Join us for a public presentation and discussion of artistic research by Viktoria Nikolova at Studio LOOS!

Sewing Grounds is an interdisciplinary project that explores the interplay between memory, displacement, and sound through the medium of a transformed sewing machine. This performance seeks to capture and translate the folklore music and stories of Scandinavia, Bulgaria, and England, reflecting the physical and emotional landscapes shaped by war and environmental disasters. By sewing a fabric map infused with field recordings and vocal elements, we evoke the lived experiences of displaced communities, connecting their pasts to the present.

The project emphasizes the intimate relationship between everyday objects and cultural rituals, merging domestic practices with sacred acts. Through the act of sewing, we map the sonic landscapes of migration, revealing how the pressures of history are stitched into the fabric of our identities. The incorporation of conductive materials allows for a dynamic auditory experience, amplifying the needle's impact and the fabric's response.

Viktoria Nikolova in colaboration with musicians Phoebe Kirrage and Julie Hasfjord, cellist Leah Plave, and technical support for instrument development, invite the audience into a shared space of reflection and resonance. This ongoing exploration aims to honor and transmit the memories of those who have experienced displacement, weaving together threads of history, culture, and sound.

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about the artists

Viktoria Nikolova

Viktoria Nikolova is a singer, performer, and curator from Sofia, Bulgaria, based in the Netherlands. She earned a Master’s in Classical Singing from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, specializing in Bulgarian folklore singing. Viktoria collaborates with various composers and ensembles, working with varied vocal styles and improvisation. Currently, she is pursuing a degree in Cultural Sciences at Leiden University and serves as co-president of Kunstgang Commission gallery space.

Her 2019 performance "Metamorphosis of a Female Character" won the Themaprijs and Oorkaanprijs at Grachtenfestival. She has participated in festivals such as Opera Forward, Westben, and Plop, and was part of NKK NXT's 2019/20 internship. Viktoria's work explores artistic mediation, the intersection of memory, physical spaces and technology, and themes of identity and migration. In 2022 she founded with Phoebe Kirrage and Julie Hasfjord the vocal trio Bitter Blossoms. In 2024 she completed the One-Year Course at the Institute of Sonology.

Phoebe Kirrage

Phoebe Kirrage, originally from Newark, Nottinghamshire, began her musical journey at Lincoln Cathedral. She later studied at Wells Cathedral School under Nigel Perrin and earned her BMus(Hons) from Royal Holloway, University of London, where she held a choral scholarship. With this choir, she performed at iconic venues such as The Royal Albert Hall, Buckingham Palace, and toured across Europe, North America, and Canada.

After graduating from the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague in 2020, Phoebe embarked on a career as a soloist and ensemble singer, working with ensembles like Nederlands Kamerkoor, Holland Opera, and Nederlands Reisopera. She was also a participant in NKK NXT and performed at prestigious events such as the Koningsnacht Concert 2023. Phoebe recently completed a 90-performance tour with Wende Snijders’ production De Wildernis and now serves as the soprano and orchestra manager for The London Film Music Orchestra, continuing to challenge herself musically.

Julie Hasfjord

Julie Hasfjord is a versatile Norwegian singer, performing across classical, pop, folk, and electronic genres. She enjoys collaborating on new music and artwork and has appeared at festivals such as Opera Forward, SNAAR, Olavsfest, and K&M Fest. Julie was part of NKK NXT, which led to the creation of IMMIX Vocal Ensemble and their critically acclaimed performance, BLOOM. IMMIX has performed at several festivals, including Boulevard, and collaborated with the Netherlands Chamber Choir and Wende Snijders on her show De Wildernis.

In addition to her work with IMMIX, Julie sings with professional vocal ensembles, including The Netherlands Chamber Choir, Trondheim Vocal Ensemble and Nidaros Vokal. She also formed the vocal trio Bitter Blossoms, together with Viktoria Nikolova and Phoebe Kirrage, which recently released its first single and EP. Julie holds a master’s degree from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, and a bachelor degree from the University of Stavanger, Norway.

