DVS1 and leopold banchini team up on 'dark skies' stage for horst arts & music festival 2025

Horst Arts & Music announces its 11th edition’s program

American DJ DVS1 and architect Leopold Banchini collaborate on Dark Skies, a groundbreaking semi-permanent stage designed to change the way we experience the dancefloor. Featuring ceiling-mounted audio and upcycled materials, the stage brings the festival’s vision of making the dance floor accessible to everyone.

This structure is one of the main highlights of Horst Arts & Music’s 2025 program, running from May 1st to May 3rd in Vilvoorde, Belgium. The festival marks its 11th year with a continued focus on community, ecology, and cutting-edge art and architecture. Alongside the stage, the festival will present commissioned architectural works by Atelier Fanelsa, Jean-Benoît Vétillard, and Alter, and a visual arts program featuring Eddie Peake, Marilyn Minter, Joshua Serafin, Sumayya Vally, and Kenza Taleb Vandeput. The summer exhibition will be on view from May 15th to September 7th, 2025, at Asiat Park.

all images courtesy of Horst Arts & Music 2025

site-specific installations and performances transform belgium

At the core of the 2025 edition is the Horst Expo ‘There Will Come Soft Rains,’ named after Sara Teasdale’s 1918 poem. This exhibition explores themes of resilience, rebirth, and evolution, featuring site-specific installations, designed to remain on display throughout the year. Participating artists include Eddie Peake, who presents ‘The Pervert,’ a performance exploring voyeurism and desire, and Marilyn Minter, who collaborates with Antwerp gallery Tick Tack on a large-scale video installation projected onto the cooling towers. Other contributions include Kenza Taleb Vandeput’s textile piece addressing multicultural and decolonial narratives, and Joshua Serafin’s immersive performative space ‘Buried in a Coffin the Size of a Grain of Rice.’

Horst’s architectural program complements the exhibition with significant interventions. ‘Dark Skies,’ a pioneering project by DVS1, Leopold Banchini, and Giona Bierens de Haan, introduces a dual-purpose wooden structure that functions as both a dance canopy and an advanced sound system. Atelier Fanelsa contributes a bio-based roof for the Rotunda, made from invasive plant species, while Jean-Benoît Vétillard designs a new skatepark in collaboration with the local community. Alter and the German collective Baukreisel are also developing a new youth meeting place, reinforcing Horst’s long-term commitment to Vilvoorde’s cultural landscape.

DVS1 and Leopold Banchini collaborate on Dark Skies, a semi-permanent stage

a festival that grows, evolves, and rewilds

From festival to summer exhibition and beyond, Horst Arts & Music transforms Asiat Park into a space of experimentation and connection. The three-day festival in May will feature unique in-situ performances, including Hamed Dehqan & Nathaniel Moore’s dance piece on pre-internet virality within the Iranian diaspora, developed at Antwerp’s DE SINGEL. Meanwhile, Esben Weile Kjær unveils a monumental inflatable golden rat sculpture, and Sumayya Vally collaborates with Trïennale Brugge on ‘Grains of Paradise,’ an installation of African boats sown with plants to aid rewilding efforts. The German artist collective YRD.Works adds ‘Succession,’ a performative spatial intervention where a metal cage structure is left to be reclaimed by nature over five years.

Horst Arts & Music 2025 will run from May 1st to May 3rd in Vilvoorde, Belgium