ABOUT
Koenraad Ecker is a Belgian sound artist and independent researcher based in Berlin.
He is fascinated by the dialectic interplay between the acoustic environment and the social relations contained within it; by the magic of the ordinary and the ordinariness of magic.
As an artist-researcher, his practice combines oral history research, extensive field recording and archival recordings and documents.
As a sound artist, his work has been heard at leading music festivals ; in squats, techno temples and plush opera houses ; at renowned art institutions such as ZKM (Karlsruhe) and Akademie der Künste (Berlin) ; in series like Black Mirror (Netflix) & major film productions (“Annihilation”) and on music labels like Subtext, LINE & Opal Tapes ; he has been nominated for the Ars Electronica prize (2016) and won the Radiophrenia Prize for Radio Works (2021).
As a music producer and engineer he has produced & engineered tracks for Kenyan metal artist Lord Spikeheart, Italian sound artist Sara Persico, US vocalist Audrey Chen and Nigerian rapper Aunty Rayzor.
As a sound recordist & sound editor for documentary film, art installations and television his work has featured in prize-winning independent docs (Truth or Dare, 2024) and major art exhibitions (Kochi Biennale, 2025).
He has taught or given workshops at the Universität der Künste (Berlin), Liszt Academy (Hungary), Nyege Nyege Studios (Kampala), LUCA School of Arts (Brussels) and KHM (Köln).
Since 2021, Ecker’s main focus lies with the project Kumbukumbu, an artistic research & creation project founded in Ituri, DR Congo with Congolese artist and cultivator Haldi Okudheyo. This project aims to research and transmit the vernacular oral history of the Belgian colonisation of north-eastern Congo.
In november 2025, together with Kumbukumbu, he contributed to a major new temporary exhibition on colonial propaganda at the AfricaMuseum called "The Congo Panorama 1913. Colonial illusion exposed".
CV
Performances (selection)
ZKM Karlsruhe (DE), Gaudeamus Festival (NL), Göteborg Opera (SWE), STEIM (NL), De Singel (BE), Bozar (BE), SOUP (JP), Constant Value (Korea), Muziekgebouw aan het IJ (NL), Spatial Sound Institute (HU), MUTEK Mexico & Montréal, CTM Festival (DE), Berlin Atonal (DE), Berghain Kantine
(DE), Islington Mill (UK), Node festival (IT), Dansens Hus (NO), Lunchmeat Festival (CZ)
Talks/Workshops (selection)
2016 Points on the Curve - ZKM Karlsruhe, DE
2016 Spatial audio composition - Liszt Academy of Music Budapest, HU
2019 Field recording - Interflugs, Universitat der Kunste, Berlin, DE
2021 Field recording - Nyege Nyege Studios, Kampala, UG
2022 ICTM Study Group on Historical Sources - Brussels, BE
2023 Sound Design strategies - KHM, Köln, DE
2023 (Re)appropriation : Artists and Archives - Africamuseum, Tervuren, BE
2024 25th MUSA Sources and Archives for Music and Sound Studies Symposium - Berlin, DE
2025 Advanced Seminar - Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, AT
Awards & Grants (selection)
2017 Prix Ars Electronica nomination for …and a spark lit the blaze (commissioned by ZKM Karlsruhe)
2018 Artistic performance research stipend for “Contre-Feux”, Flemish Ministry for Culture & Heritage
2019 Radiophrenia 1st prize for radio works for the composition “Tantalum River”
2021 Austauschstipendium (Uganda & DRCongo), Berliner Senat für Kultur
2022 Research funding for Kumbukumbu project, Flemish Ministry for Culture & Heritage
2024 Research funding for Kumbukumbu project, Goethe Institut
Works (selection)
2014 composition commission for contemporary dance, Göteborgs Danskompani
2016 „...and a spark lit the blaze“, spatial audio composition, ZKM / 4Dsound, Karlsruhe, Germany
2016 Sound Design for Black Mirror “Men Against Fire”
2017 composition commission for contemporary dance, Zero Visibility
2018 "Tantalum River", a 3-hour Hörspiel commissioned by Gernot Centre, Prague
2018 "The Heart of A Stone", commissioned by Cristian Vogel for Sentralen Oslo/EAU
2018 “Contre-Feux”, a dance performance with Emma Daniel, commissioned by Korzo Theatre, NL (
2019 "Transparent Bodies, Submarine Roots", commissioned by Cristian Vogel for Audiorama, Stockholm
2019 “Carbon” with Ecker/Meulyzer
2021 “Eavesdropping on frail Giants”, Open Source Art Festival, Sopot, PL
2022 “Rien ne se perd, rien ne se gagne”, mutichannel audio installation, Kolonyia Artystow, Gdansk, PL
2023 4Dsound retrospective @ Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Stone Nest (London), Monom (Berlin)
2023 Music producer for “Boundary” (Sara Persico)
2023 Music producer for “The Adept” (Lord Spikeheart)
2024 Music producer for “Sphaira” (Sara Persico)
2021 Kumbukumbu artistic research project (ongoing)
2024 Field recordist and composer for “All the scripts are here”, Geert Goiris
2025 “The Congo Panorama 1913. Colonial illusion exposed”, AfricaMuseum
Residencies (selection)
2013 IPEM, Ghent, BE
2014 Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, DE
2015 iMAL, Brussels, BE
2016 Sivenlu New Media Studio, Beijing, China
2016 ZKM, Karlsruhe, DE
2018 IMAL, Brussels, BE
2018 Akademie der Künste, Berlin
2021 Nyege Nyege Studios, Kampala, Uganda
2022 Nyege Nyege Studios, Kampala, Uganda