Goodmesh Concours
A Celebration of Multidisciplinary Art
For five editions, Goodmesh Concours invited artists from around the world to step beyond the familiar and create something together. At its heart was a simple but powerful idea: music in dialogue with another art form.
Each year, a new theme opened the door to new interpretations — through sound, movement, image, performance, poetry, technology and storytelling. What emerged was more than a competition: it became a meeting place for imagination, experimentation and artistic courage.
Goodmesh Concours is not currently running, but its spirit remains alive within Goodmesh. This page preserves the story of the Concours and celebrates the artists, winners, ideas and performances that shaped five years of multidisciplinary creation.
Goodmesh Concours is an international multidisciplinary art competition created to encourage meaningful collaborations between music and other art forms. From its first edition in 2020 to its fifth anniversary edition in 2024, the Concours invited artists to look beyond the traditional concert format and create performances where music could meet dance, visual art, theatre, film, poetry, technology, light, movement and design.
The two core principles remained constant throughout the years: every performance had to combine music with another art form, and every edition was shaped around a central theme. Across five editions, Goodmesh received applications from hundreds of artists worldwide, representing dozens of nationalities, instruments and artistic disciplines. In 2022, the Concours described this reach as hundreds of applicants from more than 50 nationalities and more than 100 musical instruments and non-musical art forms.
More than a competition, Goodmesh Concours became a creative laboratory: a place where young artists could take risks, test new ideas, and present work that challenged the boundaries between artistic disciplines.
Editions
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2024 — ARTificial
5th Anniversary Edition
The final edition of Goodmesh Concours explored the theme ARTificial, inviting artists to reflect on the relationship between human creativity and artificial intelligence. The competition asked whether AI could reveal new artistic possibilities, challenge existing norms, and raise new ethical questions within the creative process.
Five finalists performed live at Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam on 25 November 2024 after a process that began with international video auditions and continued through semi-final video submissions.
The Responsible AI Prize was made possible by Microsoft and FrieslandCampina, with the winning performance planned to be showcased at their events in 2025.
2021 — Expectations vs Reality
2nd Edition
The second edition received applications from hundreds of artists representing 40 nationalities, 35 musical instruments and 29 art forms. The theme was Expectations versus Reality, and the same two entrance conditions applied: combine music with another art form and create a performance based on the annual theme.
The prize winners of the 2021 edition later came together in a live concert and awards ceremony at Vondelkerk Amsterdam on 26 February 2022, together with winners of the 2020 edition.
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2023 — Full Moon
4th Edition
The 2023 edition was built around the theme Full Moon. Artists were invited to respond to the moon as a symbol of mystery, transformation, emotional intensity, intuition, balance, darkness and light.
The jury evaluated 50 concept proposals from artists around the world. Fourteen semi-finalists were selected, and five groups performed live in the Kleine Zaal of Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam on 27 November 2023, in front of an audience of 420 people.
The prizes included monetary awards, international press exposure, professional photography and video recording. The edition also included special awards connected to the Netherlands Space Society and the Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy at the University of Amsterdam.
2020 — Body Respect
1st Edition
The first Goodmesh Concours was launched under the theme Body Respect. Its purpose was to encourage musical collaborations between artists and different art forms, focusing on meaningful concepts, stories and performances that celebrated the connection between art forms and society.
The edition gave creative space to more than 200 interdisciplinary artists from more than 30 countries.
The 2020 works explored themes such as breath, human rights, ecology, women’s rights, bodily autonomy, trauma, scars and self-expression.
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2022 — Fish
3rd Edition
The 2022 edition used the theme Fish and continued the Concours’ mission to break the norms of traditional art and music competitions. Participants were asked to combine music with another art form and create a performance based on the chosen theme.
The jury selected 5 finalists from Australia, Sweden, Germany, Hungary and France, who performed in The Hague on 1 Dec 2022.
This edition strongly reflected the Concours’ focus on experimentation, with performances involving water, movement, visuals, dance and unconventional staging.
Legacy
Goodmesh Concours was never only about winning. It was about giving artists a reason to meet, to try something unfamiliar, and to create work that could not have existed within one discipline alone.
Over five editions, the Concours became a space for artistic risk, international connection and unexpected encounters — between music and movement, sound and image, poetry and technology, classical performance and contemporary questions.
Although the competition is not active at the moment, its legacy continues in the way Goodmesh presents and supports artists: with curiosity, openness and a belief in the power of collaboration.
The Concours may return one day in a new form. Until then, this archive remains a tribute to the artists who brought its themes to life — and to the belief that when art forms meet, something unexpected can happen.
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