Rooted in Danish folk heritage yet shaped by contemporary experimental sound practices, the second album of Marie Kølbæk Iversen's musical and artistic project, blends spectral vocals, atmospheric instrumentation, and oral tradition into an immersive listening experience.
Donnimaar is the musical and artistic project of Marie Kølbæk Iversen, grounded in the magical songs of West Jutland as recorded in the late 19th century by Danish folklore collector Evald Tang Kristensen. Drawing from this partly forgotten and culturally repressed ethnographic material—including traditional songs passed down by Kølbæk Iversen's own great-great-grandmother—the project resonates with stories of resistance against Denmark's cultural homogenisation and territorial centralisation during that period.
Rooted in Danish folk heritage yet shaped by contemporary experimental sound practices,
the project's second album, O'TILLI, blends spectral vocals, atmospheric instrumentation, and oral tradition into an immersive listening experience. It evokes a deep sense of place and memory, bridging ancestral narratives with a present-day sonic language. The album's title, O'Tilli—meaning "on the ground"—derives from a traditional song about a mermaid abducted by a Danish queen to serve as an oracle. Forced to dance on land, the mermaid writhes like a fish out of water—an image of displacement and resistance. The album was created in collaboration with Katinka Fogh Vindelev, Torleik Mortensen, Andreas Tykjær Restorff, and Michael Ejstrup, whose contributions deepen the work's rich textures and lyrical complexity. Together, they shape a sound world that channels both apocalyptic unease and anti-materialist currents, all while remaining anchored in the rugged landscape of West Jutland where the work originated.
Marie Kølbæk Iversen (born 1981 in Herning, Denmark) is an interdisciplinary artist who addresses essential questions of temporality, memory and ecological interconnectedness in her installations, video works and performances. She often uses mythological references to create new narrative spaces and build bridges between the past, present and possible futures.
After graduating (MFA) from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2008, Marie Kølbæk Iversen deepened her artistic research and received a PhD in Practice-Based Visual Art in 2023. Her scientific-artistic approach allows her to combine theoretical reflection with experimental practice, resulting in multi-layered, sensual works.
She performs under the name Donnimaar. Her releases combine sonic experiments with performative elements and are closely related to her visual art practice.
Her work has been presented at renowned institutions such as the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Denmark), the Gwangju Biennale (South Korea) and the Kunsthal Aarhus (Denmark).
