Horst Arts & Music Festival continues to blur the boundaries between music, architecture and contemporary culture

Now firmly established as one of Europe’s most forward-thinking gatherings, Horst Arts & Music Festival continues to blur the boundaries between music, architecture and contemporary culture. Its 2025 edition reaffirmed this identity with an unprecedented precision: a curatorial statement that treated the dancefloor as a living artwork, the sound system as an architectural element, and the DJ as both sculptor and storyteller.

Set within the site of Asiat Park in Vilvoorde, Horst has always refused the festival clichés of linear programming or overblown spectacle. Instead, it curates experiences that engage the full spectrum of perception, light, form, and sound, through collaborations with designers, artists and system builders who push the limits of what club culture can become. This year, that philosophy reached a new height with an expanded emphasis on techno: not as a genre, but as a language for spatial and emotional transformation.

For this special feature, attention is drawn to the artists who embodied that philosophy most vividly, the techno craftsmen who carried the torch of the club culture, merging technical mastery with emotional depth, and shaping Horst 2025 into a rare meeting point between precision engineering, avant-garde rhythm, and raw intensity.

Setting the Stage : “Dark Skies” and the New Sonic Frontier

From the moment you approach the grounds of the Asiat Park site, it becomes clear that the 2025 edition of Horst is about more than names on a lineup. The focal point is the major architectural & sound installation: Dark Skies, conceived by DVS1 in collaboration with architects Leopold Banchini and Giona Bierens de Haan.

This canopy-of-speakers system, featuring 116 L-Acoustic tops and 58 L-Acoustic subwoofers suspended above the dance floor, turns the traditional stage hierarchy on its head: there is no “front”, only immersion.
In sonic terms, this means the system emphasises spatial equality of sound: every dancer, at any point beneath the roof, is equally “first row”. The aesthetic premise of Dark Skies “the sound won’t overwhelm you, but instead surround you and push you to join” (DVS1) shows a rare alignment between architecture, audiophile sensibility and club culture.

High Bar Set on Day One

In the afternoon, GiGi FM held the room in magnetic grip, delivering the first fully immersive set of Horst 2025 after the opening. Seated due to a leg injury, she transformed limitation into a source of focus, letting the music speak with uncompromising clarity. Her set unfolded like a slow-burning narrative: ambient-tinged textures gradually giving way to taut techno pulses, intricate basslines, and understated breaks that coalesced into a groove both commanding and intimate. Every track choice felt deliberate, teasing anticipation rather than forcing it, weaving a subtle tension that held the crowd in rapt attention. By the time the final notes faded, the dancefloor was completely aligned with her vision, a trance born of precision and an acute understanding of flow. It was a masterclass in how the first set of a festival can capture the imagination, setting a tone of focus, depth, and emotional immersion that would echo through the days to come.

As dusk settled, under the same Dark Skies roof, the German-Turkish modular synth virtuoso JakoJako took over the second booth opposite GiGi’s. At sunset the location added another dimension: the fading daylight filtered into the architectural structure, the speakers overhead pulsed above, and JakoJako rode this atmospheric shift masterfully. The set roared into high energy, full of rising tension. It felt like the moment where the festival let loose, and the crowd responded in kind. A perfect alignment of sound, structure and performer.

Into the night, the UK techno elder statesman Surgeon delivered a live set that felt like a compressed lifetime of techno distilled into one hour.
Under Dark Skies the resonance was exceptional: the suspended subs and tops allowed surgeon’s sonic assaults to hit with precision. The result? One hour that seemed to pass like two minutes. The crowd drifted into the machinery, entranced yet charged.

Finally, the definitive moment: DVS1 himself took command. Three hours under his own sonic canopy. It was clear from the outset, this stage was his narrative. His selections were deeply connected, cyclical: motifs re-emerged, phrases from fifteen minutes prior resurfaced, he manipulated memory and expectation with surgical precision.
This set felt like a true storytelling, a tunnel of techno, mental techno, percussive minimalism, weaving through arc after arc, then returning to themes, reframing them. The structure beneath him allowed every nuance of the kick, the hi-hat, the space between beats to breathe.
For aficionados this was it: the highlight of the festival from day one. A statement: Horst will no longer be a peripheral player in techno, they will lead. The bar was set very high.

