In 2016, we took the concept of Ab in die Ecke (Off into the corner) — having musicians improvise in separate spaces — to a deeper level, with performances in Brussels’ Art Lab Zsenne and in Lokaal 01 in Antwerp, each time under the aegis of Felix Kindermann. Since those shows, the musicians have called themselves Brussels Cleaning Masters, as a fixed configuration, with Robin Schaeverbeke on drums, Lutz Boddenberg on electronic bass, Peter Bultink on electronic guitar, and me on microphone. In 2017 we performed at Les Ateliers Claus in Brussels. A recording of the concert came out as a Download. The band has been going on its own since 2018, without the separated formation, en bloc. We made our debut for this set-up at the opening of the exhibition Berlin – 1912-1932 in the Brussels Museum of Fine Arts, with an improvisation of the Dreigroschenoper (Threepenny Opera) by Brecht/Weill. We ended the year there as well, with a free performance of German chansons, the book of poems Bezette stad (Engl. tr. Occupied City [2016]) by Paul Van Ostaijen, and our own work in collage called Cleaning Notes.

Credit: Nick Brookes