This is Antwerp : How did you come up with the idea of organising a party?

Thomas Konings : My friends Anthony and Matthijs and me were quite frustrated with what the local party scene had to offer. While there are so many progressive producers out there re-inventing music, they don’t seem to get a lot of bookings in Belgium. That’s why we reached out to the venue Het Bos for setting up a new concept and luckily they were really stoked about our idea.

MIND OVER MTTR wants you to think about the environment we live in. That’s why we team up with Ayrton Eblé and Emiel Raeymaekers to curate exhibitions that reflect social, political and ecological themes we are passionate about and the artists on our line-up are addressing in their work.

: Can you tell us a little bit more about the event itself? What to expect?

Thomas : For our first event we invited some national and international producers and DJs who are making and playing radical club music. Endgame is the headliner of our evening; he blends UK grime and South-American riddims with an industrial touch. His music is often described as the new sound of London. Flora Yin-Wong is another artist I’m really looking forward to see at MOM, she makes this beautiful oriental post-club ambient and I’m super curious to hear a dj-set from her.

Ayrton and Emiel have worked with the Antwerp-based artists Tom Volckaert and Benny Van den Meulengracht-Vrancx to present their works in a new virtual context. Their installation will be on view the whole evening at Het Bos.

: You work together with a lot of Antwerp-based artists, tell us all about the young talent this city has to offer?

Thomas : We believe our society’s future is global as well as local and we wanted to reflect that in our line-up. Hiele is one of the forces that is pushing boundaries in Antwerp’s music scene, so we just had to ask him for a dj-set.

Our curators wanted to work with local leading artists in the post-digital art scene; therefore they contacted Benny Van den Meulengracht-Vrancx and Tom Volkaert. Both are Antwerp-based artists, active in an environment that has seen a lot of progress the past few years.

We’re planning on working with more local artists that are being defined by this attitude and aren’t afraid of experimenting with alternative forms of showing their art.

: So you're planning on organising the event regularly?

Thomas : Yes we are! Since our aim is to promote forward-thinking music and arts in general, we also want to organize events that aren’t necessarily parties.

: Final and obligatory This is Antwerp related question. What are your favourite hotspots in Antwerp?

Thomas : I need to have a close relationship with my barista’s so I would definitely recommend Jam. and Tartoer for their great service, chai lattes and taste in music. Het Bos is obviously also an important hotspot: it’s not only a place with great soup and even better concerts, it’s also one of the only venues that’s trying to make a difference in the world with a socially-conscious agenda. It’s a place where creativity and open-mindedness thrive and therefore the perfect location for our first event. Recently I have been spending most of my days in the Erfgoedbib Hendrik Conscience though, a pretty good spot to write a thesis in a few weeks.

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