Edith Dekyndt. Tell Us Something That Nobody Knows

What moves our world? What lies beneath the things we see every day? What forces drive processes? And what is revealed to us when we take a closer look?

Belgian artist Edith Dekyndt (*1960) explores these questions in over 60 works—videos, sculptures, installations, drawings, and sound pieces. With a minimalist aesthetic, she creates poetic images that reflect on universal phenomena and our world deeply changed by human activity. Above all, she focuses her attention on the silent, sometimes aggressive and toxic processes of change.

In her work, Dekyndt allows physical and chemical processes to unfold. Natural transformations are set in motion on found objects from nature, everyday items, or cultural artifacts. She often uses materials such as earth, dust, liquids and salts. These lead to new painterly and sculptural qualities and ultimately a beauty that is based equally on fragility and brutality, seduction and destruction. She also integrates new technologies like artificial intelligence and 3D printing, which she combines with elements from nature. Hybrid objects between nature, technology and fiction are created.

Edith Dekyndt also always works in response to place. For the exhibition in Bielefeld, she engaged specifically with the architecture, location, and identity of Kunsthalle Bielefeld. The building’s site above the underground river Lutter—a symbol of change and transformation—stands in contrast to the museum’s mission to preserve. This becomes the starting point for artistic reflections: spatial elements such as curtains and carpets are shifted, and established orders are called into question. At the same time, Dekyndt sets her works in dialogue with selected pieces from the museum’s collection—works that also emphasize process, interconnectedness, vulnerability, or organic growth.

The exhibition title ‘Tell Us Something That Nobody Knows’ is a quote from John Ruskin’s book ‘The Ethics of the Dust’ (1866). In it, the British thinker compares crystals—their orders and structures, their growth and decay—with human life, both on an individual and societal level. As human beings, we are also subject to continuous processes, upheavals and changes, be they chemical, physical, temporal or social. Dekyndt’s works similarly encourage us to look beyond surfaces, to perceive structures, and to consider nature and humanity not as opposites.

Dekyndt’s art touches on many of the themes that concern us today: human nature, the relationship between nature and culture, the use of new technologies, and contexts of power, dominance, and submission. While current political events and developments are never directly addressed in her work, she nevertheless reveals how persistently our world is transforming—and how the tensions inherent in every transformation are becoming more apparent. Operating at the intersection of science and poetry, Dekyndt’s works make us aware of the constant influence of often invisible forces and hidden connections, inviting us to reflect on a world shaped by perpetual change.

The exhibition is supported by

Kunststiftung NRW and Stiftung der Sparkasse Bielefeld