January 4 | Colin Benders, Boris Acket
January 5 | Curated by Nxt – Portrait XO, Mary Lake
January 11 | Polygonia, Maarten Vos & Max Frimout.

You can find all our different tickets in our ticketshop here.

Contrarium

Contrarium is an audiovisual show by Lumus Instruments where co-creation unfolds live on stage with artists who push the boundaries of sound and light. Electronic sounds and gritty sound-design generate light that envelops the audience, while striking visuals reshape the space and distort your sense of time. For this special edition, we’ve invited Nxt Museum to curate the program on January 5, promising a unique line-up.

Expect a transformative exploration through alienating soundscapes, ambient tones, and experimental noise compositions.

Previous Contrarium shows took place at venues like Lofi (2021), Paradigm (2022, 2023), and Monopol Berlin (2024), featuring artists such as JakoJako, Jochem Paap, Nadia Struiwigh, Polygonia, Interstellar Funk, Boris Acket, Max Frimout, Maarten Vos, Albert van Abbe and Enequist.

Lumus Instruments is a multidisciplinary studio that experiments with the physical manifestation of computational technology. The studio is directed by Timo Lejeune and Julius Oosting, who are both driven by the process of making and the search for synergetic design principles.

With the notion of “experience as the ultimate reality”, they artificially craft experiences that give rise to a sense of timelessness and radical realism. This results in installations that create a sense of future through the experience of now.

Be part of this unique, one-of-a-kind concert that transforms not only the space around you but also how you feel within it. Secure your spot for this unforgettable night at Lofi, get your tickets here.

  LOFI

Contrarium takes place at Lofi: An old GVB bus garage transformed into a club. Lofi was created with the aim of breathing new life into Amsterdam’s free-spirited (night) culture. From indoor warehouse raves to intimate community gatherings on our courtyard.

Address: Basisweg 63, Amsterdam. You can find more info about Lofi here.

Colin Benders
Set time: 20:00 – 21:00

Sole but far-from-lonely emperor of a monster 243-module rack, genre-unbound sound explorer, modular mad scientist to the bone, call him whatever you like it’s a fact: Dutch wave-tumbler Colin Benders defies the conventions of so easily tag-slapped electronics as much as his music confronts gravity itself. Untamed and unshackled from today’s main line of tepid production behaviourism, striving in an artistic lane truly his own, Benders has completely veered off the grand street’s accepted modus operandi to operate his gear and imagination in utterly innovative fashion.

Having performed at high-profile venues like Berghain, Printworks, Awakenings, and ADE, Benders is known for his capacity to engulf audiences with complex, evolving textures and high-amperage crescendos that defy conventional expectations.

Boris Acket
Set time: 21:30 – 22:30


Boris Acket is a contemporary artist and composer who explores the intersection of sound, light, and motion, delving into themes of control and surrender in natural and human-made environments. Rooted in electronic music and club culture, his work now bridges sound art and immersive installations, transforming spaces into ritualistic experiences that question our connection to nature.

Influenced by acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton and sociologist Riyan van den Born, Acket’s recent works recontextualize natural elements within art spaces, offering sanctuary and ritualistic encounters, while also hinting at dystopian narratives of our future interactions with the (natural) world. His works and performances have been featured at prominent venues and festivals like Mutek MX, Stedelijk Museum, Dark Matter Berlin, Nxt Museum, STRP, Holland Festival, De School and DGTL Festival among many others.

You can find all our different tickets in our ticketshop here.

We invited Nxt Museum to curate the line-up for Contrarium’s second night on January 5th, bringing their distinct perspective to our immersive audiovisual experience.

Movement. Sound. Light. A sudden change in your surroundings can trigger an inescapable reaction – a primal response. It’s involuntary. It’s irrational. It’s natural. We can’t control it, it’s how the human body is wired. Art takes hold of our senses. It transmits ideas, emotions, and stories. Morphing our perceptions and synthesising them into new perspectives.

