Limburg Biënnale 2024

032.MARRES-LIMBURG BIËNNALE 2022-PH.GJ.vanROOIJ — Limburg Biënnale 2022 – Photo: Gert Jan van Rooij

In the summer of 2024, Marres – in collaboration with Odapark, Venray – is organizing the third edition of the Limburg Biënnale: a group exhibition that connects the professional with the amateur arts.

With an overwhelming number of 3,000 submitted artworks, the open call for the Limburg Biënnale closed on March 10, 2024.

Both previous editions of the Limburg Biënnale were a great success. In 2022, Marres received 1,600 submitted artworks after placing the open call, 500 more than in 2020. The Limburg Biënnale proved to be a real crowd pleaser and became the best-attended exhibition at Marres in 2022. For many participants, the group exhibition boosted their careers and enriched their portfolios.

Open Call

The open call has now closed.

Marres and Odapark invited everyone who feels like an artist to participate in the Limburg Biënnale through our open call, including artists not connected to Limburg. From February 19 to March 10, 2024, interested parties, young and old, established and unknown, from individual to collective, could register with a maximum of three existing artworks. This could be any type of work: painting, video, sculpture, audio, performance, etc.

Jury

The jury and curatorial team, consisting of 18 professional artists, will assess the submissions without knowing the applicants’ identities. They will then arrange their chosen selection in a space at Marres or Odapark, where the artworks will be shown alongside their own. The jury includes members from both Limburg and beyond.

The jury days took place on April 11-12. During the week of April 29-May 3, 2024, the selected artists have been informed. The submission dates are May 31st & June 1st at Odapark, and June 7th & 8th at Marres.

FAQ

Jury

Karina Beumer (Peize, 1988) maintains an interactive artistic practice that is sustained by engaging in dialogues with – or being captivated by – something or someone else. This results in videos, installations, and publications that emerge from drawings of observations, and unannounced performances. Beumer searches for an absurd and surreal relationship between the inner world (thoughts, miscommunication) and the physical world (language, networks). In a dreamlike universe, she connects banal issues with personal fantasies by using strategies from existing structures such as pop songs, blockbusters and live action role-playing games. Her work was previously shown at Het Vincent van GoghHuis (Zundert) and at various galleries in Antwerp, among others. Her film titled (…) is on show at 2doc.nl and Beumer is currently looking for a replacement for herself.

Eugenie Boon (Willemstad, 1995) is a Curaçaoan visual artist based in The Hague. She graduated cum laude from HKU in 2020, winning the award for Artistic Achievement. In her practice she combines storytelling and commentary, and translates these in her performances, paintings, and installation. Her works can be found in several collections amongst which that of Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, AMC.

Katrein Breukers (Tilburg, 1991) lives and works in Rotterdam. She graduated from FHK, Tilburg and did a master’s program in Fine Arts at AKV St. Joost Breda. In her work, Beukers engages with different techniques and materials, especially from the realm of ceramics and textile arts, in order to honour practices of decorative craftmanship that have historically been excluded from the category of fine arts. A primary example of this pursuit is the returning feature quilting in the majority of her recent works. Beukers’ has showed in numerous galleries and art spaces including KunstRAI in Amsterdam, Art Rotterdam, and NS16 Tilburg. She has been nominated for various prizes, and was awarded the AG-Kunstprijs 2017.

Anne Büscher (Stuttgart, 1991) bridges art, design, and science through artistic experiments wherein she expands the commonly perceived functions and identity of well-known materials such as glass, stone, photographic paper, air, light, and electricity. Büscher’s works evolve from her keen awareness of the inherent sensitivity of objects, and plays with the relationship between authenticity and imagination. They take the form of arrangements, artistic documentation, and objects that reach their full potential only when activated or used. Büscher has attended many residencies internationally and has shown at many venues, including PAD Paris, TOKAS Tokyo, Miriam Gallery New York, and Ludwig Forum Aachen.

Bonno van Doorn (Amsterdam, 1977) graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in 2008, after which he gained notoriety for his paintings and sculptures that he incorporates into elaborate installations. His work has been shown at various venues, including C&H Galerie (Amsterdam), Greylight Projects (Brussels), Supermarket Art Fair (Stockholm) and at Marres in Maastricht. Van Doorn moreover taught at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Utrecht and at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. He is co-founder of ART BAR KIPPY.

Pablo Hannon (Santiago, 1973) Pablo Hannon (Santiago, 1973) explores many of expressions in his artistic practice. Rooted, or rather, restless in activism, be it due to his roots in Mapuche (Chile), or his awareness to other injustices elsewhere, he founded The School; a fluid, autonomous space and methodology that facilitates accessible, interdisciplinary collaborations with local and international participants. Hannon’s own artistic experiments rely on illustration and design, and play with the improvisational and performative interaction of the audience. He also shares his knowledge, skills and playfulness at various art schools, including Hoge School Zuyd.

