bio
Stijn Demeulenaere is a sound-artist, a radio maker and searching musician. He holds degrees in sociology, cultural studies and studied radio at the RITCS, Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema and Sound. Stijn was the curator and producer of the free form radio show ‘Radio Eliot’ on Radio Scorpio. He worked as a journalist for Belgian national radio stations Klara and Radio 1 and for the independent radio station Radio K Centrale in Bologna, Italy. He was a founding member of the improvisation collective Karen Eliot.
In 2009 he started out as a sound artist, showing his first installation SmallTalk at the Burning Ice festival at Kaaitheater in Brussels. Stijn is attracted to sound because of its directness, it’s malleability, and it’s mystery. In sound he tries to unravel social structures, personal history and the unconscious imagination of people. Stijn works around the themes of the phenomenology of listening and the personal experience of sound. Stijn is also an avid field recordist, making recordings all over the world in both nature and urban settings. This recording informs his phenomenological research, but he also does it out of a love for sound and a quest for beautiful sonic spatialities. Stijn develops installations, soundscapes and performances, and plays live sets with his field recordings. He also creates sound design for dance and theatre.
Currently Stijn is artist in residence at the Kunstenwerkplaats (Brussels, BE). His work was awarded an honourable mention at the 2021 Sound of the Year Awards, and won a prize at the 2014 soundscape composition prize of Musica (Pelt, BE). Together with Jan Locus he won the Grand Prix at the 2020 Split Videoart Festival and a prize at the 2019 Engine Room International Sound Art competition (London, UK). Stijns work was also nominated for, among others, the 2016 Discovery Award at LOOP Barcelona, and the 2016 European Sound Art Award. In October 2017, Stijn released his first album: Latitudes - September 2016. It's available on the Silken Tofu label.
Stijn's work was shown or played in, amongst others, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Austria, Ireland, Spain, Brazil, Canada and the UK. He has been an artist in residence at amongst others, Overtoon, (Brussels, BE), Cimatics (Brussels, BE), WP Zimmer (Antwerp, BE) and Imgagine2020 (UK/EU).
Stijn also collaborates with dancers, choreographers, theatre directors, film makers and other artists. He created the soundtracks for the dance pieces As It Fell by Marisa Cabal and Stav Yeini, and Vartaloiden Kaupunki by Veli Lehtovaara. Together with Marisa Cabal and Georgia Vardarou he created the transdisciplinary performance Sonic Theatres. Other collaborations included theatre makers, directors and video artists like Mesut Arslan, Pieter De Buysser, Jan Locus, Kevin Trappeniers, Ychaï Gassenbauer, Pierre van Heddegem and Visual Kitchen.
Stijn is supported by the Flemish Community. He lives and works in Brussels (BE).