THE ARCHITECTURE OF MY WORK:

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I. - IX. ‘SECTIONS’ and ‘SERIES’ as an Organic Brain

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For me, society operates like a human brain, where individuals function as neurons, social media acts as neurotransmitters, and technological infrastructures serve as the nervous system. The interplay between these elements forms a gargantuan, collective socio-technological ecosystem that explores human behaviour. From this vantage point, my work translates into the creation of reflective spaces that hold up a mirror to contemporary humanity and its fundamental quest for connection.

The architecture of my entire oeuvre is a living system that expands through every new interaction. The broad spectrum of subjects, including numerous ongoing series, is of such magnitude that structure and documentation form an essential and necessary cog within my system. Its sole purpose is to catalyse the creative process and to stimulate my artistic practice in its totality. These many series, resulting from consistent preliminary research, are subdivided into specific 'Sections'.

 

I. Section ARTlaB: The Laboratory of my Thought

This is my intellectual zone of pre-artistic field research, in which I transform into a researcher. Within this laboratory, scientific, philosophical, and psychoanalytic texts are dissected and absorbed. It is a rigorous, academic zone of inquiry where societal documentation forms the intellectual foundation for profound series such as The Philosopher's Concern. Through this intensive intellectual incubation period, concepts and images emerge organically within my mind, well before any material is touched.

 

II. Section AteLier: The Friction of Creation

Only when the concept has crystallised in I. Section ARTLab does the transition to this space of the homo faber occur. My studio functions as an imaginary laboratory for the realisation of my boundless inspiration. Just like all studies, writings, preparatory sketches, drawings, experiments, and trouvailles, my studios — in whatever state they may be — form part of an oeuvre that evolves over the years as a palimpsest and a wake-up call for another world. In these workshops, raw labour, tactile friction, and the artisanal struggle with the material reign supreme. Here, mental images are materialised by all possible means. It is the ultimate zone of transformation, where pure, abstract thought definitively shifts into tangible creation.

 

CONCEPTUAL KEYWORD CLOUD / ART LINKS:

• #TheOtherGLANCE, AnotherPERSPECTIVE #HumanCondition

• #Identity Rooms, walking into my artwork

• #TheRiddleofThinkingHumanity #CanArtChangetheWorld?

• #Stakeholders for a more Connected World

• #WakeUp Call, Imagination Free #Identity, who are we?

• #WakeUp Call 'Gender Talk, Stop Gender Violence'

• #Art against Polarization #To the Moon and back

• #Freud, Das Es, das Ich, das Uber Ich #We are our Brain

• #Messengers of the Subconscious Mind #Sceneries of the Unconscious

• #The Psychoanalytic Awareness #Myth all around, the Myth of Plastic

• #MyReflectiveTransitionRetable & RarityCabinet

• #AI and The Demystification of Technology #The Human Environment

• #The Philosophers Concern #Le Cavalier des Pensées, after Leopold Flam

• #Der Kaninchen Mann, mein name ist Joseph, Tribute to Joseph Beuys

• #HuMANNidentity, a Worldwide Sanatorium, after The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

• #The Liquid Inheritance of a Liquid World, or the unique role of the master, after Lydia Van Liefferinge

• #ArtAgainstARTABUSE, Plea for more Authenticity in Art

 

 

III. Section ArchiVe: Societal Manifesto as a Mirror to Humanity

From this material foundation, my work moves outwards into the critical world. Here, I act as the chronicler of our culture. The accumulated series transform into a living archive that captures, dissects, and documents the zeitgeist. This is the zone of societal confrontation, where the artwork becomes the ultimate mirror for humanity and definitively enters into a dialogue with society. This archiving forms an essential guide that catalyses the creative process and maximally stimulates my imaginary visual language like a visual particle accelerator.

 

IV. Section CuRioSum: Anthropological Wonderment

Contained within this section is my REFLECTIVE TRANSITION RETABLE: a contemporary total installation that functions as a philosophical, reflective cabinet of curiosities. This construction of drawers, cabinets, wooden boxes, niches, compartments, typesetting cases, boxes, glass domes, consoles, columns, pillars, totems, and ornaments forms the structural framework for my art and objects. They compel the viewer toward introspection regarding the boundaries of art, kitsch, history, and different cultures. Here, I concentrate on the observation of the unusual and the lived experience. The cabinet meticulously dissects the fascinating, complex, and sometimes raw contortions of the human condition.

Decades-old objects and trouvailles from generations of family history are deployed here, alongside contemporary art, as tangible intangible heritage — meaning all the societal practices and philosophical concepts that my work generates — and material heritage — meaning all my physical artworks, spatial installations, and written documents. The objects are usually displayed in their authentic state, bearing deep traces of use and a patina that carries their actual history. By deconstructing and organising this heritage, these items transform into a window onto human labour, creation, transmission, and existential history. It is the room of anthropological inquiries, visual rarities, and the friction between man and his shifting identity.

 

V. Section Brain: The Basis of Human Action

This is the room of anatomy, neurology, and the psychological blueprint. Where the Artist Statement describes society as a brain, this Section zooms in on the physical and mental brain itself: the absolute source of all our feeling, thinking, and acting. Here, the material structure of consciousness is dissected, and the landscapes of the mind unfold. It is the place where physiological processes merge with the complexity of the human psyche. This zone exposes the neurological foundations that govern our choices, traumas, drives, and societal structures. Series such as The Psychoanalytic Awareness and specific studies around Freud take shape here. Consider series such as The Riddle of Thinking Humanity, We are our Brain, Messengers of the Subconscious Mind, Sceneries of the Unconscious, and Das Es, Das Ich & das Über ich.

