Billy John Bultheel *Brussels 1987, lives and works in between Berlin and Brussels.
Bultheel’s work as an experimental composer and performance artist bridges contemporary composition with techniques and traditions of European Medieval and Renaissance polyphonic music. His music explores performance and installations, often site-specific, leaving the constraints of the concert hall behind in order to find new territory for musical experiences. The musicians become performers, moving through sound tropes, interacting with architecture, sculpture and custom-made instruments.
Amongst his works are ‘The Thief’s Journal’ for Atonal (Berlin 2023), ‘Workers in Song’ in collaboration with the artist James Richards at Wiels (Brussels 2023), Mt. Analogue at Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection (Paris, 2023), ‘Athens Songs I-IV’ at the 7th Athens Biennial (Athens 2021), UNTER in collaboration with Tanya Viviana Abelson for the Schinkel Pavilion (Berlin 2021), ‘Songs for the Contract’ (folia.app 2021), ‘The Minutes of Olomouc’ at PAF (Olomouc, CZ 2020), ‘When Doves Cry' at the Schinkel Pavillon (Berlin, 2019).
In 2020 Bultheel formed the band 33 with Alexander Iezzi. The duo has released their first album ’33-69’ on the London/Berlin-based record label C.A.N.V.A.S. in September 2021. The band is modular in nature and has included appearances by musicians Ivan Cheng, Patrick Belaga, NAKED, Steve Katona, CEM, amongst others. They have toured across Europe and are currently working on a second studio release.
In 2012 he started his collaboration with the German performance artist Anne Imhof, working as a performer and composer in Imhof's early performances, movies and installation. He composed music for Imhof's exhibition-as-opera Angst (2016), Faust (2017) and Sex (2019) alongside with Eliza Douglas and Anne Imhof. The music for Faust and Sex have been released on LP on the German record label, PAN.
Furthermore Bultheel has composed music for choreographers Adam Linder, Enad Marouf, Michele Rizzo and for the Satire IXNEYTAI/TRACKERS by Sophocles, directed by Michail Marmarinos, which was presented at the ancient amphitheatre of Epidavros, Greece.
Bultheel studied composition at the Institute of Sonology in The Hague, Holland and performance and choreography at the Institute for applied theatre science, Gießen, Germany.
- DISCOGRAPHY
- 33 '33-69' (CANVAS, 2021)
- Anne Imhof 'FAUST' (PAN Records, 2019)
- Billy Bultheel 'The Sky Bent' on 'Apocope' (CANVAS, 2021)
- Anne Imhof, Eliza Douglas, Billy Bultheel 'Sex' (PAN Records, 2021)
- Selected Works and Projects
- 2023
- The Thief's Journal- Atonal, Berlin, DE
- Workers in Song - WIELS, Brussels, BE
- Workers in Song - Batalha Centro de Cinema, Porto, PO
- Mt. Analogue - Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection, Paris, FR
- OST Acid Gems - with Adam Linder, CCN - Ballet de Lorraine, Nancy, FR
- 2022
- Shadow Tracks - CCA Berlin, DE
- OST In My Hand a Word with Enad Marouf, Sophiensaele, Berlin, DE
- 33-69 LP release on Canvas, Berlin/London
- 2021
- SEX LP release on Pan, Berlin
- UNTER KAMMERMUSIK - with Viviana Abelson. Halle für Kunst Steiermark, Graz, Austria
- UNTER - with Viviana Abelson. Schinkel Pavilion, Disappearing Berlin, Berlin, DE
- OST REACHING - with Michele Rizzo. KW, Berlin, DE
REACHING I - KW, Berlin, DE
REACHING II - Dark Mofo, Tasmania, AU (2022)
REACHING III - Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL (2022)
REACHING IIII - tanzhaus nrw, Düsseldorf, DE (2023)
- ATHENS, SONGS I-IV - 7th Athens Biennial, Greece GR
- OST IXNEYTAI/TRACKERS - with Michael Marmarinos. Ancient theatre of Epidavros, GR. Mount Z’yria, Peloponnesos, GR. Odeon of Herodes Atticus, Athens, GR
- SONGS FOR THE CONTRACT - Folia.app
- 2020
- The MINUTES OF OLOMOUC, PAF, OLOMOUC, CZ
- 2019
- Spat from my Mouth, a piano concerto - KW in Berlin, DE
- When Doves Cry - Disappearing Berlin Series of the Schinkel Pavilion, Berlin. DE
- FAUST LP release on PAN, Berlin
- SHADOW HUNTER WITH ALEXANDER IEZZI
PLAY & CO FESTIVAL
ZAGREB/WATERMILL CENTRE BENEFIT, NEW YORK
NO MOON - BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
- OST SEX - with ANNE IMHOF
SEX I - Tate Tanks, LONDON, UK
SEX II - AIC, CHICAGO, USA
SEX III - Castello Di Rivoli, Turin, IT
- OST Deposition - with Michele Rizzo tour Europe: Kortrijk, Roubaix, Milan, Marseille and Amsterdam.
