Events

»Van Beek’s art translates scientific insights into a visual language, creating an aesthetic reflection on the fragility of our Earth system.«

»Through the beauty of his compositions, the artist allows us to immerse ourselves in a world that at first glance appears graceful. Yet a look beneath the surface reveals the problematic consequences of our relationship with nature. It is these subtle shades between grace and danger, these ambivalences, that van Beek brings closer to us, thereby creating impact. In this context, the works are not only artistic testimonies, but also political statements.«

»A distinctive aspect of Marcel van Beek’s work is the way in which he addresses change over time — whether through oxidation, decay or retrospection — thereby creating an artistic expression of temporality. The works embody not only the growth and passing of nature, but also the long-term nature of the challenges that lie ahead.«

»His art not only challenges us to perceive our world more intensely, but also offers us a creative space in which to reflect on the future of our planet.«

Prof. Dr. Erik Gawel, Exhibition Opening Speech

»The Leipzig-based artist Marcel van Beek opens up spaces, stimulates discourse and broadens perspectives. The perceptible irritations and ruptures created by artists challenge the senses and lead us toward new processes of reflection.«

»The opening of the exhibition 'Urbs Accommodata – Künstlerische Perspektiven urbaner Klimaanpassung' represents a particular highlight and discursive bridge for knowledge transfer within the lecture series 'Interdisciplinary Perspektives and Approaches of Urban Climate Adaptation'.«

Alexandria Krug, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Leipzig University

»A defining feature of the artist's work is that he does not conceal the raw, the unfinished or even the questionable, but captures them in a reflective manner. [...] It is Marcel van Beeks particular achievement to illuminate precisely tehse ambivalences. In doing so, he maintains a distance from affirmative climate art and instead invite critical reflection.«

Prof. Dr. Erik Gawel, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Reserach – UFZ, Leipzig

Opening of the exhibition "Unsustainable Earth" at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig

Opening Speech of Prof. Dr. Erik Gawel, UFZ (excerpt)

»I find it all the more remarkable that sustainability also resonates in contemporary art. When I saw Marcel's works for the first time, I immediately thought that this had to be shown at the UFZ. And I am very grateful that this also worked out and that we are allowed to show these photo works here.

When it comes to sustainability, Art and science naturally proceed in a completely different way, but they complement each other excellently. Science makes it possible for us to know more and more about the fra-gile, even critical status of the planet. But this is precisely what can make people feel overwhelmed and frustrated. It can create that "I can't do anything anyway" feeling. Art has subtle tools against this immunisation and fatigue effect. It is about focus, about visual language, about aesthetics. Aesthetics does not only mean mere beauty, but above all - awareness of the senses. What artists can perhaps do better than others (even than us), is namely to make connections intuitively visible,  create an emotional access, and appeal to people's imagination.

Let's have a closer look at the artwork titled „Spring“. It presents a rather cleared landscape with burnt trees. Spring presents a sad picture here - marked by climate change impact, heat stress and fires. The title, of course, must recall the famous book of Rachel Carson, „Silent Spring“, from 1962. The book was, at that time, about chemicals in the environment and their toxic impact on, for instance, bird life. Here, it reveals climate change impacts on landscapes. Apart from that, we also see a meaningful landscape composition with strong atmospheric expression. And it is not coincidentally reminiscent of the equally silent compositions of famous painters like Caspar David Friedrich or Eugen Bracht, which, by means of aesthetically constructed landscape compositions, tell us of melancholy and decay. Marcel van Beek feels very connected to the painting epochs of romanticism and symbolism. And It is no art, so-to-speak, to recognise exactly this here in this artwork.

Other works present geometric or organic structures of apparent beauty. Seemingly insignificant details. Marvellous forms. And yet the photographs stand, e.g., for a problematic plastic agriculture which is becoming more and more widespread. Aesthetics and shudder are very close together here, fascinating the beholder.

The excellent works of van Beek create, as always with him, deep moods and fascinating spaces for mystery and threat, but at the same time also for grace and silent beauty. The artworks subtly reveal the dubiousness of the subject just through assumed grace of the photo composition itself.«