Leah Plave

Leah Plave extends herself beyond the traditional role of a cellist, performing not only classical repertoire but electronic, improvisational, non-western, and historical music. An outspoken advocate for inclusive programming and undiscovered voices, she often collaborates with living composers and enjoys interdisciplinary, cross-cultural projects. By the age of 24, she was a four-time immigrant having lived and toured extensively across North America, China, and Europe.

Based in The Netherlands since 2020, Leah is a member of many chamber ensembles, performing in spaces ranging from posh concert halls to sticky bars and candle lit living rooms. In collaboration with Tiziano Teodori, demand for their genre- bending cello and electronics repertoire is high at festivals and concert venues across Europe. In addition, Leah’s extensive experience as a chamber musician has included performances with ensembles such as London Film Orchestra, Ensemble Nova Sonantia, Z4 Piano Quartet, Lincoln Center Stage piano quintet, Vratsa Symphony Orchestra (BG), Theresia Orchestra (IT), Jeune Orchestre Rameau (FR), and Vermont Symphony Orchestra (USA).

On 6 September, After Hours kicks off big with LOOS, an innovative performers' lab that uses both conventional instruments and state-of-the-art technology

Using sound art as a starting point, LOOS founder and director Dr. Peter van Bergen put together a programme bringing together established makers, young talent and pioneers from the past. With performances by Gilius van Bergeijk, Huib Emmer, and Baidar Al-Basri, among others, installations by Johan van Kreij and Emi Martin, a film by Isabella and Sarah Wentink, and finally a crossover with hip-hop: "QUARTET II invites PINK OCULUS". And all this between sculptures by Sarah Lucas, Steve McQueen and Ai Weiwei, among others, from the exhibition If not now, when?

Museum Beelden aan Zee brings a breath of fresh air to the new cultural season with After Hours, which kicks off on Friday 6 September. This innovative evening programme introduces sculpture to new audiences by partnering with organisations from different art disciplines in The Hague. The new programming, made possible by the Friends Lottery, serves as a catalyst for up-and-coming talent from The Hague.

Different senses will be stimulated, including sound art, theatre, foodscapes, modern dance, R&B and light art among the sculptures. The first three nights of After Hours will be provided by: LOOS (6 September), Orisun Studio (4 October) and The Grey Space in the Middle (1 November).

evening program

Installations

Performances

Spatiofoon - Sound Art Objects by Johan van Kreij

The sound installation Spatiofoon is created from a network of small electronic objects that produce sounding patterns and thus articulate spatial properties in a musical sense. Spatiofoon is inspired by the ideofoon series created by Dick Raaijmakers.

“Victor Wentink: Life” - A research on our father’s work by Sarah & Isabella Wentink

In 2023 we started researching the various works of our father: avant-garde artist, composer, philosopher, writer, poet, engineer and inventor of the first social network in the world Victor Wentink. We wanted to research the social implications and crucial intersections of his work that cross boundaries and illuminate new ways of seeing technology/society.

As a philosopher & engineer we adhere to our father’s vision of ARTEC, the idea that an integral relationship has always existed between art and technology. This is what we tried to decipher in our documentary: how, from an ontological perspective, his work illuminates new horizons of understanding, new compositions and technology which help us grasp the complexity of our daily digital lives. How can we make sense, from a philosophical position, of his vast work that is at the brink of a new age of social networks. Not from a commercial perspective, but from an existential one that helps us take back, politically, our rights and humanity online. His work is both existential, artistic but foremost political.

for siblings (tempered) by Lucie Nezri (composer, piano) and Nirantar Yukthumba (zither)

for siblings (tempered) is a piece for piano and/or plucked string instruments. for siblings (tempered) is the first result of a long-term research revolving around Maghrebin-Andalusian classical music. One aim of this research was to loosely integrate tuning systems, modes, as well as melodic and rhythmic patterns of Maghrebin-Andalusian music into my compositions. Lucie’s standpoint stems from a deeply personal yet rootless and rather abstract perspective. As a result, the composition for siblings (tempered) ended up being both tied to yet distant from its original source of inspiration.

