Espace Aygo Creates Rooms for Three Fictional Characters

In Brussels, an abandoned building has been brought back to life by a collective of artists and designers that go by the name of Espace Aygo.

The new space, titled Asifose, will be home to a whole host of creative practitioners, who will change and adapt the space to fulfil their own needs.

Inside, remnants of the building’s past have been left intact, namely two full-size boats. Artful details can be spotted too, including decorative paintings on the walls, and a wooden ramp that has been skillfully built to form a convex shape. On the ground floor, there is a material bank and wood workshop, with studio spaces located across the rest of the building.

To inaugurate the space, the collective developed an exhibition featuring the work of over 30 designers and artists, named “Peeping Through”.

Driven by its concept, the show invites visitors into a series of rooms, each based on a series of characters. These rooms are filled with objects that fit the persona of the fictitious individuals: The Mum, The Person Who Seems to Live in the Carpet Room, and The Surgeon.

The invited designers were given a profile of each of these characters, and prompted to create an object that would help bring the idea of them to life. “Every object, whether an everyday item or a treasured keepsake, holds a trace of its owner, turning the inanimate into a silent storyteller,” the curators add.

Visitors enter straight into the room of “The Mum”, which has a distinct folk art feel to it, with wooden pieces and hand-painted decorations placed into a domestic setting.

A stark difference comes next, in “The Person Who Seems to Live in the Carpet Room”. Minimalist in comparison to its maximalist predecessor, the space has a colder feel, but is warmed through the use of a handmade carpet and a selection of ceramics dotted around.

Lastly comes “The Surgeon”. Perhaps the most visually arresting room, this space takes on an eerie feel, with a multi-legged surgeon’s chair in one corner, and a sink featuring carved teeth in the other.

“This exhibition seeks to explore how art and design can transcend mere function, becoming vessels for memory, longing, and imagination,” the curators say. “It invites you to inhabit these spaces – not just as a visitor, but as a witness, caught between what is seen and what is only felt.”

Peeping Through is on show from March 12 to April 25, at Asifose.

Asifose
Quai des Charbonnages 50A,
1080 Molenbeek-Saint-Jean.
Brussels

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