The Mattias Devriendt concerts at the 360° art space DIVE in Antwerp became one of the most delicate and unusual musical events of November. Over the course of three days, from 16 to 18 November, six “lie-down” performances took place—events to which audiences arrived not simply to listen to music, but to sink fully into it, stretching out on soft mats with pillows beneath the vast, domed screen. The room filled with a quiet sense of anticipation, and within minutes it was clear: this was no ordinary concert, but a special, almost cinematic experience of presence.

DIVE, the digital art centre in Antwerp, transformed on these evenings into a space of complete sensory calm. The 360-degree projections, created especially for the performance by artist Erwin Keustermans, moved in a mirrored rhythm with the music. These were subtle visual forms that deepened the essence of the lie-down concert: a state of gentle contemplation, soft inner immersion and a silent dialogue with oneself — and with the person lying nearby.

Devriendt composes in a style rooted in contemporary minimalism, soft melancholy and slow, cinematic ambient music, in which one can hear shades of Philip Glass, Radiohead, Nils Frahm, Nicolas Jaar, Keith Jarrett and Jóhann Jóhannsson. Yet at the centre of it all is always Devriendt himself: his unmistakable clarity, attentiveness, and ability to shape compositions that seem to ease the breath. Repeating structures, warm harmonies and gradual development create an intimate, contemplative, distinctly cinematic atmosphere.

The digital art centre DIVE was, a century ago, the popular “Cinema Majestic”, and it has preserved a cinephile spirit that lingers in the air — especially in the café, which feels as though it could have been designed by David Lynch himself.

Devriendt performs only his own compositions: slow, warming, fluid works. Each piece feels like a frame from an inner film, like a light that shifts the very temperature of the air. The audience listens with their eyes closed, sometimes barely breathing. DIVE heightens this effect: the projections fill the space with soft lines of light, while the sound moves through it in warm vibrations, as if rising gently from the floor.

Devriendt began playing the piano at the age of nine. He lives and works in Ghent, and since 2022 has been developing the format of “lying down concerts” — performances in which people do not sit, but lie down, allowing the music to pass through the body. He first made a name as part of the band Monserey, with whom he has played since 2004. He is also the editor-in-chief of the Belgian edition of the art magazine Still Magazine — a remarkably versatile young man. In 2023, the city of Ghent named him “Gentenaar of the Month”, a well-deserved recognition for an artist of his sensitivity.

At DIVE, his music gained an even greater depth. Light, sound and space created the sensation that the hall had become a quiet sea in which one could completely dissolve. People left slowly, in a gentle half-silence, as if afraid to break the fragile state that had arisen over the past hour. And it seems this is precisely what Devriendt aims for — to offer his listeners a moment of calm, inner clarity and soft presence. In Antwerp, he achieved this without question. It was an experience — and one that will stay with everyone who lay beneath that quiet, glowing sky for a very long time.