With OMIRI Genk, artist Koen Vanmechelen invites Portuguese musician Vasco Ribeiro Casais to portray Genk through music and imagery in a living portrait of the city. The project brings together the voices, sounds and stories of more than 150 people from Genk into a single live composition, created by and with the city itself. Vanmechelen and Casais share the belief that the strength of the world lies in the richness of its communities: the city in all its diversity – its workshops, choirs, sports fields and kitchens – becomes the instrument that brings people together.
OMIRI is the life’s work of Vasco Ribeiro Casais, a Portuguese multi-instrumentalist who, through his electrofolk project, explores the unique musical language of a place. He collects local voices, rhythms, traditions and images, remixing them into a surprisingly contemporary and danceable composition. British music magazine Songlines has described him as “one of the most original and exciting folk musicians,” while his album Baile Electrónico reached the Top 3 of the World Music Charts Europe. After previous projects in Portugal, Casais is now turning his attention to a city outside his home country for the first time.
Over the past year, Casais has travelled across Genk with a camera and recording equipment. He visited markets, sports fields and meeting places: workshops and kitchens, the hairdresser and the baker, the football pitches of KRC Genk and the academies. Everywhere, he recorded the voices, sounds of work, songs and everyday activities of more than 150 people from Genk – pouring tea, growing mushrooms, miners’ choirs, and the voices of Genk’s rappers.
“Vasco is digging up the building blocks of the modern culture of a city that is just a hundred years young, where folk music emerged in the shadow of the mines and arrived in the suitcases of workers, skilled craftspeople and families who came to Genk from all corners of the world to work, live and build a life here,” says Petra Remans, coordinator of the OpUnDi Genk learning ecosystem.
Genk has a rich sonic DNA. The city has a strong industrial heritage and an exceptional cultural diversity. The project has been met with great openness and enthusiasm by everyone involved.
On Saturday 5 September 2026, a live performance will take place in the Nieuwe Kempen neighbourhood (Genk-Noord), where the city will see itself reflected on a stage in the heart of the community: sixty minutes of musical remixing of image and sound, with Genk as score, archive and living instrument. Professional and amateur musicians, choirs, young people, children, craftspeople, local residents and cultural communities have each contributed to a collective portrait of the city, bringing together diversity, talent and connection.
Some of them will take to the stage themselves during the live performance, including Nektaridoo, hip-hop duo The Twins, Lara Koyuncu and several Genk choirs. A fragment from MijnGenk, about the closure of the Zwartberg mine, will also feature, mixed with a rap by Chaz.
The project not only closely reflects the philosophy of LABIOMISTA, but also embodies its central theme for 2026, Never Alone: talent and knowledge grow through encounters, collaboration and mutual recognition. The live performance is created in collaboration with C-mine, which is responsible for the production of the project. It is also part of OpUnDi Genk, a learning ecosystem that is growing in and around LABIOMISTA and is partly supported by the European Union. Community work, culture, talent development and education come together here on one stage, with the aim of making Genk’s diversity of talent visible and connecting people through who they are.
Practical information
Saturday, 5 September 2026
Nieuwe Kempen 6, Genk (in case of rain: C-mine)
Start: 8:30 PM
The performance is free, but places are limited and registration is required.
OMIRI Genk is a project within OpUnDi Genk, a living and learning ecosystem that is growing in and around LABIOMISTA, with the support of the European WSE.
