally presented chamber music concerts of both new works by contemporary composers of the time and traditional repertoire in various venues in Stockholm. Most concerts took place at the Konserthuset. But over the next years, the organization began to branch out into new forms. The first concert of electro-acoustic music in Sweden was arranged by Fylkingen in 1952, together with the Swedish Radio. As the 50s progressed, Fylkingen started to produce events at the Moderna Museum as well as other venues, and further radicalization occurred in the 60s with the addition of happenings, theater and sound-text composition to the programs. By the mid-60s Fylkingen was producing events of new music most often at the Moderna Museum, as well as other locales in Stockholm and throughout Scandanavia. The concert programs of that era are filled with then-new works by such luminaries as Cage, Xenakis, Boulez, Subotnick, Riley, Stockhausen and La Monte Young prominently featured alongside important composers from Sweden such as Åke Hodell, Lars-Gunnar Bodin, Öyvind Fahlström and Sten Hanson. Also featured were artists focused upon intermedia and other disciplines such as Antonin Artaud, Nam June Paik, and Merce Cunningham, Folke Rabe and Catherine Christer Hennix, showing yet another branching out for the organization from music to other, often new, art forms.

In 1971, Fylkingen opened its own venue near Medborgarplatsen in Stockholm. There the organization continued to present all sorts of new music from all over the world, as well as text-sound, dance, performance and intermedia art. In the mid-80s, Fylkingen moved to its present location in the Münchenbryggeriet, a vast building which once housed a brewery. Münchenbryggeriet is also home to EMS (The Swedish National Electronic Music Foundation), and many composers and artists who realize new work in the studios at EMS then present their work at Fylkingen.

Today Fylkingen presents over a hundred events of electro-acoustic music, dance, film, video, performance art and installations each year. Fylkingen has played and continues to play a vital role in connecting artists and the general public in Sweden with contemporary artists throughout the world. Fylkingen also arranges events and activities for children and young people, often in collaboration with other organizations. Fylkingen remains, to this day, the only forum in Sweden that has continuously presented regular concerts and events of new music and intermedia art.

FYLKINGEN RECORDS/FYREC

Fylkingen Records, or Fyrec, has been in operation since 1966. The label has issued a number of important recordings of both Swedish and international artists, and continues to issue new releases.

BOOKS AND ARCHIVES

On the occasion of Fylkingen's 80th anniversary in 2013, another book was published about the history of Fylkingen. It contains texts in both English and Swedish, an exhaustive catalogue of every concert program and Fylkingen Records record releases as well as articles, memoirs and lots of photographs from the organizations last 20 years, plus a DVD with unique material.
More information about Fylkingen 80! and how to order it coming soon.

On the occasion of Fylkingen's 60th anniversary in 1993, a book was published about the history of Fylkingen. It contains an exhaustive catalogue of every concert program from the very first concert on October 12, 1933 to the time of its publication, as well as articles, memoirs and photographs from the organizations history. If you would like to read more about Fylkingen's rich and fantastic history, this book is available from us. There is also an earlier book, published in 1959, with essays by several former directors of the Fylkingen Board. And a new book is in the works for Fylkingen's 80th anniversary in 2013. There are also extensive archives of Fylkingen's history in recordings, posters, articles, publications and programs. These are housed mostly at the National Music Library, with a large share of digital archives here at the venue.