Boris Acket

Heading to one of my favourite cities in the world this Saturday - Tbilisi - to visually accompany a piece that has become very dear to my heart. For Holland Festival 2021, I was connected to the work of Kordz — more specifically his reworks of iconic 80s compositions by Ryuichi Sakamoto. Ryuichi was the festival’s associated artist at the time, and he was already terminally ill. The world was in turmoil, and within that context there was something profoundly moving about Kordz’s joyful, unifying interpretations - alongside Ryuichi’s layered presence, existing across time zones and within illness during this production. For me, the scenography came to embody these overlapping realities and carried a strong sense of symbolism. The tree - suspended like a whale skeleton - symbolised death and rebirth. It appeared almost as if it were hanging in a natural history museum, echoing Ryuichi’s love for trees. We sourced the tree through a forest maintenance programme, which added another layer to the project: witnessing how humans decide what is removed and what remains was staggering. After the project, we returned the tree to nature so it could shelter smaller growth and give rise to new life. The screen - a canvas for the language of multiple time zones, colours, and technologies - brought together Kordz’s interpretations into a singular experience. It allowed us to merge aesthetics referencing Sakamoto’s later work with Alva Noto, as well as his more melodic and joyful compositions from the 80s. I can’t wait to experience this again. Big ups to Koka and Alex for bringing it back and for uniting us through sound and light. (Without the tree unfortunately) Kordz x Sakamoto Thanks to @kordzmusic and @koka___ for getting us over to 🇬🇪 Thanks to the amazing local artists and @hetmuziek Content created together with @timo_lejeune of @lumus.instruments Original scenography for @hollandfestival with tree sculpture created together with @cjpmeer @kevin.rutten #installationart #mediaart

The Bird of A Thousand Voices (2024) shown at Vilnius Light Festival in the St. Catherine Church (2026). THE SUN SCENE. Thank you so much Petras for your perseverance, the local teams for their tremendous support and @sterrestek @casaerts for taking good care of our bird. This installation emerged from the music-theatre work The Bird of a Thousand Voices, where sculpture, text, sound and performance form a single mythological universe directed @rubenvanleer Installation by Boris Acket Creative Direction: Boris Acket, Ruben van Leer Inspired by the music of @tigranhamasyan Creative Engineer: @merijnversnel Production: Truth.io Supported by Mondriaan Fund Shown at @vilniuslightfestival Creative production @luizaguidi Software @mooscrebolder #installationart #mediaart

A sun and a moon for Sunday morning. Sunbeam Captured II made together with @sabine_marcelis _ We opened our baby ‘Silence and the Presence of Everything’ yesterday after 1,5 years of hard work. I’ll go into details in some other posts in the coming weeks and months but for now some heartfelt thank yous. Thanks to @annedehaij and Catrien for being so brave and persistent working on this new location at many times against all odds, and for daring to venture in new ways of programming art spaces. And for trusting us with this first ever exhibit in your new building. Thanks to Sanneke Huisman for the guidance during this curational process. Thanks to @annemieke.olthuijs for building, placing and designing this exhibit with us, and bringing it into reality. Thanks to @fitskie and his amazing team for putting everything together with us in this new challenging building. Thanks to @luizaguidi for producing the works and keeping calmth in the studio these last weeks. @irma_benliyan — thanks for mediating ;) @mariettemaaskant — thanks for bringing the exhibit to life in communication Tim — for the Schiedam grasses and happy face Bob — for pushing through for all our video content @dammeskieft @thomasdeboer.work for capturing Thanks to Gordon Hempton and his openness to be able to share his thoughts through this show. @instapiktsjers / Robbie / for recording the works with me. Thanks to the artists showing — Guido van der Werve / Carel Balth / @lachlanturczan @coreyschneider.art @sabine_marcelis @wes_broersen @mooscrebolder @merijnversnel @davidbowenart @lilyyill @tinafarifteh @annamosza for building with us @wout_hoogendoorn as our silent genius, thank you Some more about the shown images: Only one white light source is projected, generating two mirrored projections on the wall. One through Sabines coloured glass, generating what seems to resemble a sun, the other as a reflection of the water surface, becoming white, like the moon. A game of photons between the water surface and the coloured glass brings the gift of some extra red highlights in the top projection. #installationart #mediaart

Doing a tour this Sunday @monopoleschiedam @stedelijk.museum.schiedam // I think there are some spots left :) In the gallery the first ever tests of the new version of Sunbeam Captured created with @sabine_marcelis cc @merijnversnel @wes_broersen @mooscrebolder #installationart #mediaart

