Marres’ wild city garden is home to a large variety of birds, insects, butterflies, and frogs as well as fruit trees, a vegetable patch, and an herb garden. Covering approximately 1,000 m2, it is the largest publicly accessible inner courtyard in the old center of Maastricht – a marvelous place to take a break and unwind.
This August, Marres invites you to join workshops about all the beauty of this hidden piece of nature in the bustling city.
Evening Primrose Workshop
by Hans Engelbrecht and Mark Franck
Friday, Aug 16
6:00 – 8:00 PM
Explore Marres’ city garden at twilight and encounter the fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers that reveal themselves in all their splendor in the early evening. You will also have an opportunity to prepare a small meal using ingredients from the garden.
The tour focuses on the evening primrose and its aura of magic and mystery. Each evening, its buds take only a few minutes to unfurl into delicate, yellow flowers. Although they wither the next day, they are replaced by new flowers that perform the same glorious, nightly unfurling over several weeks. The flower is said to ward off evil spirits and is edible, as are its roots and leaves. Its oil is used to treat skin conditions.
Language: Dutch
Admission: €5
Group size: max. 20 people
Sensory Tour & Workshop
by Hans Engelbrecht and Mark Franck
Saturday, Aug 17
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Go on a journey through an enchanting, sensory world and experience Marres’ city garden like never before. Can you smell the garden? How does the air taste as you breathe through your mouth? If you listen carefully, do you hear more than just the birds chirping or human voices? As you stir and awaken your sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing, you will engage in a mindful, meaningful interaction with nature.
After the sensory tour, you will use the garden’s fruits, edible flowers, medicinal plants, and herbs to mix drinks and prepare small bites.
Language: Dutch
Admission: €5
Group size: max. 20 people
Creating a Seed Bank
by Hans Engelbrecht and Mark Franck
Sunday, Aug 18
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Marres’ city garden features large fig trees, flowering shrubs like hawthorn and philadelphus, ferns, and flowers such as tulips and daylilies. Hans Engelbrecht and Mark Franck will give an inspiring talk on the concept behind Marres’ city garden, followed by a guided tour to discuss the garden’s unique flora and fauna. You will have the opportunity to get hands-on maintaining and expanding the garden by collecting seeds in their own pots and creating a seed bank in the historic ice house, located to the rear of the garden. At the end of the workshop, you will be given seeds to plant at home as a souvenir of the city garden.
Language: Dutch
Admission: €5
Group size: max. 20 people
Sound creatures in the garden
by Matteo Marangoni
Sunday, Aug 18
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
During this workshop in the garden, you will explore how people can use sound and music to share space and interact with different life forms: plants, animals, and humans. Leading the workshop is Matteo Marangoni, developer of Komorebi: a swarm of “sound creatures” inspired by a broad range of animals that exhibit “chorusing” behaviors (group vocalizations), such as frogs, crickets, cicadas, and many species of birds.
Samples from Karen Bakker’s book The Sounds of Life will demonstrate how artificial intelligence and bioacoustics are providing new insights into animal communication. BirdNET, an artificial neural network, will be used to identify birds based on their songs and calls. You will also practice adjusting the acoustic environment to create a balance between the different habitats.
Language: English
Admission: €5
Group size: max. 20 people
Information
The workshops will take place in all weather conditions, so please dress accordingly and wear appropriate footwear!
Questions? Mail to receptie@marres.org
Visit Limburg Biënnale: show your ticket for the garden program at the reception and receive a €5 discount on admission to the exhibition.
Free admission for: Museum Pass (Museumkaart) holders, ICOM members, children under 18, students of the Maastricht Institute of Arts / Jan van Eyck Academie / Maastricht institute of performative arts (Toneelacademie) / Conservatorium Maastricht, and Friends of Marres.
Hans Engelbrecht
Hans Engelbrecht is an ecological gardener and owner of the company De Groene Stap. His aesthetic approach to landscaping intricately weaves cultural history, ecology, and the local environment. This forges a relationship between gardens and their surrounding environments, giving prominence to nature and natural processes. In Maastricht, he has developed projects such as the city garden of Marres, Sphinxpark, and “De tuin der barmhartigheid” (Garden of Mercy).
Mark Franck
Since 2013, Mark Franck has dedicated himself to creating sustainable and edible green spaces at the creative consultancy Landmark Green Consciousness. Franck offers mindfulness training, coaching, and consultancy services, each of which draws inspiration from nature. With a background in garden and landscape design, he possesses extensive experience and knowledge in public green spaces and understands the social, educational, and ecological needs of society.
Matteo Marangoni
Matteo Marangoni is an artist specializing in sonic rituals, DIY media, and applied utopianism. His artistic practice focuses on exploring the relationship between humans and things, nature, and technology. Together with Dieter Vandoren, he created Komorebi: a swarm of artificial creatures that generate music in response to the shadows of trees moving in the wind. He is eager to explore how artificial intelligence can facilitate connections with other forms of intelligence on our planet. Marangoni is a co-founder of the instrument inventors initiative (iii) in The Hague.
Workshop photos
Photo: Tineke Kambier
Photo: Tineke Kambier
Photo: Tineke Kambier
Photo: Tineke Kambier
Partners / thanks to
Marres receives structural support from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Province of Limburg and the Municipality of Maastricht.
In addition, Marres thanks Hans Engelbrecht, Mark Franck, and Matteo Marangoni, our volunteer Thuur, as well as everything that grows and flourishes in the garden.