Arts Thread

Niel de Vries
Fine Art MA

Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp

Graduates: 2024

Specialisms: Storytelling / Art Performance / Installation/Sculpture

My location: Antwerp, Belgium

niel-de-vries ArtsThread Profile
Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp

Niel de Vries

niel-de-vries ArtsThread Profile

First Name: Niel

Last Name: de Vries

University / College: Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp

Course / Program: Fine Art MA

Graduates: 2024

Specialisms: Storytelling / Art Performance / Installation/Sculpture

My Location: Antwerp, Belgium

Website: Click To See Website

About

In my work I ask questions about the landscapes I inhabit, and coming from the Low-Countries my investigations have focused on riverscapes. I wonder what it means to be a river-dweller in times when these watery environments, which are so central to life, are under threat by ecological collapse. Thinking and working with rivers is useful in imagining alternative ways of being on this planet, as they bring to light flaws in dualistic thinking.My practice consists of making excursions along the river where each time I attempt to understand yet another dimension of these ecosystems. Sometimes I join scientists in the field, observing the ways they work with the river; other times I scavenge the banks and beaches for materials to use in my projects. River mythologies and archaeology also inform my practice. I bring these experiences together in performative lectures, public interventions, and gatherings with the aim to open up my questions and to start a dialogue.I consider myself an amateur naturalist, a tinkering organizer, and a riverside bricoleur.

Over the course of a year, explorations along and on the River Scheldt started forming a collection of materialised riverside stories. Various found objects together with ceramics tell the stories I encountered during my roamings; about mythical Sturgeons, migrating Mitten Crabs and a travelling river source. What ties the stories together is a certain subcurrent that focusses on the irrational, the meandering and the agency of the river. The storied objects are made mobile through a backpack made from driftwood and are activated in a series of performative walks.