Boris Acket
Boris Acket (b. 1988) is a contemporary composer, scenographer and visual artist whose work bridges installation art, film, music and performance. Initially rooted in electronic music and club culture after finishing art academy, Acket‘s practice evolved to challenge the boundaries between sound art, music, and performance space, often blurring distinctions between gallery and club experiences. His recent shift towards recontextualizing nature in art spaces was influenced by encounters with people from other fields and disciplines, like acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton and sociologist Riyan van den Born in 2020. Acket‘s work now offers sanctuary and ritualistic encounters, while also hinting at dystopian narratives of our future interactions with the natural world.
Acket’s creations are dynamic ecosystems, where the boundaries between artist, medium, and space dissolve. His works are symphonies of light, sound, and motion, inviting audiences on transcendent journeys that resonate with the mystical and the sublime. These evolving, living systems seek to deepen our consciousness of the (natural) world and our place within it.
His projects have been exhibited at renowned institutions such as Kunsthal Rotterdam (2024), Stedelijk Museum Schiedam (2025), NXT Museum, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the van Gogh Museum. He has also presented at major international events like Mutek MX, Milan Salone del Mobile, La Biennale di Venezia, and Paris Fashion Week, and collaborated with brands such as Mercedes Benz.
Acket’s extensive collaborations with artists, musicians, and innovators include partnerships with Sabine Marcelis, SUB Global, Gordon Hempton, 4DSound, Colin Benders, Jameszoo, Dekmantel, Rogier van der Zwaag, Botter Paris, Methamorphosis Dance (ES), Joep Beving, Salvador Breed, and Oceanic.
Silence & the presence of everything
In this conference, I aim to explore the profound influence of nature on media art, examining not only how we use it but also how we depict it. Through the perspectives of acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton and sociologist Ryan van den Born, I will delve into the ways nature is portrayed in art and media, questioning whether this portrayal fosters a deeper connection to the natural world or, conversely, leads to a more dystopian vision of it.