As the Netherlands’ first museum dedicated to new media art, Nxt Museum explores contemporary issues through artworks that use cutting-edge tools to express the complexities of our time. By harnessing technology to amplify human experience, Nxt provides a framework for understanding, connecting, and reflecting on the realities we face.

Portrait XO
Set time: 20:00 – 21:00

Portrait XO is an award-winning multimodal artist and independent researcher. She received the Jazzki Award by ELBJAZZ in 2023 and has been recognized for her work with AI audio pioneers Dadabots, including winning the VUT Indie Awards 2021 and Eurovision AI Song Contest 2020. Her AI audiovisual art developed through residencies at NEW NOW FESTIVAL, BBA Gallery, and Factory Berlin x Sonar+D. Founder of SOUND OBSESSED, she facilitates a community of hybrid artists for exploring computational creativity and human-machine collaboration. Her latest research in data sonification and AI audiovisual album ‘WIRE’ critiques biases in AI and its impact on creativity, identity, and ecology.

Mary Lake
Set time: 21:30 – 22:30

Mary Lake is a sonic adventurer. With an international upbringing in Algeria, France and The Netherlands, she seeks a voice through her music, translating inner dynamics in both club and exploratory settings. Her signature is an ever-evolving and forward-thinking sound that pushes the boundaries of genre. Adding to her repertoire, she counts several releases, including her debut EP on Nous’Klaer and an eagerly anticipated second EP forthcoming on Dekmantel.

As a DJ, Mary Lake serves up unorthodox techno that defies convention. Her sets are an irresistible invitation to dance that echoes in both the underground haunts of De School and the revered techno temples of Bassiani, Tresor and Berghain. A familiar face in the Amsterdam scene, she holds residency at Spielraum. Her live sets, such as at Dekmantel Festival and Positive Education are hypnotic yet brimming with an infectious energy that keeps the audience on the edge of their senses.

You can find all our different tickets in our ticketshop here.

POLYGONIA
Set time: 20:00 – 21:00

Polygonia is a multidisciplinary music and art project by Lindsey Wang from Munich, Germany. With roots in acoustic instruments and a fascination for cultural diversity, she channels her creative vision through electronic music and digital art. Polygonia’s soundscape blends organic, mystical tones with inventive rhythms, spanning groovy, trippy Techno, Breakbeat, Bass, and Ambient, often drawing inspiration from nature.

She has performed at renowned venues, including Tresor and Berghain, and became a resident at BLITZ club in Munich in 2023. In addition to co-founding the collective IO and establishing her own label QEONE, Polygonia collaborates with artists across genres, creating immersive, genre-blending experiences.

Maarten Vos & Max Frimout
Set time: 21:30 – 22:30

For the second time, Maarten Vos and Max Frimout will join forces for a special live set at Contrarium, a unique back-to-back performance by these two gifted musicians, sound designers, and sonic experimentalists.

Max Frimout is currently in his final year of the Sonology program at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. He experiments live with other disciplines, such as dance and visual arts. Max also studied Physics at Eindhoven University of Technology and is always in search of new technologies to compose with. Max Frimout has been a part of some of Contrarium’s most boundary-pushing moments. His previous sets featured alienating soundscapes and intricate noise compositions, creating some of our most experimental episodes to date.

Maarten Vos is a Dutch cellist, composer, and producer based in Berlin, known for blending modern classical, ambient, and electronic music. His innovative approach combines traditional cello with modular synthesizers, crafting unique soundscapes that push the boundaries of classical instrumentation. Vos played at various places around the world such as Le Guess Who?, MUTEK, Sonár, Rewire, Paris Philharmonie, and Amsterdam Dance Event, among others, and has held artist residencies at Gaudeamus, MONOM/Funkhaus, and Théâtre de Chaillot. Beyond solo work, Vos collaborates across disciplines, working with artists like Julianna Barwick, Nicolas Godin, Joep Beving, Colin Benders, fashion designer Iris van Herpen and digital creatives like Boris Acket and Christopher Bauder. He has also produced music for major labels like Deutsche Grammophon and Universal.

You can find all our different tickets in our ticketshop here.

You can find all our different tickets in our ticketshop here.