Conclusion of Day One: You walked off the floor a little elevated, not just by sound and sweat but by the conviction of what had just happened.

Day Two, A Shift Toward Alternativity

With the momentum of day one behind it, Friday marked a subtle shift away from raw 4×4 techno into more nuanced, hybrid territories. Moving away from Dark Skies, we found ourselves in the club aesthetic of The Swirl, whose architectural character sets a mood of introspection and tension.

Although not in your original list, suffice to say the deep-techno odyssey of Dorisburg echoed the return of a sound that had been underrepresented in recent years. That sense of rediscovery, of revisit and revival, was tangible and welcome. One could easily find themselves transported back into the era of A. Brehme and Peter Van Hoesen, carried by the sound once celebrated in Technoon and Sonata Forma events. Availability of such sets points to Horst’s willingness to tread deeper waters.
Still at The Swirl, the pair of Polygonia and Steffi delivered one of the night’s most memorable sets. Polygonia brought her organic, nature-inspired techno & textures, Steffi her decades-honed groove and electro-house/techno pedigree.
Together they executed a set that refused stagnation: starting in meditative techno terrain, sliding into breakbeat bursts, unexpected sidesteps into electro rhythm, and back into techno. The dancefloor shook, The Swirl felt alive, layered, and constantly surprising.

As the festival worked toward its close for Friday, the Dutch-Turkish artist Konduku brought the night home with a masterclass in long-form groove. His set, nearly four hours, was percussive, atmospheric, varied, yet consistent, drawing on house, techno and complexe rhythmic elements.
The sound system at The Swirl, a Pioneer GS Wave in heavy rotation that evening, gave the crowd full-bodied bass and response. Dancing became easier than ever.

While some techno purists may have missed heavier 4×4 assault, the Saturday drift toward alternate electronic sounds did not feel like compromise, it felt like breadth.

Third Day, Exploration Of Other Terrains

Saturday saw a noticeable reduction in straight-ahead techno. Indeed, the earlier focus on the techno front had set expectations high, and some felt the balance shifted. Yet for the listener willing to roam, there were gems.

In a bold move, DVS1 returned to Dark Skies not for another techno salvo but for a warm-up set rich in house tones. Recognising that DVS1 is as much a digger as he is a purist, this set showcased his versatility. The house grooves took advantage of the immersive canopy just as well as the techno had done. While some fans of pure techno may have felt a slight disconnect, the artistic statement was compelling, a master of the craft chooses to step sideways, invite the crowd differently.

Across the site, attention turned to Gaiko (lesser-known prior to the festival), who delivered one of the weekend’s most pleasant surprises: a set combining techno, drum & bass, and other allied sub-genres with imagination and technical fluidity. Such a cross-pollinated moment highlighted the festival’s commitment to adventurous programming.

The night and three days would not end without the high-octane back-to-back of DJ Stingray 313 and Helena Hauff, two stalwarts crossing electro, techno, analog fury and relentless rhythm. While the set details are slim in our coverage, the vibe carried the weight of expectation and delivered accordingly.

Horst 2025 reaffirmed the festival’s position as a thoughtful and adventurous platform for electronic music, firmly rooted in its history of blending art, architecture, and sound. This edition, while staying true to Horst’s distinctive identity, featured a notably stronger focus on techno, allowing established artists to explore the genre’s breadth and depth. The architectural vision of Dark Skies perfectly complemented the musical programming, uniting techno veterans, genre innovators, and artists working at the intersections of electronic sound.

Across its stages, the festival offered immersive journeys that balanced introspective, deep sets with high-energy, dancefloor-driven moments, creating an experience both cohesive and full of discovery. By celebrating both legacy and experimentation, Horst 2025 demonstrated how a festival can honor its roots while embracing new directions, solidifying its reputation as a platform where electronic music is both explored and experienced at the highest level.

Pictures credits by : Angelina Nikolayeva, Julien Janssens-Lores, Willem Mevis, Illias Steirlinck, Elias Derboven