Jan Hoek (1984) is always attracted to the beauty of outsiders worldwide, and is ever keen to collaborate with people who are normally overlooked. In Hoek’s universe, ‘normal’ people are strangers and the ‘outsiders’ rule. As such, Hoek has photographed a realm of superstars, like the taxi drivers of Nairobi, has created psychedelic zines about sex tourism capital Pattaya (Thailand), and made a series about the Maasai (Kenya & Tanzania) to defeat their stereotypical depictions. He has presented works at Foam (Amsterdam), Unseen Festival (Amsterdam), Photoville (New York), Fomu (Antwerp) and Lagos Photo (Lagos).

patricia kaersenhout (we/us) (Den Helder, 1966) is an Afro-Dutch visual artist and thinker. In her work, she explores the ever-present legacy of slavery and colonialism in the Dutch context and beyond. kaersenhout critically and radically engages with issues of race, sexuality and gender, and is recognized for her unbridled commitment to artistic and activist projects. She is known for her multifaceted projects in- and amongst society, whereby she asks her audience to reflect on their own possible involvement in the Dutch and European colonial history and its contemporary legacy. kersenhout’s works include, a monument commemorating the Trans Atlantic slavetrade, Unveiling Monument of Flight and Resistance, which was commissioned by the municipality of Utrecht,Acknowledge Rebuild: Wunderkammers of Rotterdam’s Colonial Past commisioned by the Kunsthal and Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, and a monograph Open-Ended Visons of Possibilities which was published by Japsam publishers and launched in 2023.

Paul Kooiker (Rotterdam, 1964) studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam (1990-1992). Kooiker was awarded the Prix-de-Rome Photography in 1996 and the A. Roland Holst Award for his oeuvre in 2009. Kooiker’s work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions at home and abroad, including at Museum Folkwang, Essen (2021/22, DE); Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar (2020, NL); Centraal Museum, Utrecht (2020, NL); FOMU Fotomuseum, Antwerp (2018, BE); Fotomuseum Den Haag (2014, NL) and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2009, NL). His work is in numerous international public and private collections.

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The artistic practice of Maartje Korstanje (Goes, 1982) is driven by a strong awareness of the finiteness of life and her engagement with this awareness. Korstanje’ s work focuses on the tension between growth and decay, both in the natural world and in the artificial, but mainly in the borderland where the two worlds meet. Intuition and imagination are significant motivators in this creative body of work. Although Korstanje works with a variety of materials, cardboard is a fixed base which she constantly seeks to re-explore. Korstanje studied at the Academy for Art and Design St. Joost (Breda) and the Sandberg Institute (Amsterdam). She was one of the winners of the Prix de Rome in 2007 and was nominated for the Volkskrant Visual Arts Prize in 2014. She also participated in several residency programs and her work has been presented at Kunstmuseum Den Haag, ISCP New York and Gyeonggi Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art in Korea, among others.

Marijn van Kreij (Middelrode, 1978) is a visual artist and teacher. His recent work includes drawings, paintings, collages and mobiles which he brings together in carefully composed exhibitions. In his work he combines art historical references with illustrations from children books, food packaging or found poetry. The reuse of image and language, working with repetition, and a focus on the act of drawing and painting itself are at the core of his multifaceted practice. In the summer of 2018, his work was featured in the solo exhibition Nude in the Studio at Marres. Van Kreij teaches at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and collaborates with other makers from the art and theater world within the collective it is part of an ensemble.

Anouk Kruithof (Dordrecht, 1981) is a trans-disciplinarian who engages in various digital and analog practices. Her works depict the transience and the chaos of this world by addressing urgent social issues and speaking to these from personal experience. In doing so, Kruithof aims to lay bare the sensitivities of the current Zeitgeist. Kruithof has previously held solo exhibitions at Foam Amsterdam, Centro de la Imagen Mexico City and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Her work has also been included in the collections of SFMoMA (San Francisco), Museum Folkwang (Essen) and Museum Voorlinden (Wassenaar). Kruithof was selected for The Gallery of Honour of Dutch photography at Nederlands Fotomuseum in 2021, and her most renowned project Universal Tongue was exhibited in at various museum internationally.

