Raphael Malfliet is an experimental electric bass player, composer and sound artist based in Antwerp, Belgium. He obtained his master’s degree in Jazz and Improvisation In 2013 and bachelor’s degree in Composition in 2019 both at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp. His work includes electronic music, improvisation, field recordings, feedback and listening practices in which he tries to find a balance between indeterminate musical parameters and frameworks of rules inspired by games.
He tries to challenge myself and the performers he works with to interact differently with known material in relation to sound and space. He however always withhold myself from creating in a certain style and instead will use any means possible to support, challenge and question the subject of the research.
He has released two albums as a leader (‘Noumenon’ and ‘LE10 18-05’) and has been active in various interdisciplinary constellations working with choreographers and performers. His work is supported by ChampdAction, a production and development platform based in Antwerp focusing on sound in interdisciplinary arts. From 2020 till 2022 he was closely involved in their ChampdAction.LAbO summer workshop, as a production leader and artistic assistant to help and support a community of interdisciplinary artists coming from different art schools around the globe.
For seven years he has been teaching electric bass, audio recording techniques and listening practices at the community music school in Herentals with students ranging from pre-teens to pensioners. Since 2020 he is a teacher and mentor at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp focusing on sound and listening practices for dancers. His most recent work is GOVERNORS, a Flemish Government funded research and listening practice focusing on the balance and observation of sound while working with acoustic feedback signals and the acting forces movement, material and space. He tries to understand the unpredictability of these forces and their influence and try to refrain from controlling them in order to maintain an equilibrium. The question of how we can listen to/for feedback and govern this equilibrium accordingly is posed both individually and collectively by inviting externals to participate in listening sessions and sharings.
Contact me on
raphael.malfliet@gmail.com
