EDITH DEKYNDT
Ground Control, 2008

Polypropylene object, helium
59 inches in diameter
Courtesy of Parker’s Box Gallery, New York

DESCRIPTION

Edith Dekyndt’s art practice examines the way in which space is navigated and occupied. Her sculptural work, Ground Control, consists of a massive black helium balloon that floats, suspended mid-air, an action that belies its immense size. Ground Control moves gently in accordance with the circulation and temperature of the surrounding air, a movement which is echoed by an accompanying soundtrack that fills the exhibition space with sound that suggests howling wind or air gushing from a valve.

Ground Control draws its name from a system used to determine the relative distances and elevations of points of space on Earth. The piece performs a similar function, charting the physical space in which it is set through strategies of intervention and displacement.

BIOGRAPHY

Edith Dekyndt is a Belgian artist, born in 1960, in Ypres, Belgium. She lives and works in Tournai, Belgium and Strasbourg, France where she investigates methods of perception and phenomena on the verge of the invisible, via installations, video art, drawings and photography.

Edith Dekyndt has held solo shows in numerous museums, institutions, and galleries such as Witte de With, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Museum of Contemporary Arts, Grand-Hornu, Belgium; and Parker’s Box, New York, USA. She has shown in group exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Museum, Hiroshima, Japan; the KW Institute of Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany; several FRACs (Fonds régional d’Art contemporain) in France; Museu da República, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the Brussels Biennial for Contemporary Art, Brussels, Belgium; and the 49th Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy among many others. Edith has won The Banff Center for The Arts Award, Canada, in 2004 among other honors. She is represented by Parker’s Box, New York, USA; Les Filles du Calvaire, Paris, France; and FDC Satellite, Brussels, Belgium.

Image courtesy of Parker’s Box Gallery, New York. Photographer: Claire Lesteven