Boekentoren

Overview

In Boekentoren, Robbrecht Desmet also explores a single room, in this case by using the 360° shot, a so-called anti-cinematographic gesture that goes against the spatial logic of classical cinema, but that just like the zoom is an embodiment of the curious device of simultaneous inscription and erasure. The film portrays the belvédère of the Boekentoren, Ghent’s university library, built by Flemish modernist Henry Van De Velde. In a continuous panoramic shot, taken from the centre of the interior, the camera scans both the modernist wooden pillars as the stark windows framing the city skyline and Ghent’s historic towers.