Electronic Resonances in the Accoustic Voice by Marie Guilleray

Can electronic manipulations and machines influence works for the acoustic voice?

This is what Marie shall attempt to demonstrate by presenting three short pieces of contemporary music for solo voice:

• Sequenza III by Luciano Berio (1965)

• Recitations 11 by Georges Aperghis (1977-1978)

• Analysis 78-3 by Greta Monach (1978)

Misery Beach by Huib Emmer

Misery Beach is an electronic live performance. There are two groups of speakers in the hall, from group 1 you mainly hear pulses and beats, from group 2 strange thin sounds with surrealistic objects.

During the performance, these elements are confronted with each other and all kinds of connections arise. The whole thing is sometimes reminiscent of Yves Tanguy's paintings.

ELEMENTS (2024) by Gilius van Bergeijk, performed by Reinier van Houdt, Gilius van Bergeijk

(4 parts: EARTH, WATER, FIRE, AIR, merge without interruption).

The four elements earth, water, fire and air were first formulated by the Greek philosopher Empedocles formulated as the basis for all existing substances. Today, they are mainly known through the work of medieval alchemists. But they also have symbolic significance: earth and fire are used in funeral rites while water and air are the main conditions for life. Life and Death, in other words.

‘QUARTET II invites PINK OCULUS’

with Pink Oculus (voice, compositions), Ike van Bergen (keys, grand piano), Aditya Sardjono (electric bass), Nadesh Ligthart (drums), Peter van Bergen (horns, electronics) Hip-Hop, R&B and Jazz concert with performances of works by Pink Oculus from her albums Delicious and Before Wisdom. Pink Oculus' music has been called “Uncompromising” and “Raw stuff of the highest artistic value” by music magazine OOR. Comparably, the music of LOOS has been described in the international press. This concert combines the outspoken compositions of Dutch singer-songwriter, rapper, producer and actress Pink Oculus with solo contributions, arrangements and interludes by a specially assembled quartet with different musical backgrounds, from hip-hop, R&B, funk, (free) jazz and contemporary classical. QUARTET II is a new 2024 project by Ike and Peter van Bergen following QUARTET I with Wilbert de Joode and Giacomo Camiletti with compositions by Andrew Hill, Pete LaRoca and Carla Bley.

with Tiziano Teodori (Viktoria Nikolova video recording)

with Tiziano Teodori (Viktoria Nikolova video recording)

The third edition of intersect.SERIES will take place on the 14th of June at Studio Loos.

Nursinem Aslan, jvkr, and l°°p ensemble (Paolo Piaser, Hao-Teng Liu, Carlotta van Schwartzenberg) present performances that reflect on various approaches to interactivity, body and physical movement in improvisation. We are delighted to announce that the Khamoosh Collective will be presenting an interactive installation, with contributions by Ramin Mahmoudi, Golnoosh Heshmati, pantea, Maryam Ramezankhani, and PARSA, where the members come together to speculate on the role of improvisation in collective work, overlapping through temporalities across different geographies.

Beyond by Khamoosh collective

The members of the Khamoosh community gather together in one of their weekly meetings with the purpose of improvising together in each one's place. As we reflect on the role of improvisation also in our collective work and how we organize together, things we do overlap through their temporalities even when we are across different geographies. These activities generate and connect local movements, and in this way the community collaborates remotely. Not in the sense of perfect synchronization and how to have the best technology to improvise, but as approaching improvisation as a technology itself.

In this gathering, we improvise to acknowledge how we are in-between. Here and there. Now and then. In this sense, these patches of audio and video invite you to our headspace and community, to improvise with us.

