Artefact closing day: Mazen Kerbaj / Thomas Ankersmit / Heleen Van Haegenborgh / ladr ache

• Thomas Ankersmit
The Motherships (Music for the Original Serge Synthesizers)

For two decades, composer and sound artist Thomas Ankersmit (PAN, Touch, Shelter Press) has dedicated his practice to the Serge Modular synthesizer, channeling inspirations from musique concrète, electroacoustic improvisation and psychoacoustic sound art through a single, analog instrument. Originally developed 50 years ago by Serge Tcherepnin, the Serge Modular remains one of the most versatile and revered electronic instruments of the pre-digital era. Today, it’s enjoying a resurgence among a new generation of artists and listeners.

With this new project, Ankersmit returns to the instrument’s origins: creating music for the large, original Serge systems - the ‘motherships’ - that survive in historic studios worldwide. Throughout 2025 he’s been recording at Harvard University, Columbia University, CalArts (Los Angeles), EMS (Stockholm), GRM (Paris) and Willem Twee Studios (Den Bosch), with future residencies planned from Helsinki to Melbourne. The resulting material will culminate in a series of concerts and an upcoming album.

Each of these rare Serge systems is unique - designed for different composers, each with its own character and philosophy. Ankersmit conceives the project as a series of sonic portraits, capturing the spirit of each instrument and bringing them all together for the first time. The concerts will be purely analog, combining live improvisation on Ankersmit’s own Serge system with recorded material from these historic instruments.

• Mazen Kerbaj — Lungless
Solo performance for Putin’s organ

Mazen Kerbaj is a Lebanese artist, composer and trumpeter based in Berlin. He is known for his experimental trumpet improvisations, in which he transforms the classical instrument with objects, alternative mouthpieces and percussive elements. At Artefact Sound, he will present the Belgian premiere of his new performance Lungless, an intriguing composition in which he draws on painful childhood memories of the Lebanese civil war. The title Lungless refers to the inability to speak in the face of war’s violence. It also refers to his self-built instrument with six trumpets, which is powered not by Kerbaj's breath, but by an air compressor. He also calls the instrument ‘Putin's Organ’, a direct reference to today's wars, particularly in Ukraine and Gaza.

• ladr ache

ladr ache is a six-piece collective from Brussels that combines polyphonic singing with hypnotic rhythms and raw punk energy. They start from traditional European polyphony, but open this up to the world of electronic music. Live, the collective takes you to imaginary landscapes where pounding drums clash with buzzing drones, mechanical pulses clash with enchanting voices. A gem from the French-speaking underground.

• Heleen Van Haegenborgh
High Carbon (piano + electronics)

With her new album High Carbon (W.E.R.F. Records), Heleen Van Haegenborgh returns to her roots as a pianist. In a very personal composition, she weaves piano, electronics and self-designed sound techniques into a subtle, layered world. Every sound, every nuance bears her signature – from composition to performance. Van Haegenborgh does not work with storylines or styles, but with textures, energies and colours. Her unique inside piano technique with wires, manipulated resonances and layered electronics forms the backbone of a concert in which no detail is left to chance. This solo project is a powerful statement by an artist who is reinventing her instrument and bringing together her career as a composer, performer and sound architect in one intense listening experience.