Maaijke Middelbeek
1979, Nijmegen NL
Lives & works in Vienna AT (since 2015)
ARTIST STATEMENT:
My work is interdisciplinary, eco-emancipated and posthumanist. I explore our multispecies entanglements by collaborating with living organisms (bacteria, algae, fungi), to co-create stories — Sci-Fi or speculative fabulation — for alternative worlds nurturing human and other-than-human life. My work embodies care and connection, intending to foster curiosity for the other, and visualizing symbiotic futures. My exhibitions showcase biological processes and often invite the audience to interact or "become with", for example through objects designed for interspecies communication >> eg. join in a "Live Photosynthesis Performance" with algae, swallow my artwork - the "I, Holobiont…" responsive bacterial capsule - and go on an audio-guided trip through the microcosm, or decomposing collected unwanted garments by working together with fungi.
I am currently working on the “Anthropocenic Wound” exploring transcorporeality, the deep connection between the Earth’s skin and our bodies, visualizing bodies as archives of environmental histories and part of the planetary metabolism, working with materials as co-thinker and historical evidence.
BACKGROUND:
I studied Textile design at AMFI - Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (BA, 2004). After graduating I worked mostly in journalism (e.g. L’Officiel NL) and copywriting. Witnessing the rapid change into a volatile fast-fashion-industry, I soon felt compelled to write contradictory stories. In 2015 I moved to Vienna where I found an environment committed to ecological response and repair, and into microbiology. This led me to learn more about the keyplayers in life – bacteria, fungi and algae - and to co-create stories for symbiotic worldmaking.
EXHIBITIONS:
2026
I am currently working on the first pre-symbiotic stage of my eco-futurist project 'Becoming Homo Photosynthesis' (six metamorphic stages of turning phytosymbiotic set in the years 2034 - 2049), which is titled: Anthropocenic Wounds'. I aim to bundle texts, documentation and material research for this stage into a publication. I began my research for the project last year during my residency at HIAP (Helsinki International Artist Programme).
Upcoming:
Kunst in der Natur, residency & symposium, Waldviertel AT
Group exhibition: "Die Schönheit liegt in der Veränderung" (Leerstandsräume/abandoned property) curated by Reinhard Gombots, Burgenland AT
Vienna Art Week Open Studios
2025
Exhibition KEEP IT COOL curated by focus Terra at ETH Zürich - science based installation based on my concept 'Live Photosynthesis Performance', opening August 2025
AUSLANDSSTIPENDIUM Helsinki, Finland: project and residency at HIAP (Helsinki International Artist Programme) supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport (BMKOES).
Wiener Pilzfestspiele Oct. 2025 fungi festival group show "Spotted" at Kunstraum Viktoria
Zeewier Symposium (Seaweed Symposium) in the Netherlands, invited by Platform DIS (postponed)
2024
LUDIC TERRITORIES interactive exhibition curated by Çağdaş Çeçen at Das LOT Wien
2023
Wardrobe Wasteland: A Tale of Metamorphosis Vienna Art Week House of Passion - part of the group exhibition and Open Studio Days, November 2023
Publication with the show: Chronicles of the Earth's Underbelly
I, Holobiont - responsive bacterial capsule Artist Intervention at Salon Zukunfstkultur, Art for Regeneration, Auslandskulturtagung (cultural conference of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) in MQ - curated by Verena Kaspar Eisert.
Febr. 18th - May 21st Künstlerhaus Wien, exhibition with the other selected artists from the ON THE ROAD AGAIN call, supported by BMEIA Austrian Minsistry of Foreign Affairs, curated by Simon Mraz and Christian Helbock.
THROUGH OOZE and SLIME Jan. 18th - 31st - SOLO EXHIBITION supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum Zagreb and BMEIA (Austrian Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs), at Galerija Na Katu, KIC Zagreb, HR. Winner of ON THE ROAD AGAIN Zagreb.
Apocalypse Zine Group Exhibition at Ve.Sch, Vienna & publication in Apocalypse Zine #3 curated by Sarah Sharafi
Presentation of my work for the division Microbial Ecology Prof. Dr. David Berry at UBB (Biology Building of the University of Vienna) and discussion after. Invited by Sanaz Khadem.
2022
ON THE ROAD AGAIN Panel Discussion in Künstlerhaus Vienna. Introducing our projects with jury member Christoph Thun Hohenstein and artists Anna Witt and Claudia Larcher.
POROUS PROJECTIONS May 05th - June 30th, at Afro-Asiatsisches Institut Graz. Curated by Huda Takriti and Kyungrim Lim Jang.
Publication: POROUS PROJECTIONS interview about cultivation, contamination and being an other-mother. PDF of the article under Porous Projections.
OTHER-MOTHER photo exhibition in collaboration with art-historian & framer Veronika Korbei, side programm of Foto Wien in M2.
MY ARTIFICIAL WOMB at Soho Studios Vienna with QM&A curated by Ale Zapata. From May to Nov. 2021 I joined the Question Me & Answer artist collective. During these months I made research on SCOBY (Symbiotic Cultures Of Bacteria & Yeast) and collaborated with artist Mary Maggic.
2021
REACTIVE FUNGI WEARABLE at Red Carpet Showroom U-bahn station Karplsplatz in July'21. Collaboration with Question Me & Answer.
2020
TERRAIN VAGUE at Galerie SPZ in Prague, with Andreas Perkmann Berger and Rainer Stadlbauer from Kunstraum SUPER, Oct. 29 - Nov. 20, 2020
August 26 Gugging Sommerfest: drawing Tastsinn for #freudebereiten
Galerie Gugging
Compost Archaeology + Tastes like Honey
July 2020, Research Residency Künst in der Natur, Waldviertel AT.
2019
December 2019 to March 2020 Banner at Galerie SPZ Prague. Kunstraum Super Vienna invited me to design a flag as an announcement for an upcoming show in Galerie SPZ in Prague.
July 5 - August 8, 2019 TRANSITIONEN Group show with Kunstraum Super in Anti-chambre Düsseldorf. Curated by: Wilko Austermann, Andreas Perkmann Berger and Rainer Stadlbauer.
2018
September 25th - 30th. "From one skin to another"
Parallel Vienna, a Project Statement with Basement Autonomes Kunstraum. Duo exhibition with artist Christina Boula www.parallelvienna.com
2017
May - June 2017. "Geschichten aus Schichten" with Format.strk Vienna. Duo show with New Media artist Kevin Daryl Ferdinandus.
Strategische Kapitulation Website
2016
September 2016 - Zeitzoo Group Exhibition, Vienna.