Hiphop Nocturne - Museum Mayer van den Bergh 2025©Thijs De Lange

Hiphop Nocturne - Museum Mayer van den Bergh 2025

There’s a specific kind of friction that happens when you bring street dance into a room full of Renaissance masterpieces. In a project curated by Camine Van Hoof, I directed a site-specific performance at Museum Mayer van den Bergh in Antwerp within their permanent collection.

Using the historic gallery spaces and the museum's Gothic heritage as inspiration, we connected the architecture of the space to our body language. While the foundation of our movement is rooted in street dance, the energy and intention changed as we took note of to the surrounding environment.

Partners: Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Camine Van Hoof, City of Antwerp

Artistic Director

Performer

Images

DJ Nanda playing music in museum mayer van den bergh©Thijs De Lange
Fleur De Decker performing in museum mayer van den bergh©Thijs De Lange
Denis Inghelbrecht performing in museum mayer van den bergh©Thijs De Lange
Manu Mpasi performing in museum mayer van den bergh©Thijs De Lange
Denis Inghelbrecht and Manu Mpasi performing in museum mayer van den bergh©Thijs De Lange
Denis Inghelbrecht, Fleur De Decker and Manu Mpasi receiving applause for their performance in museum mayer van den bergh©Thijs De Lange
Fleur De Decker performing in museum mayer van den bergh©Thijs De Lange
Denis Inghelbrecht performing in museum mayer van den bergh©Thijs De Lange
The museum mayer van den bergh where the performance took place©Mayer van Den Bergh Museum

What happens when a krump unfolds beneath centuries-old masterpieces?

How does groove resonate inside Gothic architecture?

Can street energy activate a historical space without disrupting its integrity?

Process

For Hiphop Nocturne, I brought together Fleur De Decker and Manu Mpasi, both schooled in contemporary and street styles, to perform within the galleries of the Museum Mayer van den Bergh.

The work was built on street styles such as Krump, Waving, and Tutting, all mixed with contemporary influences. Being in these specific classical rooms inherently shifted our energy. Letting the environment decide the overall narration and energy, we adapted our movement for the choreography to become a conversation with the space rather than a disruption of it.

Experience

It was interesting for us to see how a classical space like Mayer van den Bergh affected the way we moved. We didn't expect the setting to have such a direct impact on our performance, but the Gothic and Renaissance surroundings sparked a change in our body language and how we interacted with the space because of it.

It was fascinating to see how art from two completely different eras could find a common ground and connect in a way that made sense.

Fleur De Decker performing in museum mayer van den bergh©Thijs De Lange