About – Niel de Vries

I am an artist and researcher based in Antwerp, currently developing my project Brackish Practices at Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp in the Art & Ecology research group.

In my work I explore how we live with water on an ecological, cultural, and personal level. I am drawn to rivers and water infrastructures as places where human and non-human worlds are entangled. My projects begin on site: through walking, fieldwork, conversations, and time spent along and on the water.

I work across interventions in public space, performative walks, installations, film, and drawing. Often, I build functional objects using wood and found material. I see these objects as tools rather than autonomous artworks: ways to physically relate to a landscape.

I organizing gatherings and activations that bring water-related questions into the public domain. Because these moments are temporary, I document them through film, audio, photography, and drawing, creating an archive that continues to shape my work. Throughout this process, I move between the roles of maker, organizer, and storyteller.

My practice is generously supported by het Cultuurfonds, CBK Rotterdam, IN SITU platform and Mondriaan Fund.

Feel free to reach out via: nieldevries94 [at] gmail.com

I am an artist and researcher based in Antwerp, currently developing my artistic-research project Brackish Practices at Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp in the Art & Ecology research group.

In my work I explore how we live with water on an ecological, cultural, and personal level. I am drawn to rivers and water infrastructures as places where human and non-human worlds are entangled. My projects begin on site: through walking, fieldwork, conversations, and time spent along and on the water.

I work across interventions in public space, performative walks, installations, film, and drawing. Often, I build functional objects using wood and found material. I see these objects as tools rather than autonomous artworks: ways to physically relate to a landscape.

I organizing gatherings and activations that bring water-related questions into the public domain. Because these moments are temporary, I document them through film, audio, photography, and drawing, creating an archive that continues to shape my work. Throughout this process, I move between the roles of maker, organizer, and storyteller.

My practice is generously supported by het Cultuurfonds, CBK Rotterdam, IN SITU platform and Mondriaan Fund.

Feel free to reach out via:
nieldevries94 [at] gmail.com

Exhibitions
2026 The Image Generator - Kunsthal ExtraCity, Antwerp, BE
2026 Tijstoppen - Ernest Claesstraat 12, Antwerp, BE
2025 Drifting Waters - Cas-co - Leuven, BE
2025 Screening 'De Perfecte Rivier - Cultureel Centrum Gravenhof, Antwerp, BE
2025 Kunst en Zwalm (with MyVillages collective) - Zwalm, BE
2025 Open Studios Borgerstraat - Rotterdam, NL
2025 Verborgene Wirklichkeiten - Spreepark Artspace, Berlin, DE
2025 Hydrofoor - Van Gogh Galerie, Zundert, NL (solo)
2024 Liquid Becomings Exhibition - Lisbon, PT
2024 Offcourse - Art route through Antwerp, BE
2024 Full House - Kleine Goddaard artspace, Antwerp, BE
2023 /kom.po’zi.ci.o:/ - Kunstenfestival Watou - Watou, BE
2023 Academy 360 - Academy of Fine Art Antwerp, BE
2022 Still life, Landscape, Ecosystem - Academy of Fine Art Antwerp, BE
2021 Historie, Heesters en Meesters - Academy of Fine Art Antwerp, BE
2019 Nocturne - BAEK, Rotterdam, NL
2019 Linear Experiments - Dit is uit de Kunst, Rotterdam, NL
2019 Lost in Transition - Kaapse Maria, Rotterdam, NL

Residencies
2026 Schelde Imaginaries - Ernest Claesstraat 12, Antwerp, BE
2025 Rhine River Lab - POST Arnhem, NL
2025 IN SITU Platform - Immersive Lab @ Sardegna Teatro - Cagliari, IT
2025 Van Gogh Huis - Zundert, NL
2024 Spreepark Artspace - Berlin, DE
2024 European Pavilion: Liquid Becomings - Danube
2024 Volle Leegte - Buitenplaats Brienenoord, Rotterdam, NL
2022 Lazaretto Volontario - Sint-Truiden, BE
2022 Patchwork - Watou, BE
2022 Knockvologan Studio - Isle of Mull, Scotland
2019 Vermont Studio Center - Johnson, Vermont, USA

Grants & Prizes
2026 Mondriaan Fund Artist Start Grant
2025 CBK Rotterdam Impuls & Verdieping Grant
2024 Nomination Engage Biennial
2024 Van Gogh AiR Prize
2024 Nomination Horlait-Dapsens Prize
2023 Cultuurfonds Grant
2019 Vermont Studio Center Artist’s Grant
2019 CBK Rotterdam International Project Grant

Lectures & Presentations
2026 Canoe activation 'When Water Bodies Remember' with Hydroformations
collective - Confluence of European Water Bodies, Berlin
2025 Lecture 'Attuning to the Scheldt' with Nina-Joy Thielemans - University of
Antwerp, Center for European Philosophy
2024 Lecture ‘Thinking with the river: shapes, myths and ecology' - University of
Antwerp, Center for European Philosophy

Education
2024 MFA (In Situ) - Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, BE
2020 BFA (In Situ) - Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, BE
2012 BBA - Rotterdam University of Applied Science, NL

Press
2025 Berliner Morgenpost - Wie die Welt aussähe, wenn Tiere sie gestaltet hätten
2024 Metropolis M - graduation special
2023 Kunstmanen Podcast - Kunstenfestival Watou
2022 Gazet van Antwerpen - Academy Open Air