KRAAK FEST 2026 HIGHLIGHTS: Polifeme

From your bio, it sounds like you've been involved in many different creative fields. How have all these career paths shaped you and your interests, and how did the Polifeme project become part of your life?

In answering this question, I felt that there was a certain randomness to my journey, but I think it has all been more a matter of cause and effect, and a restless mind. I started out in cinema, as an FX makeup artist, art and props, and from there I created my business, Madame Mim, a shop with a theatrical feel where you can buy or rent costumes and props. And what has been its main driving force, in a way, is a room at the back for all kinds of cultural events: exhibitions, theater, cinema, concerts... After several years of programming experimental music, something must have clicked, and between chance and influences, Polifeme emerged. I suppose there is also something theatrical about this project, which at times seems to be taken from a science fiction film. An aesthetic that ultimately corresponds to a specific era, analog and electromagnetic, from which a particular sound is obtained. Everything is related, even if it is difficult to see at first.

Why TVs and analog waves? What compelled you to use these as sound sources?

I have always had a fondness for analog technology. I'm from a generation that used to put their hand on the screen of the television in the living room so that the static would make my hair stand on end, defying gravity. The generation that recorded their favorite television programs on VHS and the music that played on the radio on cassette tapes. I suppose everything has an influence, although the real origin of the project was entirely accidental. Whenever I took the dogs to the park, I would bring a small toy radio with me, and one day something went wrong and it started emitting some very interesting sounds that I could modulate with the dial. Then came the addition of more devices I had in the store's warehouse, the TV screens and the beginning of my research.

There seems to be a philosophical angle to the project, in regards to the recognition of the existence of invisible forces. How do you sense these and how do they affect you?

It really is a project that has taken different paths of research. It started as a study of the electromagnetic field and invisible forces, what I call outer space, since its origin comes from the depths of the universe, and over time the focus intuitively and organically shifted to inner space, biological sound, and the rhythmic possibilities of the body, starting with the heartbeat - another primal sound that has accompanied us since we began to form, just as radio waves are the first thing a galaxy emits when it implodes and becomes a quasar. There is something about creation and destruction, about origin and end, and about wanting to glimpse a reality much richer and more complex than what our senses can perceive. Sometimes I feel that what I do, in a way, is like opening a portal that connects us to that imperceptible reality and allows us to hear it.

In terms of music, what have your influences been? Or, more simply, what music do you love? :)

I like all kinds of music, especially intimate projects that sound like home recordings and room echoes. All kinds of folklore, from Piedmontese or Inuit songs to musicians like John Bender, Bene Gesserit, or Cindy Lee. Anything that sounds like it fits together and retains a certain naivety, a sense of childhood, and evokes other realities. Although I think I could say that I have probably been influenced more directly by all those women who were part of the origins of electronic music and who, not so many years ago, began to be appreciated, such as Daphne, Delia, and Maryanne. Airplane cockpits, the possibility of discovering new worlds, and my grandfather were also influences, although not musical ones. 

Do you see yourself creating some form of output for this project - a record, for example - or do you see it as purely a live experience?

At the moment, it's true that I've been more focused on live performances than on recording. There's something very physical about the live experience, something tangible and vibrant, enveloping. That doesn't mean it can't work for recording on an album or any other format and listening to it at home. It's a high-risk proposition, because every space I play in has a huge influence on the sound. Every radio or TV station has its own character: some days they want to give it their all and other days they decide to rebel and you have to adapt. It forces you to let go of the feeling of control and work with whatever they offer you at that moment and improvise. Going back to the question, yes, I see myself creating a product that works beyond live performances.

Polifeme is on Instagram // Bandcamp

Polifeme's communion of waves will wash over and through KRAAK Fest 2026 this Saturday March 14 at Het Bos, Antwerp. Tickets going going this way::