 

VI. Section Conditio Humana: The Essence of Human Existence

In this Section, the central question is what it means to be human today in a world undergoing profound digitalisation and mechanisation. It is the space in which contemporary existential depth and the universal duality of life are dissected. Additionally, this section investigates the transforming relationship between humans and artificial intelligence — a zone of friction where the boundary between biological consciousness and technological simulation is under pressure.

Simultaneously, this space explores man and his environment, as well as the fundamental relationship between the individual, their fellow human beings, and their position within broader societal structures. This is the cradle for series such as To the Moon and Back, The Human Environment, Identity, Who are We, WakeUP Call Imagination Free, Stakeholders for a more Connected World, Humanistic Faculties, TheOtherGLANCE, Another Perspective, and ARTLinks. It is a meditative zone in which universal experiences such as isolation, connectedness, alienation, and social resilience are analysed through imagery. This room transcends the individual narrative and transforms into a contemporary monument to human interconnectedness and fragile dignity within a technological society, featuring series like AI and the Demystification of Technology and Myth all around, the Myth of Plastic.

 

VII. Section Gender: Unique, Non-Violent, and Space for Everyone

This section provides a space for societal patterns of gender construction, deconstruction, and subversive protest. I train a sharp focus on how gender patterns, role expectations, and deeply rooted power structures shape and restrict our identity. It functions as a visual and activist platform that breaks open rigid categorisations and resolutely combats societal polarization and inequality. A fundamental spearhead within this room is female emancipation, hand in hand with the universal struggle against violence directed at all genders. This is powerfully manifested in the socially engaged series Gender Talk, Stop Gender Violence and Art Against Polarization.

This visual manifesto functions as an explicit protest against harsh societal realities and the violence that affects all individuals who fall outside the traditional framework. The absolute essence is radical acceptance: everyone, regardless of gender expression or identity, must be unconditionally accepted and treated with equity. Here, traditional binary boundaries blur to make way for the complexity of human diversity. This room investigates gender not as a fixed biological given, but as a fluid concept and an urgent social sculpture.

 

VIII. Section ARTePHeMeRal: The Temporary, Transitory Evanescence

Remnants and time function as a powerful, ephemeral statement — a living canvas within this section of radical decay, the archaeology of memory, and the raw influence of the elements on matter and the ready-made. This carries a strong symbolism for identity, because identity is never static. A tangible example of this is The Factory Transmutation: My Identity Rooms, Walking into my Artwork. These rooms remained untouched in an old factory for five years, from 2015 to 2019. They demonstrated pure transience under the influence of time and the inevitable process of transformation and deconstruction.

By allowing the rooms to decay, the project strikingly reflects how memories fade, how personalities alter, and how the past slowly dissolves into the surrounding space. Similarly, the use of paper scrolls containing quotes by Leopold Flam in ‘Le Cavalier des Pensées’, real rabbit ears in ‘Der Kaninchen Mann, mein name ist Joseph’ (my Tribute to Joseph Beuys), and the use of various temporary elements in my installations bear witness to volatility. When an installation is dismantled, the ephemeral components are cleared away.

 

IX. Section TriBuTe: The Sanctuary of Identity

The journey through my oeuvre finds its ultimate destination in Section TriBuTe. This is the sacral, silenced space where thought and reflection assume monumental forms. Here, I pay intellectual homage to my sources of inspiration, such as The Life of the Mind after Hannah Arendt, ‘Le Cavalier des Pensées’ after Leopold Flam, ‘huMANNidentity, a Worldwide Sanatorium’ after The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, ‘Der Kaninchen Mann, mein name ist Joseph’ (my Tribute to Joseph Beuys), and The Liquid Inheritance of a Liquid World, or the unique role of the master after Lydia Van Liefferinge. Within this dimension, the viewer literally steps inside the mind of the artist. It is an oasis of existential tranquility and inner growth, where the dents of life transform into scars of pure resilience, and where human dignity takes centre stage.

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X. Informeric Art:

Section Eerste Manifest uit Section X. Informeric Art/ Informerische Kunst en een efemere performance op de digitale bühne (Uit "De Façade van de

Parasiet - een wegwijs en cultuurfilosofisch manifest") geklassificeerd onder VIII. Section ARTePHeMeRal.

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© Copyright & Artistic Integrity 

All visual works, sculptures, texts, and spatial concepts displayed on this website are protected under international copyright law. This content reflects an autonomous artistic practice and a unique way of thinking. Out of respect for the intellectual property and integrity of the artist, copying, reproducing, or adapting any aspect of this artistic practice or its creative content without prior written permission is strictly prohibited. © 2026 [Hilde NIJS] All rights reserved

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IMAGES

FROM II. SECTION AteLier
My imaginary laboratory for my boundless inspiration — always in motion!

The artistic identity unfolds from what the artist carries within. I do not merely create individual works; they must possess significance within the larger matrix of what I think and feel. Even as a young artist, I created a series of portraits depicting the imaginary founders of a peaceful, new dynasty brimming with innovative social and cultural ideas. Whilst I work, I do not reflect upon art, but upon the core themes that have preoccupied me since childhood: humanity, society, the world, and how we might improve them.

All studies, writings, preparatory sketches, drawings, experiments, and trouvailles form an integral part of my oeuvre, which inevitably evolves over the years as a wake-up call for a better world. It is an invitation to continuous reflection, operating like a frequently altered palimpsest to dissect contemporary society. 'Palimpsest' is also the precise method by which I prepare my painting surfaces — defined as a manuscript that has been changed or altered, yet still reveals traces of its original writing. Even my studios, in whatever state they may be, belong to my oeuvre. The vocation of an artist is therefore an art in itself. One does not ask for it; it imposes itself, just as an artwork demands to be created — a necessary futility, yet inextricably bound to the ultimate meaning of my existence.

— ©Hilde NIJS

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