- 2018
- SIGNS OF INVASION- Room E-1027 at Ku’damm Karree - Berlin
- SUITE, FOUR DANCES FOR DARK ROOMS - AGORA, BERLIN
- SMALL MASS FOR THE ARMED MAN - GRUPPE EXHIBITION AT BLAKE & VARGAS, BERLIN, DE
- MY FIELDS, MY FIELDS - WITTE DE WITH CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, ROTTERDAM
- 2017
- OST FAUST - with anne imhof
GERMAN PAVILION AT THE VENICE BIENNIAL, VENICE, IT
Awarded with the Golden Lion for Best National Participation
- 2016
- OST ANGST- with Anne Imhof
ANGST III - MAC Biennial of Montreal, CA
Angst II - Hamburger Bahnhof, ARTWEEK BERLIN, Berlin, DE
Angst I - Kunsthalle Basel, ART BASEL, Basel, CH
- Reality Tales / Mental Surgeries - with ENAD MAROUF
DGTL FMNSM, Dresden, DE
TanzFaktur, Köln, DE
- 2015
- FOREVER RAGE - with Anne Imhof - HAMBURGER BAHNHOF, BERLIN, DE
- DEAL - with Anne Imhof
MOMA PS1, NEW YORK, USA
Palais De Tokyo, Paris, FR
- Talks and Lectures
- Shadow Trails, Castrati and Machines NTS RADIO - HOSTED BY PAN, FEBRUARY 2020
- Musical Retrospective - with Anne Imhof - Robert Johnson Theory, Offenbach April 2019
- Crowds and Choirs - Cynetart Festival, Dresden. September 2018
- After School Club, Offenbach August 2018
- FAUST - with Anne Imhof and Franziska Aigner - HGB, Leipzig. July 2018
- Musical Geographies and Performance - Radical Cut-up Masters at the Sandberg Institute. April 2018
- Grants and Residencies
- Artist residency at Callies, Berlin,2023
- Artist residency at KW, Berlin, 2023
- Artist residency at Cite des Arts, Paris 2020
- Artist residency at Tanzfaktur Köln, 2017
- Artist residency at ‘Les Brigitinnes’ by WorkspaceBrussels in Brussels 2016
- Artist residency at workspace Aleppo in Brussels, 2016
- Artist residency at Point B, Brooklyn, NY, USA 2014
- FORMATION
- 2017 - Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art - European Graduate School at Spike Art Space Berlin
- 2009 - 2012 MA Choreography and Performance with Gerald Siegmund and Bojana Kunst at the institute of Applied Theatre Science, Justus-Liebig Universität, Gießen, Germany
- 2005 - 2009 - BA Sonology with Paul BErg, Joel Ryan, Konrad Boehmer and Kees Tazelaar at the institute of Sonology, Koninklijk Conservatorium, The Hague, The Netherlands