Birthe Leemeijer (Amsterdam, 1972) lives in Heemstede. She studied at the Rietveld Academy and the Sandberg Institute and furthermore completed a training in horticulture. For her, working in open space is the ideal condition to question the meaning of art and its place in the world. In order to realize this, she enters into collaboration with different parties and stakeholders who help give the project content and form. The presence or absence of other life forms (plants, animals) and the value we ascribe to them plays an increasingly important role therein. Works that Leemeijer has realized include a Reserve for Loneliness in Almere, the IJsfontein in Dokkum, and L’Essence de Mastenbroek. The latter is a perfume, the result of a search for the essence of the polder Mastenbroek. The scent, a liquid landscape, finds its way to all kinds of exhibitions around the world through a secret pipe system, such as an installation in the Dutch pavilion at the World Expo in Dubai in 2021 and soon in the Museum Krona in Uden. In 1996, was awarded the Prix de Rome prize for Art in Public Space.

Fleur Pierets (Zelzate, 1973) is a Belgian performance artist, best-selling author and LGBTQ+ activist. Together with her wife Julian P. Boom, she founded Et Alors? Magazine and launched 22-The Project (2017), a performance artwork in which the couple planned to marry in every country that legalized same-sex marriage at the time. They married in four countries before Boom’s untimely death. This led to Pierets’ writing debut, her memoir Julian (2018), which is currently being adapted into film by Lukas Dhont’s production house. Pierets’ subsequently wrote a two-part children’s book Love Around the World (2019) and Love is Love (2020), and a new novel Heerlijk Monster (2022). She also speaks on the importance of LGBTQ+ rights at consulates, embassies and at companies such as Google worldwide. She is currently working on an opera, a new novel and a performance artwork that will premiere in March of 2024.

Jan Rothuizen (Amsterdam, 1968) is a contemporary visual artist with many publications to his name, some of which have been translated into English, Spanish and Chinese. His work is featured monthly in the Volkskrant, and has been exhibited at various renowned institutes internationally, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and at the International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. A new edition of his book “The soft atlas of Amsterdam” will be published this fall. He was previously a juror for the AFK Amsterdam Prize (2022) and is a member of several national art committees.

Sanne Vaassen (Heerlen, 1991) explores the fluid transition of matter and phenomena within her artistic practice, such as the cycle of water, the transformation of trees during the seasons, and the evolution of language. Central themes within her diverse works are hence time and processes of change. In doing so, Vaassen’s work shares an interface with other disciplines such as ecology, geography, history and anthropology. Her work has previously been shown in several group and solo exhibitions nationally and abroad, including the Bonnefantenmuseum (Maastricht), SALTS (Basel), Unit 1 Gallery (London), and 601Artspace (New York). She was also a resident at the Jan Van Eyck Academy in 2014-2015.

Wessel Verrijt (Lierop, 1992) makes sculptures, architectural vehicles, tactile mobiles and lively characters. These are both robust and fragile, chaotic and orderly. They appear to be living beings and suggest a ritual or a procession that has come to a halt. As such, Verrijt explores the idea of ‘living matter’; when body and matter merge and matter takes on human traits and emotions. In this way, the sculptures merge with the physical body in so-called ‘hybrid entities’. Materials considered forgotten and abandoned, driven by consumerism and industrialism, find themselves in the dead corners of our ecosystems. In Verrijt’s work, they awaken as a rebellion against their briefly planned lives. In 2021, Verrijt showed his first solo exhibition Das Leben am Haverkamp in The Hague. He also followed several residencies in The Netherlands and abroad, and will show a new series of sculptures at the H3H Biennale (Oosterhout) & CODA Museum (Apeldoorn) in 2023.

Marenne Welten (Valburg, 1959) lives and works in Middelburg. In her work, she investigates the way emotions, associations, and memories shape our perception and the way in which we ascribe meaning to things. She graduated from the Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten St. Joost in Breda, after which she lived and worked in Antwerp for a few years. Since then, her paintings and collages have been exhibited in various group and solo exhibitions at home and abroad, including several showings in New York, Stedelijk Museum Breda, Albada Jelgersma Gallery Amsterdam and Kunsthalle Lingen. Her work is currently represented by galleries Harkawik (New York) en Tegenbosch van Vreden (Amsterdam), and is supported by the Mondriaan Fund.

Han van Wetering (Maastricht, 1948) is a visual artist who is known, among other things, for his famed sculptures that are permanently located in the center of Maastricht. Wetering’s work ‘t Zaat hermenieke (1993), his colorful ensemble of carnival people, is for instance home to the Vrijthof, and other works have previously been shown at various galleries within and outside of Limburg. To conceive of his sculptures, van Wetering works with various materials such as bronze and ceramics, but as a seasoned artist and renowned ‘rebel’ he is also skilled at many other forms.