HORST 2017

  • Published
    Sep 15, 2017
  • Words
    Luka Taraskevics
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  • A little after 2 AM on Saturday morning, I found myself on a balcony gazing down at the top of Helena Hauff's head. She'd just dropped F.U.S.E.'s "F.U.," a slamming acid bomb from the early '90s, and a mass of bodies above, below and all around me were contorting wildly. Hauff appeared poised and focussed as she deployed the kind of chaotic, acid-tinged electro that’s come to define her. The structure I was standing in, NewCastle, was the Turner Prize-winning collective Assemble's contribution to this year's edition of HORST, a two-day festival for a few thousand people that went down near Brussels. It's a small but impeccably curated party, a celebration of art and music that reflects the beauty of its home, Kasteel van Horst, a 13th-century castle that belongs in a children's fairytale. For each edition, HORST's artistic curators, the studio Gijs Van Vaerenbergh, invites artists and architects to consider the coming year's concept (2017's was "Spaces & Places") and produce stages and art pieces. In past years, they've been fortunate enough to use the castle's cobblestone courtyard as the setting for the main stage, but this was off the cards this time due to renovations.
    Instead, Assemble's 30-foot cubic structure, which was built from scaffolding and wrapped entirely in blue mesh, was HORST's centrepiece. By night, a sea of silhouettes, lit up by strobes and multicoloured lights, appeared suspended in mid-air. It was one of the most striking venues I've seen at a festival. The second stage, though, was considerably less impressive. Contributed by Ghent architectural firm aDVVT, it consisted of piled-up pallets of red bricks, still wrapped in their plastic, arranged into a rectangle with a stage at one end and a small white marquee in the middle (presumably to provide relief from the dreadful weather that was forecast). Supposedly a metaphor for the restoration of the castle, it was an eyesore within an otherwise stunning site. The forecast predicted a soggy weekend, though the crowd—mostly made up of young, hip locals—seemed unfazed. Le Motel, one act among a strong contingent of Belgian artists, got things going on Friday with an eclectic live show that spanned acid techno, trap and hip-hop instrumentals. Generally people seemed defiant against the overcast skies: during Jayda G's set, sunny selections like First Choice's "Love Thang" had people grinning and singing along. Were it not for the swarm of anoraks, you'd have been forgiven for thinking it was a warm summer afternoon.
    The small yet carefully considered lineup meant it was unlikely you'd catch a bad set, though some went down better than others. Shanti Celeste and FunkinEven, who played back-to-back on Friday night, served up the kind of big house cuts the crowd seemed to be after (Aaron Carl's "Tears," E. Myers' "Rabona"), before Helena Hauff took it to the next level. Call Super played a superb set just as darkness fell on Saturday evening, fluidly mixing between UK garage, ("Alabama 3's "Ain't Goin' To Goa (187 Lockdown Goa Way Dub)"), bleepy IDM (Bitstream's "Step Retracing") and driving tech house (Layo & Bushwacka's "All Night Long"). He crafted a hedonistic vibe, which dropped slightly when Young Marco hit the decks. His tunes, a mix of rare funk, disco and house, seemed to fall flat on the crowd, who had grown accustomed to the harder beats. That said, his closing cut, Mbiri Young Stars' "Ndiri Ndanogio Niwe (Batida 1977 Remix)," went down a storm.
    On the opposite side of the lake, a marquee in the woods provided a peaceful haven, hosting talks with the curators and some of the artists. It was here that one of Saturday's highlights went down: a performance from dance troupe Vogue & Waacking Belgium, hosted by the fiery MC Zelda Fitzgerald. Members of the group took turns battling each other, vogueing and sassily showing off their best runway walks (fittingly to Tronco Traxx's "Walk 4 Me"). The winner of each round was dictated by cheers from the crowd, who were also encouraged to get involved. One girl next to me jumped up, threw off her red fez and vogued so well that it took me a second to work out if she was part of the crew or not (she wasn't). It's hard to fault HORST. There was a small but refined selection of food and drink, and the prices were reasonable. There weren't many places to sit down and hang out, though the bad weather played its part in this. All the soundsystems were crisp and loud, and the Portaloos had Enya's "Orinoco Flow" playing on-repeat. The best thing, though, was its vibe—intimate enough to feel like an elaborate gathering of friends, but with top-drawer music and art. That this year was the the team's most expansive edition yet is exciting. Photo credit / Jeroen Verrecht Maxikamera Illias Teirlinck
RA