02.05 - 17.05.2024

At the invitation of choreographer Femke Gyselinck and BOEKS, Aslı Çiçek designed two rooms in the library of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Ghent (KASK) for the presentation of Character: an artist's book consisting of a danced alphabet documented in a series of frontal photographic reproductions. The danced alphabet refers to Letters 2 Dance, which was the first collaboration between Femke Gyselinck and Aslı Çiçek.

The scenography for BOEKS is a subtle allusion to the stage design of Letters 2 Dance. The colours of the acrylic panels from the stage design are taken up again as foils that cover the windows of the corridor to the KASK library. When daylight falls through the windows, the colours on the floor and walls begin to move, complemented by motion pictures of the choreography projected directly onto the floor. Through this corridor, visitors enter the library, whose vaulted cellarium houses the reference library for the production of Character. In this very low and small room and alluding to the graphic grid of Character, the books of the reference library are displayed on a floor grid made with mirror panels and silver tapes that frame them. The colours of the corridor are repeated at the four windows, but here they render the room with more intense areas of colour. When visitors pick up a book to leaf through, the panels on the floor reflect the architecture of the cellarium.

Client: BOEKS
Location: Library of Royal Academy for Fine Arts Ghent (KASK)
Curators: Femke Gyselinck, Emma Meerschaert
Project direction: Liene Aerts
Execution: KASK technical team & students, GRIP artists
Assistant: Olivia De Bree
Intern: Francesca Desantis
Photography: Leotien Allemeersch, Aslı Çiçek

The artist book Character is an editorial collaboration by Femke Gyselinck, Joris Kritis (concept & graphic design) & Robbrecht Desmet (photography), published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2023. ISBN: 9783753304991