HORST Arts & Music is a two-day celebration of art and music in a setting like no other. The festival collaborates with an array of talented artists and offers a well-selected worldwide collage of electronic music and in situ visual arts. Nestled away in the green Hageland hills, Belgium you’ll find the 15th century moated castle of Horst. An inspiring space for site-specific art and the perfect festive backdrop.
One of the two stages of this year’s edition is designed by the London based collective Assemble. Assemble is an 18-strong London-based collective with a focus on art, architecture & design. The first ever architecture studio to receive the Turner Prize for art - the UK’s most prestigious art prize as awarded annually by Tate gallery.
This year access to Horst castle is restricted; and in response Assemble have built a New Castle. Of equivalent mass to the existing and borrowing the courtyard form, the New Castle creates an enclosed and theatrical space. Wrapped in shrink-wrap, the castle appears under construction, it’s form abstracted and facade hidden; it’s appearance changing from day to night.
Located in a clearing in the woods, on the edge of the lake, the three tier structure presents the spectators with a new festival experience. Continuous balconies on two levels and a central pit dance floor set the stage like a shakespearian drama, where both actors and audience are part of the performance. Like the English Elizabethan Theatre, the New Castle transforms the stage from something to look at, into something to be part of, creating a more pronounced interaction between artist and performer.
