Frederik De Wilde is a multi-awarded artist based in Antwerp, Belgium. He studied fine arts, media arts and philosophy. His artistic praxis situates itself on the interstice of art-science-technology and design exploring notions of the inaudible and intangible. His art is grounded in the interaction between complex systems rooted in dark ecologies and invisible territories. De Wilde critically examines the radical shifts technology imposes on society and our “environment,” which he explores sometimes on the side of the technological, often in the conceptual, perceptual, sensorial and human register. Ultimately he seeks to (re-)connect our humanness – which requires a symbolic rewiring – while making us excited for the future and the unknown.
An excellent example is the conceptualisation of the pioneering original Blackest-Black (a new nano-engineered colour for a new industrial revolution exploring the nature of nothingness) made in collaboration with Rice University and NASA. The project received the 2010 Ars Electronica Next Idea Award and the Best European Collaboration Award between an artist and a scientist.
Frederik collaborated with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the University of Leuven (Prometheus, division of Skeletal Tissue Engineering), Hasselt University (I-BioStat), UGent (Textile Department), Wyoming University, and many other organisations (e.g. ESTEC, NASA) worldwide. He published several essays and papers, such as “Artistic Approaches to Design and Manufacturing Techniques Dedicated to Space Applications” for MIT press and “The Art of Ethics in the Information Society: Mind You” for Chicago University and Amsterdam University Press. He also has exhibited at notable places such as BOZAR Museum of Fine Arts (Belgium), ZKM (Germany), Carnegie Museum of Arts (USA), Venice Biennial 2017 (Italy), Art Basel (Switzerland), Tetem (Netherlands), Singapore Art Science Museum (Singapore), MAAT museum (Portugal), Centre Pompidou (France), National Gallery Singapore (Singapore) and many others.
Frederik currently holds a position as affiliated artist at the University of the West of England in the The Unconventional Computing Laboratory, founded by Prof Andy Adamatzky in 2001 as a response to an urgent need to develop computers for future centuries and explore complex dynamics of nonlinear systems.