Khamoosh collective (with contributions from Ramin Mahmoudi, Golnoosh Heshmati, pantea, Maryam Ramezankhani, PARSA)

We come together in the shared intimacy of sound through the tools of technology and time. Hearing the relationship between sound and language is an ongoing process formed by both well-known and unknown contributors as well as by nonhumans, broadening the listening sphere of our extended collective. Our combined practices include music, anthropology, linguistics, and audiovisual design. Khamoosh mediates conservation and restoration by exploring and archiving the sonic heritage of Iran through recorded sounds of everyday life; sounds that are less heard or even silenced. Khamoosh has been listened to informally and in spaces like Ars Electronica Garden Tehran, 48h Neukölln, New Institute and Re-wire festival.

A Very Personal Relationship Between Sound and Movement by Nursinem Aslan

In the context of exploring new affordances in musical interaction, movement practice can contribute to developing a more nuanced and intentional use of bodily movement in musical expression. By increasing body awareness and control, movement practice can provide musicians with a wider range of movement vocabulary to draw from and can help to reveal new connections between movement and musical expression.

Together with a background in visual arts, design, and sound art, Nursinem Aslan blends diverse subjects with technology. She has cultivated a novel perspective that converges at the intersection of traditional and contemporary mediums. The core themes that pulse through her creations include movement, technology, and nature, which serve as a testament to the symbiotic relationship between science and creative expression.

duwisnomahlmon by jvkr

Three levels of sound projection creates a potential of juxtapositions, opening up a variety of perspectives. Whatever it was you heard, it was your ears only. That is normal.

Improvisor, composer and maker who aims through jvkr’s work to create a lens on contemporary technology which is employed in order to extend, invert or disassemble the musical situation. His collaborations cover the fields of music, architecture, choreography, visual arts and music-theatre. As an artistic researcher, in the past years he has developed and realized a variety of projects and has contributed to the LOOS artistic research community, collaborating with many young artists. Since 2001 he has been a permanent staff member of the Sonology department at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague.

“The city between absorbing seas and ricocheting mountains” by l°°p

The city between absorbing seas and ricocheting mountains is a system for three amplified components — tenor saxophone, violin, and hybrid human-algorithmic agent —. The musicians listen to each other on specific sound parameters, and take performative decisions in accordance to what they perceive. In this way, every gesture and every sound propagate in the loop of unfolding interactions: they are structurally coupled, bringing the movement that forms, and the properties that we, as listeners, perceive and recognise. Emergencies, and an identity for each enaction.

l°°p is a newly formed ensemble dedicated to music based on systemic principles, thus context dependent and integrating feedback loops for the unfolding of the piece during the performance.

• l°°p currently counts eleven members, but for this performance he will form with three of its elements.

Hao-Teng Liu - amplified alto saxophone

Classical saxophone player from Taipei (Taiwan), after his BA he decided to expand its musical knowledge and learn new approaches to music and performance. He thus came to The Netherlands to study in the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where he is currently attending the Master course in saxophone.

Carlotta van Schwartzenberg - amplified violin

Violin player who especially enjoys improvised music, currently completing her Bachelor of Composition at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague with the teachers Mayke Nas and Trevor Grahl. She has been characterized as a musical alchemist, meaning she always searches for the best way to actualize her artistic vision, using different mediums such as composing as well as improvising.

