sold out
A man playing a harp in stage light and shadows
17 October 2026 /
Maison Pelgrims

From darkness, visible light is the bright mind

James Turrell once remarked: “I use light as a material, but my medium is actually perception.” This programme begins from that idea. Bringing together works for harp and electronics across centuries and aesthetics, this concert explores music not as a fixed object, but as an experience that comes into being through listening. Sound unfolds in relation to memory, attention, space, and time. Resonances linger beyond their source. Familiar gestures return altered. What we hear is shaped as much by perception as by the notes themselves.

Performance for babies and toddlers
Some actors in blue light performing on a stage with night theme background
18 October 2026 /
ARTONOV Lab

Forêt paisible

The chirping of birds and the glow of the first stars draw us into a captivating nightscape, where voices carrying the rich vibrations of the Baroque repertoire begin to emerge. A shimmering surface evokes the expanse of a lake, while an intriguing hut stands nearby. We find ourselves in the heart of a forest. Two playful creatures—half-human, half-animal—guide us on this nocturnal journey, soon joined by ethereal beings with crystal-clear voices.

Artonov

Editorial — 12th Edition

“We do not work alone.”

These words by the renowned Japanese ceramic artist Kanjiro Kawai, a key figure in the Mingei movement, serve as the guiding principle of the twelfth edition of the ARTONOV Festival. They express a fundamental conviction: creation never arises in isolation. It emerges from a living network of transmission, memories, shared gestures, and unseen presences. Every artistic act is shaped by what came before us—by people, materials, places, and traditions that continue to resonate in the present.

In 2026, Belgium and Japan celebrate the 160th anniversary of their cultural and diplomatic relations. On this occasion, ARTONOV invites artists from both countries to explore new dialogues between heritage and contemporary creation. This edition examines how ancient forms, rituals, and collective memories can still generate transformative experiences today. 

The 12th edition's brochure

Festival programme

Two images, the top one being of some inflated plastic installation in an industrial setup, the bottom one being of four shadows playing intrument in front of a curtain shining of a light gold

For many listeners, the Highland bagpipe remains inseparable from its cultural roots and traditions. Yet for the Breton musician Erwan Keravec, the instrument also represents a gateway to unexplored musical territories. A piper, composer and pioneering improviser, Keravec has devoted his career to expanding the horizons of the bagpipe, revealing its remarkable potential far beyond its customary setting.

A wooden statue of a faceless god on blue background

Folk Buddhist Sculptures and Boro Textiles from Rural Japan

Exhibition opened from the 3rd to the 23rd of Octobre.

four people dancing with white masks

ASURA – A Dance and Music Prayer for Peace

Inspired by the 1,300-year-old Asura statue enshrined at Kōfuku-ji, this powerful collaboration brings together two exceptional Japanese artists: dancer Muku Naomi and percussionist Steve Eto.

A picture of Virgile Van Essche

The piano accompanied Mozart throughout his life from early childhood, when he performed in public across Europe. His keyboard works often resonate with those written for larger ensembles or for the operatic stage, serving as a genuine laboratory for new ideas. In the eighteenth century, however, the piano sounded quite different from modern instruments.

The face of Lukas Likagti

Lukas Ligeti will invite several colleagues for a concert of free-improvised music. All of the musicians involved are deeply dedicated to the art of improvisation and have concertized internationally as free improvisers.

Lukas Ligeti with his instrument

With his Marimba Lumina, an electronic instrument conceived by synthesizer pioneer Donald Buchla, Lukas Ligeti creates a sonic universe that defies categorization.

Drawing on complex rhythms, shifting pulses and sound fragments recorded during his travels — particularly in Africa — he creates music in which electronics become a space where cultures, memory and imagination meet.

A picture of Anna Besson with her flute

The rise of the Baroque transverse flute developed across Europe in the early 18th century. Driven by the maker, composer, and musician Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, it gradually replaced the recorder, thanks to the vast palette of colours and expressive possibilities it offers. Initially associated with intimate works accompanied by lute or theorbo, it gained new momentum from the 1730s onwards with virtuoso flautists such as Michel Blavet and Pierre-Gabriel Buffardin.

A small orchestra on a stage with blue lights

The works brought together in this programme engage in a distinctive dialogue with a distant past, whether intimate, historical, or musical.

A picture of Thérèse Malengreau

Born out of necessity, Japanese boro textiles speak of wear, impermanence, and the preservation of everyday life. Having become collectors’ objects and carriers of cultural memory, they form part of a global artistic history, from Informal Art and Arte Povera to Abstract Expressionism. Robert Rauschenberg once declared: “I want to incorporate into my canvas any object from life.”

A person dancing in front of a white wall

TRANSE(S)

Rhythm as an Act of Freedom

A man playing a harp in stage light and shadows

James Turrell once remarked: “I use light as a material, but my medium is actually perception.” This programme begins from that idea. Bringing together works for harp and electronics across centuries and aesthetics, this concert explores music not as a fixed object, but as an experience that comes into being through listening. Sound unfolds in relation to memory, attention, space, and time. Resonances linger beyond their source. Familiar gestures return altered. What we hear is shaped as much by perception as by the notes themselves.

Some actors in blue light performing on a stage with night theme background

The chirping of birds and the glow of the first stars draw us into a captivating nightscape, where voices carrying the rich vibrations of the Baroque repertoire begin to emerge. A shimmering surface evokes the expanse of a lake, while an intriguing hut stands nearby. We find ourselves in the heart of a forest. Two playful creatures—half-human, half-animal—guide us on this nocturnal journey, soon joined by ethereal beings with crystal-clear voices.

A man standing in a baroque hall with a some custom contraption

Taboo instruments, sometimes dismissed because they are little known, or considered too pure, too free in their effortless maintenance and without physical ostentation, the Glass Harmonica and the Baschet Crystal can nevertheless lead us towards new territories of listening. They are among the rarest instruments and the only ones whose creation requires the use of the four elements: fire, air and earth to shape them, and water to make them sing.

A man on stage in the shadows with only his face lit, and a quatuor behind

Terres de Passage explores the relationship between humanity, nature, and the digital environments that increasingly reshape our perception of reality. The performance questions how direct experience of the world is gradually giving way to its representation.

2026

More activities in

We will be announcing the whole program on August 20th.
2026