VOID: 10 years of Knekelhuis | Bernardino Femminielli + Helen Island

Bernardino Femminielli

Bernardino Femminielli works in media including music, performance, poetry and film under the guise of a hyper-sexual, genderless provocateur. His work and character are a synthesis of mysticism, transgression, danger and pleasure– a detached crooner deep within a dystopian discotheque. Narrating in French and Spanish, from classical arrangements to brutal Italo-disco, from heavy cosmic drone to mutant industrial: his sonic ventures reflect his adopted personas.

His lyrics explore an imagined illicit paradise full of excess, drugs, bars, pleasure, darkness and companionship. Much of his poetry is arranged using the cut-up technique and is composed similarly to works of transgressive fiction. On stage, the confrontational yet intensely vulnerable performer explores the rich and dark energy of French and German cabaret– emphasizing the “total” performance where poetry, music, film, and dance coalesce.

Helen Island

A sign of the times, ghastly and hallucinatory – Helen Island creates alternative pop music that echoes late capitalism and the saccharine gaze of the digital world. The Paris-based cross-disciplinary artist – exploring painting, poetry, and other forms of conceptual art next to music – has a characteristic bedroom style of production, featuring filtered high notes, ripped samples, cut-up genres, and processed vocals.

Helen Island released 2 albums at Knekelhuis and became one of the new names to not miss in today’s musical landscape.