Fifth & Final Chapter at The Castle
The 5th edition marked the final chapter at the castle, coinciding with our belief that this was the swan song to Horst's story. Little did we know.
The starting point was that both components were of equal importance. Artists of diverse backgrounds and ages were invited in the process to make new work or to reinterpret already existing work in this particular framework, with modest means but with sheer enthusiasm and support of the organization and volunteers. The past four editions of the festival have demonstrated the new possibilities and cross-fertilizations can that arise from this.
HORST has grown to be an alternative and unique format in the (inter)national festival scene. Nevertheless, this edition was the last on this location. After 5 years, HORST was soon to choose for a change of scenery, to treasure the momentum here.
The art exhibition of the fifth and final edition of HORST Arts & Music festival was themed Archetypes. With this idea, we referred to the concept of variations on an idealized primal model. The term derives from Greek and is used across many fields, including philosophy and psychology. In architecture, the term denotes a historical continuity of ways of building, but with own modifications given certain times and styles. The theme stems from the castle of Horst and its surroundings, which read as a collection of archetypal structures and landscape elements.
First and foremost, there is the castle, based on the model of an enclosed castle with donjon, but there is also the coach house, based on the typology of the barn, the artificial pond, the orchard and the tree-lined driveway. Opposite of these historical elements, the art exhibition manifests itself as a temporary collection of new, contemporary archetypes. A first series of works take classical architectural archetypes as subject matter: the shelter, the wall, the column, the window, and the roof all make an appearance. A second series of work rather thematize important landscape archetypes: the bridge, the tree-lined driveway, the pond. These are complemented with two archetypes hors catégorie through the work of Atelier Bow-Wow and Katja Mater.
For the final edition, curatorial duo Gijs Van Vaerenbergh brought together a strong and diverse group of artists and architects. Under the theme “Archetypes” they were invited to create new work reflecting on the historic context of the site.
EXPO
Caroline Coolen
Children Of The Light
Club Efemeer
Erki De Vries &
Pieter Huybrechts
Katja Mater
Leon Vranken
Sheila Hicks
This year too, Horst challenged artists or architects to work on the design of a temporary music stage, in which music and visual art are directly related. There were three stages, of which the main stage was conceived by the Japanese architecture firm Atelier Bow-Wow. Central to their work were the archetypes from the Japanese architectural tradition, but with a modern twist. Their Lakeside Dancers Club took inspiration from the universal archetype of the ark.
Ghent-based artist collective 019 was asked two things: the design of a stage and the scenography of the festival. Their answer was one monumental construction: a wall of scaffolding piercing through the site from orchard to pond. The wall took direct inspiration from the typology of the castle wall, including banners and tilts. At some points, this wall was a walkway, at others a panoramic viewpoint, a carrier of festival services (such as the entrance and the bar). 019 however took it even one step further. The wall was also a vehicle for existing flags, designed by different visual artists, making it an exhibition within the exhibition.
The third stage was the result of research of Collective Practice, a design studio with students mentored by Gijs Van Vaerenbergh and Michiel Helbig (KU Leuven). They looked into the ways in which an informal shelter could be used to create new spaces on the festival. A quest to the essence of ‘the roof’ in architecture.
ARCHITECTURE
Atelier Bow Wow
019
Collective Practice
The top-drawer music program gathered over 40 artists from around the globe. The line-up combined the avant-garde, local talent and the ones experimenting with new trends in dance and electronic music. Among them are Motor City Drum Ensemble, Hunee, DJ Fett Burger, I-F Josey Rebelle, Mr Scruff, Palms Trax, Octo Octa, DJ Python, Ron Morelli, DJ Stingray and many others. Explore the feel of the various artists in this recap full of bursting beats and matchless atmospheres.
MUSIC
AliA, Anastasia Kristensen, Avalon Emerson, Bjeor, DJ Bone, Bufiman, Cleveland, DMX Krew, Exalt, DJ Fett Burger, Handless DJ, Hunee, I-F, Job Jobse, Josey Rebelle, Kong & Gratts, Lefto, Luca Lozano, Mafalda, Maurice Fulton, Moodprint, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Mr Scruff, DJ Normal 4, Oceanic, Octa Octa, Optimo, Palms Trax, Philip Jondo, DJ Python, RAMZi, Raphael Top-Secret, Rick Shiver, San Soda, Sassy J, Skatebard, DJ Sports, Soumaya Phéline, DJ Stingray, Victor De Roo, Woody'92
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