Heading over to Venice to present a set of smaller works with a very special role for some small parts of fabric of this 2024 Einder Wind presentation at @inotafestival in Budapest. Presenting ‘The Skin of a River’ in group show OPEN WOUND @_artsa.co @punh @anne_verhallen The Skin of a River, 2026 by Boris Acket “You can never stand in the same river twice.” Attributed to Heraclitus, this idea reflects a world in constant flux—where both the river and the person entering it are always changing. Duration and the experience of time are central to Acket’s practice, where the present is never fixed but shaped by memory and anticipation. Change is not something to accept - it is the only constant. The Skin of a River presents new fabric works exploring these ideas. The Skin of a River / Unframed is a kinetic installation: a surface in continuous motion, subtly shaped by air currents, visitors, temperature, and humidity, never able to move the same twice. 102 micro fans drive this silently moving wind work. Opposite, The Skin of a River Framed - Inota I & II hold still what was once moving - fabrics that traveled through cities including Mexico City, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Budapest, where they inhabited the vast halls of the Inota Power Plant. Now paused, their folds and creases become traces of time and movement—a memory held in material. What once shifted endlessly is momentarily fixed, yet still carries the imprint of its past. Artist — Boris Acket Design, Creative Direction, Programming — Boris Acket, in collaboration with @luizaguidi Creative Engineering — @merijnversnel , @bobvanaanhold Typography Design — @studio.airport Title — Freely after Susan Murphy Roshi for Emergence Magazine #installationart #mediaart

For this installment of Through the Lens, we’re looking at the work of @boris.acket from a completely different angle. We’re spotlighting a series of unseen images taken by his father, @rob.acket . These photos span everything from the scale of the Fred again.. tour down to the quiet, sometimes frustrating moments of testing in the studio. They offer a private look at the parts of the practice that usually stay hidden. There’s a natural cadence to this archive. Boris grew up following his dad around on production sets, watching him work. With this series, the lens is turned inward. Rob has spent the last few years capturing the messy, unpolished side of Boris’s practice, the failed prototypes, the late nights, and the reality of building things that move, to create an intimate dialogue between father and son. Read more via link in bio.

Around this time of the year I always have to think back to my first ever big solo exhibition, created together with the Berlin family: @clarasauer @studiosvensauer that opened spring 2024. Such an amazing experience to be able to bring together all these collaborators and works underneath one roof. An incredible honor. Would love to do that again some day. @thedarkroomsexhibition Berlin / 25.04 — 12.05 / 2024 Thanks curators @clarasauer & @studiosvensauer Jan, Jan, Wir im Raum. Thanks to all artists joining @lumus.instruments @theklongs @coreyschneider.art @studiodennisvanderbroeck @merijnversnel @pink_oculus @samuel_dejong @steve_rachmad_sterac @joepbeving @maartenvos_ @jameszoooo @hiiit_music @sabine_marcelis @spekkiwebu.mirrorzone Thanks to the studio team @merijnversnel  @merijnvk  @cjpmeer  @weponti  @bennybeton  @jorisvwelsen  @sarahschulten Images by the amazing @frank_sauer #installationart #mediaart

Cant get over these 🌪️ @imrevanopstal.marnevanopstal @tomvisserdesign @semperoperballett #installationart #mediaart

🌪️ This lower scene of the storm was not used in the end but I so enjoyed the fabric creating freedom while going up, creating liquid walls while meeting the floor, especially at this angle of 45 degrees. That’s why we still made this capture. Studio tests for NOVEMBER w/ @imrevanopstal.marnevanopstal __ CREDITS Choreography/ Direction/ Costumes: @imrevanopstal.marnevanopstal Scenography/ Sound Design: @boris.acket Light Design: @tomvisserdesign Light Assistant: @ivancascon Assistant Choreography: @chloe_albaret Music: Arvo Part Conductor: @charlottepoliti Company: @semperoperballett Images: @thomasdeboer.work Thanks to @kinsunchankinsun Studio thanks to @gietijzerutrecht #installationart #scenography

TESTING RIG IN THE STUDIO @imrevanopstal.marnevanopstal November - Wind does not ask permission. It arrives as a breath between moments. In ‘November’ the body loosens its grip on direction, a leaf unanchored, not falling, not flying, just listening. Carried, but not claimed. Moved, but not lost. 🌬️ With the beautiful dancers of @semperoperballet CREDITS Choreography/ Direction/ Costumes: @imrevanopstal.marnevanopstal Scenography/ Sound Design: @boris.acket Light Design: @tomvisserdesign Light Assistant: @ivancascon Assistant Choreography: @chloe_albaret Music: Arvo Part Conductor: @charlottepoliti Company: @semperoperballett Images: @thomasdeboer.work Thanks to @kinsunchankinsun Studio thanks to @gietijzerutrecht #installationart #scenography

@dark_mofo

In September last year, visual artist Boris Acket (@boris.acket ) unveiled a new installation at DJ Fred again..’s (@fredagainagainagainagainagain ) USB002 live show series, touring across ten cities globally in ten weeks. The installation features a large suspended sheet of fabric which floats above the audience like a transparent, breathing roof. Throughout the concert, the sculpture wafts and moves across the audience, creating smaller and larger spaces, static spatial gestures, storms, and water surfaces. According to Acket, the installation functioned as a “kinetic architectural form, shaping the atmosphere of the space in real time. It responded intuitively to the energy of the night - contracting and expanding, shifting between stillness and turbulence, evoking storms, rippling water, and moments of calm.” This film captures the interplay between design and live music, plus the collaborative dialogue between Boris and Fred. This film was produced by Fitzbrien (@fitzbrien )