MoMu x Willy Vanderperre Takeover: Amenra

For the musical nocturnes, Willy Vanderperre has invited artists of stature, including the men of Amenra and piano virtuoso Wim Mertens. They will be giving concerts in the entrance hall. In the weekends following their performances, their music will be heard in the exhibition galleries.

Amenra emerged in 1999 from the then booming Flemish straight edge hardcore movement. Musically and thematically, however, the band takes a different approach from the bulk of the scene and produces something that can be described as 'post-metal': a style that has its roots in heavy metal, but in terms of approach it does not limit itself to the conventions of the genre and allows for much more experimentation. The band has toured Europe, the United States and Russia several times over the past 15 years and is among the absolute top European bands in its niche, but now also reaches a much wider audience than just die-hard metal fans.

An Amenra concert is often described as a looming all-encompassing experience that grabs you by the throat, bewilders you, but above all enlightens and liberates you. The group brings that intensity equally well in an overwhelming amplified and intimate acoustic line-up. This overall experience is invariably reinforced not only live, but also in their videos, artwork and all things Amenra by a powerful and recognisable aesthetic, visual framework. This visual language rose from collaborations with artists from the band's own collective, the Church of Ra, but also with Belgian artists such as Berlinde De Bruyckere, Michaël Borremans or Willy Vanderperre. Amenra has thus become much more than just an intense live band: they developed a network from practice in which they provide that reinforcing aesthetic layer with like-minded visual artists.