Maarten Seghers is a performer, theatre-maker and composer.
In his performance oeuvre (including ‘Concert of a Band Facing the Wrong Way’) Maarten Seghers confronts himself with autonomous sound, movement and visual artists. The drama of his performances does not play out in the psychological/emotional conflict between characters, but in the physical confrontation between the bodies of his performers and the musical notation.
His music encompasses compositions, songs and sound installations for both dance and theatre productions and performative concerts. Out of the quest for the boundaries of vocal, musical and performative involvement, works emerge for live ensembles, as in ‘The blind poet’ (2015) or ‘All the good’ (2019), for voice and tape as in ‘Isabella’s room’ (2004) or ‘Billy’s Violence’ (2021) and he writes song cycles such as ‘Songs of Disconnection’ (2023) for voice and contemporary classical ensemble. He is currently writing a new composition for mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey and a five-piece ensemble for ‘Lee Miller in Hitler’s Bathtub' (2025).
Maarten Seghers’ work arises from a hunger to evade every definition, to refute every stigmatisation, to contradict. He understands the art of welcoming confusion, of embracing chaos. Thus by means of ostensible absurdity, he succinctly exposes artistic practice. The performance ‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT DO YOU MEAN AND OTHER PLEASANTRIES’ (2014) delivered him a nomination for the Choreographer’s Prix Jardin d’Europe 2015 in Vienna. His sculpture ‘Fountain (Late-Pornographic Balance) I’ (2010) was included in the permanent collection of FRAC Nord-Pas-de-Calais. In 2006 he founded OHNO COOPERATION in close collaboration with artist Jan Lauwers and musician Elke Janssens. Together they create performances, video work, installations and music.
Together with Grace Ellen Barkey and Jan Lauwers, Maarten Seghers takes on the artistic leadership of the international artists’ house Needcompany and its home base MILL in Brussels. Since 2001, Needcompany has been placing authorship centre stage and embracing those artists who work and collaborate in the tension field between material research and the bigger picture. From MILL, support for new generations of interdisciplinary artists is organised through residencies, funds, and artists’ studios.
Overview of productions
