Artists

Aline Bouvy

Press release

For PLAKT, artlead invited twelve artists to create works that, since the end of 2024, have been circulating as prints across Brussels and various Flemish cities. These images are distributed by professional poster hangers. By collaborating with them, artlead handed over control: the poster hangers decide where and when the artworks appear. The images surface in unexpected places and vanish just as quickly, reflecting the elusive and fleeting nature of city life. Just as moments come and go without warning, art becomes part of the city's rhythm—sometimes unnoticed, sometimes utterly surprising. The images for PLAKT were created by Céline Mathieu, Michel François, Camille Orso, Peter Downsbrough, Shervin/e Sheikh Rezaei, Aline Bouvy, Geert Goiris, Tine Guns, Mekhitar Garabedian, Gerard Herman, and Katja Mater. The frame is the work of Valérian Goalec. On the last Friday of every month, Cc Strombeek presents a new print. Discover the works on the outer façade of the cultural center. Aline Bouvy Aline Bouvy is an artist whose practice continuously explores the boundaries between identity, the body, perception, and social norms. Working across a wide range of media—from photography and installation to sculpture and performance—her work often focuses on moments and attitudes that exist at the margins, where individuality and physicality collide with societal conventions. She brings to light what is usually pushed aside or ignored: the rough edges of behavior, desire, and self-image. In her recent solo exhibition Hot Flashes at Casino Luxembourg, Bouvy examined the transitional moment between childhood and adulthood: a phase in which we grow, observe, experiment, and at the same time become confronted with the gaze of others and with limited forms of supposed freedom. This so-called freedom—to play, to discover, or to shape ourselves—often proves to be deeply infused with expectations, rules, and social frameworks that determine what is possible or acceptable. Bouvy reveals how even the most seemingly innocent moments of childhood are shaped by systems of control and adaptation, in which individuality must constantly negotiate with the pressure to fit the image others have of us. The image featured in the PLAKT series is titled Letter to My Future Self. It depicts an old postcard showing a child posting a letter into a mailbox. Its visual style is simple and gently nostalgic, with clean lines, rich colors, and a dreamlike composition reminiscent of illustrations from another era. What initially appears innocent and familiar gradually reveals greater complexity. The image raises questions about expectations—about who we were, who we are, and who we hope to become. The letter addressed to one's future self is both an expression of curiosity and of uncertainty: an attempt to grasp an identity that is always in motion. Letter to My Future Self was also presented in the exhibition Hot Flashes. There, the postcard is placed inside a drawer that automatically closes whenever a visitor approaches, preventing the image from ever being fully seen. Within PLAKT, however, it becomes omnipresent, appearing on walls, in streets, and in public squares—places people pass through every day. The intimate gesture of a child mailing a letter becomes public, inviting us to reflect on our own journey, on growth, longing, and the images we carry of ourselves. In the bustle of the city, where every second counts and roles are constantly shifting, the work reminds us of the vulnerability of becoming, and of the enduring need to make space for imagination, doubt, and change. PLAKT is a project from artlead, in collaboration with IKOB, Eupen; CC Strombeek; De Warande, Turnhout; Kunsthal Mechelen; NW, Aalst; De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam; Museum Dhondt Dhaenens, Deurle; Abby, Kortrijk; and C-mine, Genk.