Paolo Piaser - electronics and hybrid agent

Electroacoustic composer and Sound Designer, come from a city at the bases of the Dolomites. After living among the calli of Venice for many years, they currently locate themselves close to the dunes of Den Haag. They refer to systemic theory concepts for their compositional and performative approach, exploring what they call Systemic composition

the concert is a collab with Discreet Editions

performed by Lucie Nezri:

• 'ida for amy' (2017) by Michael Winter (Dutch premiere)

• 'en abyme' (2015) by Melaine Dalibert (Dutch premiere) 

performed by Lucie Nezri and Clara de Asís:

• 'for siblings (tempered)' (2023), composed by Lucie Nezri with Clara de Asís on the guitar and Lucie on the piano.

performed by Clara de Asís:

• ‘Pillar of Salt' (2023) (Dutch premiere)

'for siblings (tempered)' is the first outcome of a long-term ongoing research revolving around Maghrebin-Andalusian classical music, specifically from Morocco and Algeria where my father's family is from. My initial wish for this research was to loosely integrate tuning systems, modes, as well as melodic and rhythmic patterns of Maghrebin-Andalusian music into my own practice, which is already grounded in rational tuning, algorithmic/probabilistic methods of composition, and open-form scores. My standpoint stems from a deeply personal yet rootless and rather abstract perspective. As a result, and necessarily, the piece 'for siblings (tempered)' ended up being distant from its original source of inspiration.

'Pillar of Salt' is a composition for idiophones, bells and electronics.From an audible account on ambiguity, it explores the potentiality of microtonal intervals, spectral blending and timbral affinity to articulate different levels of synergy, reciprocity and confusion between acoustic and electronic material in the physical and the psychoacoustic space. 
The structure of the piece unfolds from a simple pattern up to accidental states with different levels of contingency. It juxtaposes compositional precision to systemic randomness.

about the artists:

Lucie Nezri is a composer, artist, and performer born in Hyères (FR) and currently based in Den Haag (NL). 

Nezri is drawn toward abstraction and simplicity. Her work bridges different contexts and disciplines pertaining to musical composition, tuning theory, musicology, computer science, and, at times, choreography. Her pieces combine algorithmic techniques of composition based on probabilities, and a care for harmony. She is especially interested in exploring/making different versions of her pieces and in reconstructing algorithmic pieces made by others, as a means to understand and view these works from multiple angles. Last but not least, she considers music primarily as an experience to be shared and composes her pieces as invitations to 'play' and dedicated to loved ones.

She holds a Bachelor's and a Master's from the Institute of Sonology (Royal Conservatory of the Hague NL). Her works have been performed in a diversity of venues such as OSCII (Amsterdam), GRM (Paris), Orgelpark (Amsterdam), Abbaye de Royaumont (Paris), GMEA (Albi), Studio Loos, (Den Haag), PAS (Berlin), GIT (Riga). Since September 2022, Nezri has been a research associate at the Institute of Sonology and coordinated the festival Echonance at Orgelpark since 2023. She closely collaborates with the composers/musicians Clara de Asís, Edgars Rubenis, Michael Winter, and Nirantar Yakthumba. 

Clara de Asís (b. 1988, Spain) is a composer and artist who explores the nexus of acoustics, spatiality and auditory perception in the field of electronic and contemporary experimental music, using sound as a vehicle to investigate wider socio-cultural constructs. She incorporates sound synthesis to idiosyncratic combinations of diverse materials, found objects and traditional instrumentation. Her compositions juxtapose structural precision to areas of indeterminacy, drawing from an interest in tuning, timbral research and the junction of rational and intuitive systems.

De Asís has performed extensively across Europe, the United States and South America; and has been an artist-in-residence at Experimental Sound Studio (Chicago), Tsonami (Valparaíso), Q-O2 (Brussels) and Elektronmusikstudion EMS (Stockholm), among others. Her music is published on labels such as Another Timbre (UK), Elsewhere (US), Marginal Frequency (US), Pilgrim Talk (US), Blank Mind (UK), Erstwhile (US). 

As a curator and artistic director, she works independently and within international music organizations, and runs the publishing platform Discreet Editions. She has pursued formal studies in Audiovisual Media Art (University of Sevilla) and Electroacoustic Music Composition (Cité de la Musique / National Conservatory in Marseille), and is currently engaging in academic artistic research at the Institute of Sonology / Royal Conservatory of The Hague.