Iris Eysermans
Antwerp, 1982
Musician · Organist · Sound artist · Research-based performer
Iris Eysermans is a musician whose practice moves between historical performance, research and contemporary artistic collaboration. Rooted in early music — medieval and renaissance repertoires — her work explores how historical sources, fragile manuscripts and obsolete instruments can be reactivated as living, speculative spaces.
A central source of inspiration in her work is West-European medieval mysticism, in particular the writings and thoughts of figures such as Hadewijch, Meister Eckhart and Beatrijs of Nazareth. Their texts — oscillating between language and silence, activity and contemplation — resonate strongly with her musical practice, informing both her choice of repertoire, exploration of improvisation and her approach to sound and time that can unfold in the moment. Rather than illustrating these traditions, Eysermans approaches them as open fields for listening, embodiment and contemporary reflection.
Gregorian chant forms a fundamental layer within Eysermans' artistic practice. Approached not merely as repertoire, but as an embodied and spatial practice, chant functions for her as an experience: a way of shaping breath, time and collective presence. Closely connected to medieval mysticism, Gregorian chant opens a space where text, sound and silence continuously negotiate meaning. Her long-term engagement with chant informs both her solo work and collaborative projects, often acting as a quiet but structuring force within larger artistic constellations.
Alongside the historical organ, Eysermans works extensively with late medieval keyboard instruments. Lost instruments form an integral part of her artistic research. She initiated and commissioned the construction of several instruments:
Clavisimbalum by Gregor Bergmann (DE), 2021
Portative organ "Giglio" by Walter Chinaglia (IT), 2023
Clavicytherium by Matthias Griewisch (DE), 2020
In 2009 she co-founded 64-Feet, an experimental organ collective together with Marie-Noëlle Bette-Leroy. The collective develops programmes that juxtapose early music, contemporary compositions, graphic scores and improvised practices, performed on historical organs. Their work often blurs boundaries between concert, installation and performative experiment.
In 2014, 64-Feet released Miniatures (ChampdAction recordings), recorded on the Robustelly organ in Langdorp (BE), combining early and contemporary music with synthesiser, melodica, pandeiro and voice.
Eysermans has performed at festivals and venues across Europe, including Orgelpark Amsterdam (NL), MAfestival Brugge (BE), Bijloke Gent (BE), Leuven Orgelstad (BE), Exposed Music (BE), Orgelfestival Bienne (CH), Torre de Juan Abad (ES), among others.
In 2024, she initiated an interdisciplinary research project centred on a 13th-century Antiphonary from the former Abbey of Nazareth in Lier. The project unfolded through concerts, a CD recording with Psallentes and Hendrik Vanden Abeele, and a scholarly publication developed in collaboration with the City Museum of Lier (BE), Liers Genootschap voor Geschiedenis and Erfgoedcel Kempens Karakter, with contributions by Lieve De Kesel, Marc Mees and Pieter Mannaerts. The manuscript is digitally accessible via the IDEM database (Alamire Foundation).
Recently Iris Eysermans has been closely collaborating with Spazio Nour as both artist and member of the organisation. Within this context, she contributes to artistic programming, research trajectories and the development of transdisciplinary projects that connect music, people, care, ecology and collective practices.