Julie De Kezel
Born 1995, Ghent, Belgium.
Based in Brussels.
There are worlds that hum beneath our feet, murmuring stories older than memory. In Julie De Kezel's work, these undercurrents surface — spores, whispers, sediments of myth coalescing into new forms of life.
De Kezel moves through the terrain of the everyday as through a living archive. Moss, mycelium, myxomycetes. Beings become custodians of forgotten narratives. They speak in textures and scents rather than words. Through their language, the artist listens for connections that bridge the microscopic and the cosmic, the domestic and the foreign.
The scent of damp earth recalls a pre-human memory. What begins as research — a collecting of residues — turns into a choreography of transformation. The viewer enters not an exhibition, but a threshold: a space where the artificial and the organic, the digital and the hand-made, cease to be opposites and start to breathe together.
De Kezel's practice is an act of remembrance and re-enchantment. By re-scaling the vastness of ecological and cultural networks into intimate, tactile worlds, she invites us to touch complexity, to feel the interlacing of myth and matter. Each work is both a reliquary and a seed — holding what has been, yet still germinating what may come.
In this continuous oscillation between decay and emergence, between science and the fantastical, Julie De Kezel reminds us that the stories of the world are not only told by humans. They sprout, bloom, and breathe through everything that surrounds us.
Contact: Juliedekezel@hotmail.com
Instagram
Grants / Awards
– 2025 Artist development grant by Flemish Department of Culture, Youth, and Media
– 2024 International exhibition grant awarded by Flemish Department of Culture, Youth, and Media
– 2022 Der KARL & FABER-Preis der Stiftung Kunstakademie München — including grant for solo show and artist publication
– 2022 LFA Bank Grant for artistic publication
Residency
08.2024 ON SENSING TRACES, Galaxie Off Galerie, Aub, DE
05.2022 Österreichischer Skulpturenpark, Graz, AT
03.2021 Hotel Zimmer frei project, Mariandl, München, DE
01.2020 Drawing in Practice: research and workshop program, Philippe Vandenberg Foundation Brussels, BE
Artist Talk / Lecture / Interview
Talk — 06.2025 Julie De Kezel, Chris Meulemans and Caroline Coolen in conversation with Annelies Nagles. Stedelijk museum Aarschot, BE
Interview — 06.2024 Passauer Neue Presse, by Regina Kremsreiter
Talk — 04.2024 Julie De Kezel & Anna Malicka moderated by Anna Laganovska. "Spilling the tea-time artist talk", KOMPLOT, BE
Interview — 02.2023 Süddeutsche Zeitung, written by Lara Graff
Talk — 09.2023 Julie De Kezel in conversation with Dr. Sabine Adler. "Mittelalter, Magie, Moos: Offenbarung der Naturgeheimnisse und Künstlerische Inspirationen", KARL&FABER, DE
Education
2020–2023 Master Fine Arts, ADBK Munich, Prof. Peter Kogler
2019 Apprenticeship, Artist Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
2018–2020 Master of Fine Arts, KASK, Ghent
Public Collection
2021 Pisthagoras ceremony, Brussels, BE — official dressing of Landmark Manneken Pis in collaboration with mathematics department VUB Brussels
2012 Part of Drakina project 1, Wereld van Kina, Gent, BE
Publication
2023 Artist's book Vielen Dank für die Blumen — a collaboration with Rietlanden Women's Office
Solo / Duo Shows
2025
– A Quest to the Petalless Flower, SAFFCA gallery, Brussels, BE
2024
– SPECTRAL HARVEST, DMW Gallery, Antwerp, BE
– Stardoll Heaven, Komplot, Brussels, BE
– Vom Wesen der Erde, Bergson Marienplatz, Munich, DE
2023
– Vielen Dank für die Blumen, Karl & Faber, München, DE — solo
– Drolerie, Graduation 2023, ADBK, München, DE
– Curator of group show 'Salon M', Spare Wheel, Brussels, BE
2022
– Fernweh, Akademie Galerie, München, DE
2021
– HARVEST, Atbase gallery, Munich, DE
– Division Bryophyta, Umakart gallery, Brno, CZ — solo
2020
– LEE-PO-REL-LO, Graduation show, KASK Ghent, BE
Group Shows
2025
– Sporae, Etterbeek, Brussels, BE
– HochSommer Festival, Land Art Eisenberg, AT
– 80 mètres carrés, LAB229, Paris, FR
– Closer, Streetview, Brussels, BE
– Er was eens…, De Halle, Geel, BE
– Creation of Nature. Nature of Creation, Stedelijk museum Aarschot, BE
– Datura Undergrounds: Age of Aquamarina, Minus One, Gent, BE
2024
– Spells and Promises, Creative Factory, Turnhout, BE
– Benefiz-Kunstauktion von Rotary Munich-International, DE
– Catalogue launch: ON SENSING TRACES, Galaxie Off Galerie, Aub, DE
– Zwischen den Welten, Ranfels Burg, Zenting, DE
– PAENSER, Studio Citygate, Brussels, BE
– ON SENSING TRACES, Galaxie Off Galerie, Aub, DE
2023
– Gems! for the Garden, Botanical Garden, Bucharest, RO
– BUY LOCAL, Kunsthal Gent, Ghent, BE
– Datura Undergrounds, Minus One, Ghent, BE
2022
– Netze, Kunstarkaden, München, DE
– Bonner Kunstverein Jahresgaben 2022, Bonn, DE
– ART COLOGNE art fair, Bonner Kunstverein booth, Köln, DE
– Der KARL & FABER-Preis der Stiftung Kunstakademie München, DE
– #MakeUsVisible x denkFEmale, AR, München, DE
– Augmented Dreams, Skulpturenpark Graz, Klasse Kogler, Graz, AT
– "Sculptural Garden", Grünstreifen, München, DE
2021
– ENTER FSTVL, Dendermonde, BE
– Pisthagoras ceremony, Brussels, BE — official dressing of Landmark Manneken Pis
– Garten Arbeit, Kallmann-Museum + Galerie Pavilion, Ismaning, DE
– Jahresausstellung 21 Klasse Kogler, ADBK garden, Munich, DE
– Heaven Loop, off-space, London, UK
– Ovidor, Avee gallery, Kortrijk, BE
– Residence open studio days, Hotel Mariandl, Munich, DE
– 50/50 a drawing show, Atelier Tatiana Wolska, Brussels, BE
2020
– TUTORIAL, UG Halle 14, Leipzig, DE
– KLUDDE release, Duivelsteen, Ghent, BE
– akademiegaleriehomeoffice.de, Akademiegalerie, Munich, DE
– #3 Cyber's Handshake, Youtubeartspace digital show
– Print at home colouring book by artists in times of corona (digital)
– Design/creation costume Brussels Landmark Manneken Pis, collaboration with VUB mathematics department, BE
2019
– Softcore #2, Level Five, Brussels, BE
– Teer 51, Platvvorm, Deinze, BE
– Dream of Venus, In De Ruimte, Ghent, BE
– Spits No.02: Depot, KASK, Ghent, BE
2018
– MARGINALIA, Sint Denijs Westrem, BE
– Teer 51, Jan Colle Gallery, Ghent, BE
– Rhizom, KASK Gele Zaal, Gent, BE
2017
– Verkavelings Vlaams, Nest Gent, BE
