Frederik De Wilde [BE]

Hacking the Dark Universe

SoN01R 1.0

M1NE DarkNet - Black Edition

M1NE # “DarkNet” – Black Edition Medium: aluminium, paint, UV ink, UV light Size: 2m50cm w x 2cm d x 83cm h
Frederik De Wilde-NASABlck-Crcl#1_sideview
NASABlck-Crcl #1

My art is often experimental and tries to offer new insights in the nature of art, science and technology, how they interact (process) and how it can take shape (result). The conceptual crux of my artistic praxis are the notions of the intangible, inaudible and invisible. It is this interstitial territory that i like to explore in my works. Sometimes on the side of the technological, and often in the perceptual, conceptual, social—human—register. In general my art is grounded in the interaction between complex systems, both biological and technological. Moreover, the indistinct, diffuse, ‘fuzzy’ arena where the biological and the technological overlap and commingle is a productive and favoured ground for my projects.

NASABlck-Crcl #1 is a good example of a close collaboration between a scientist and myself.

It’s a nano-engineered artwork hovering between dimensions and media that operates with atomic resolution, deals with quantum field theory (quantum vacuum & fluctuations) as a response to the ephemeral nature of life (e.g. inanimate beings also have finite lives: particles can be born and die, or be taken hostage) modern art, science and philosophical concepts like void spaces, zero point energy, nothingness, infinity, being and non-being, ghostly non-existence, uncertainty, beauty, the sublime, … to suggest a post-sublime state:


“Is there something Blacker than Black?

“Blacker than Black” is necessarily something which exceeds the luminous phenomenon. The question then arises whether darkness becomes visible. At that stage a funny paradox arrives; you can’t produce nothing from nothing. I was bound to ‘add’ something to darken black. It became compulsory to add something in order to see nothing.

The result is a void which is paradoxically full of invisible/virtual matter to the naked eye and therefore mysterious. A post sublime artwork that heralds the collaboration of the French artist Yves Klein with chemists to create his IKB Blue (International Klein Blue) in the 1950s – 1960s. The result is a visual enigma -it reminds us of Kubrick’s 2001, Space Odyssey (1968) black and smooth monolith-, and i like to contextualise this particular artwork within the aesthetic of the void as an opposition to the full media coverage and the fascination of ours modern societies for multi-screens and multi-sensor installations. The artwork is also a critique on our contemporary society.

Frederik De Wilde is an artist, researcher and interfacer, acting on the border, and working on the interstice of, art + [science + technology]. De Wilde studied fine arts, new media art and philosophy. De Wilde is most famous for his blackest black art developed with NASA and Rice University. De Wilde is also co-founder of 2Flamingos, an online webshop where art and science becomes fashion and design (www.2flamingos.com) His artworks have been exhibited in Europe, USA, Asia and Australia.

De Wilde’s art is often experimental and tries to offer new insights in the nature of art, science and technology, how they interact (process) and how it can take shape (result). De Wilde’s artistic vision and ideas can be crystalized into the phrase: ”ART is the poetics of the imagination – SCIENCE is the poetics of reality.” The conceptual crux of his artistic praxis are the notions of the intangible, inaudible, invisible. It is this interstitial territory that Frederik De Wilde explores in his various works. Sometimes on the side of the technological, and often in the perceptual, conceptual, social—human—register. De Wilde’s art is grounded in the interaction between complex systems, both biological and technological. Moreover, the indistinct, diffuse, ‘fuzzy’ arena where the biological and the technological overlap and commingle is a productive and favoured ground for his projects/ projections.

Honors & Awards

2008 Prix Médiatine, Price of the French Community, St.-Lambrechts Woluwe (Winner)
2008 Liedts-Meesen New Media Award 2008 – Peter Weibel, curator (Nominated)
2008 Canvascollectie Award, Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels (Nominated)
2009 Flemish Community, VGC – Art and Genetics Grant
2010 Ars Electronica [Next Idea] Voestalpine Grant (Winner)
2010 SMARTbe Grant – Art, Nanotechnology and photovoltaics
2011 Best European Collaboration Award (1st prize)
2011 SPES Foundation Grant
2012 Finalist worldwide TED [ideas worth spreading] talent search
2013 AXO project by Johannes Taelman in collaboration with several artists. iMINDS funded project 2013 AppArtAward ZKM – Finalist [http://en.app-art-award.org/home]

Exhibitions (excerpts)

2012 Art and IT – Gallery Libre Cours, Bruxelles, Belgium
2012 DEAF – Hostage & Scan, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2012 Creative Media Days – iMINDS, Ghent, Belgium
2012 ZERO1 – Hostage, Scan, V01D-I, Silicon Valley, USA
2012 SCOPTIONE – UMwelt-VIRUtopia, Nantes, France 2012 3D print show, London, England
2013 RISK – SoN01R, Science Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
2013 Space Odyssey 2.0 – Z33 art center, Hasselt, Belgium
2013 BOZAR – Brussels Electronic Media Festival, Brussels, Belgium
2013 BAF – Brussels Art Factory, Brussels, Belgium
2013 Transito Festival – Mexico
2013 ICT & ART connect – Brussels, Belgium
2013 3D print show – London Business Design Center, London, UK
2013 3D print show – Louvre, Paris, France
2014 UNPAINTED Media Art Fair – Munich, Germany

 

Frederik De Wilde_Portret

http://frederik-de-wilde.com