Madelief vd Beek – Laatbloeiers

Madelief van de Beek (she/her) graduated Fine Art in the summer of 2020, during the covid-19 pandemic she started working as a part-time florist and realized the potential in botanical art. How flowers and plants decay, interests her desire to make art that situates itself in the ‘here and now’. She believes that there is an underlying urgency when working with materials that have flaws, or end-dates. The same holds for situating the work in a place that is momentary (e.g. site-specific). Madelief is currently in her last year of the MA Scenography, were she focusses on artistic research and dramaturgy: 

“Art acts like mirrors in which we can see ourselves from a new perspective. I want to show how we need a certain amount of storytelling, symbolism, and scenography to create meaning and make sense of life, synonymously of death. I want my art to become an embodied experience in which I establish a common ground where experiences can be shared and celebrated”. 

During Boring festival, Madelief will make multiple flower sculptures that form the installation ‘Laatbloeiers’. With this work, she wants to show that beauty can blossom in the most filthy places. At the heart of the festival: De Vishal, and across Haarlem city, the flowers are to be discovered in public urinals. This work raises awareness about how the public space is still primarily designed for able-bodied males.