11 – 12.02.2023 & 18.02 – 05.03.2023
Museum Voorlinden, The Hague
More info HERE

“By popping tennis balls at about 150 to 160 km per hour, at a distance of 14 meters, against two sound boxes, Philip Vermeulen creates the funkiest rhythms and thumping beats. With his impressive installation and composition Physical Rhythm Machine / Boem BOem, the young artist received acclaim at several festivals, such as Halle Am Berghain in Berlin and Mapping Festival in Geneva. For the first time, he will turn on his thundering tennis ball instrument in a museum and, as a visitor, you can stand among the popping tennis balls. The performances are short – 10 to 15 minutes long each time -, but deafeningly beautiful and unforgettably intense.”

“Boem BOem is a percussion instrument of monumental proportions, and its inhuman power makes your body tremble with equal amounts of fear and excitement. The name Boem BOem originates from the sound poem “Boem Paukeslag” by Flemish poet Paul van Ostaijen. Boem BOem is a visceral acoustic installation constructed from two heavy-duty accelerated tennis ball machines that fire balls fifteen meters through the air. With a relentless rhythm and speed of 150 km/h, it propels them to strike two wooden resonating boxes with a deafening clamor.

The installation was made as part of the Summer Sessions network with V2_Lab for the Unstable Media and supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL. Boem BOem won the ArtScience department award at the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten in The Hague and was nominated for the PIKET Kunstprijzen painting prize in 2017. Boem BOem has been performed at Ars Electronica and the infamous Berlin nightclub Berghain am Halle among other places.”