Project Wilgenvrouwen
Since november 2023 - Alchemical & cyclical garden project
Project Wilgenvrouwen is an artistic research project in which we bring together our individual practices through the long-term creation and maintenance of a garden. The garden functions as a living workspace and as a medium for exploring the relationship between art, spirituality, and natural cycles. We approach self-sufficiency as a form of peaceful action: change that arises through concrete, daily practices and through the development of alternative ways of living and creating.
Since November 2023, we have been working together in a garden in Sibbe. What initially was an open field of tall grass has developed into a dynamic ecosystem that confronts us with unpredictability, loss, and regeneration. We experience the garden as an active collaborator that guides the process and challenges us to let go of artistic control, working instead from reciprocity and attentive care.
Within this project, we investigate how an artistic practice can contribute to visualizing and shaping a cyclical approach to life. Our collaboration is characterized by sharing knowledge, jointly developing artisanal and artistic methods, and taking responsibility for each other and the site. By sharing our processes and insights with the public and the surrounding community, we aim to foster support for a shared, caring relationship with both landscape and society.
THE GARDEN
The garden is not only a location, but an active presence within the practice. It shapes the rhythm of the work through seasons, growth and decay, asking for ongoing attention, care and response. What is made here emerges from physical engagement: tending, harvesting, building, observing and waiting. The garden offers both material and direction, grounding artistic research in daily, embodied actions.
Rather than functioning as a backdrop, the garden continuously influences how decisions are made, how time is structured and how encounters take place. It is a shared field in which artistic, ecological and social processes intertwine. In this sense, the garden becomes a living collaborator — a place where practice is shaped through reciprocity, continuity and listening.
The garden is not only a location, but an active presence within the practice. It shapes the rhythm of the work through seasons, growth and decay, asking for ongoing attention, care and response. What is made here emerges from physical engagement: tending, harvesting, building, observing and waiting. The garden offers both material and direction, grounding artistic research in daily, embodied actions.
Rather than functioning as a backdrop, the garden continuously influences how decisions are made, how time is structured and how encounters take place. It is a shared field in which artistic, ecological and social processes intertwine. In this sense, the garden becomes a living collaborator — a place where practice is shaped through reciprocity, continuity and listening.
COLLABORATION
Wilgenvrouwen is a collaboration rooted in embodied practice, care and ongoing dialogue. Two distinct artistic practices meet without merging, forming a shared field in which making, ritual, conversation and physical labour are inseparable. The work unfolds through what is done together: tending, hosting, building, cooking, speaking and listening. These actions are not supportive to the work — they are the work.
Rather than working toward fixed outcomes, the collaboration remains responsive to what is present: the place, the people and the moment. Beatrice brings a focus on holding space, ritual and collective processes, shaping the relational and atmospheric dimension of the practice. Alongside this, the collaboration is grounded in material and organisational gestures that anchor the work in daily life. Through sustained conversation and shared responsibility, Wilgenvrouwen functions as a living, evolving practice — one that grows through trust, difference and shared commitment.
Wilgenvrouwen is a collaboration rooted in embodied practice, care and ongoing dialogue. Two distinct artistic practices meet without merging, forming a shared field in which making, ritual, conversation and physical labour are inseparable. The work unfolds through what is done together: tending, hosting, building, cooking, speaking and listening. These actions are not supportive to the work — they are the work.
Rather than working toward fixed outcomes, the collaboration remains responsive to what is present: the place, the people and the moment. Beatrice brings a focus on holding space, ritual and collective processes, shaping the relational and atmospheric dimension of the practice. Alongside this, the collaboration is grounded in material and organisational gestures that anchor the work in daily life. Through sustained conversation and shared responsibility, Wilgenvrouwen functions as a living, evolving practice — one that grows through trust, difference and shared commitment.
SHARING & GATHERINGS
The garden comes alive through moments of gathering. Workdays, rituals, seasonal celebrations, shared meals and harvest feasts are integral to the practice, not as side activities but as core artistic gestures. These moments create a rhythm in which making, caring, reflecting and celebrating become intertwined.
By working and eating together, the garden becomes a place of exchange: of knowledge, stories, skills and attention. Each gathering is shaped by the season, the needs of the land and the people present. What emerges is not a fixed format, but a living programme that grows alongside the garden itself.
Through these shared moments, the work is experienced collectively — embodied, situated and relational. They form the entry points into the project, inviting others to step into the garden, to participate, and to become part of its ongoing cycle.
The garden comes alive through moments of gathering. Workdays, rituals, seasonal celebrations, shared meals and harvest feasts are integral to the practice, not as side activities but as core artistic gestures. These moments create a rhythm in which making, caring, reflecting and celebrating become intertwined.
By working and eating together, the garden becomes a place of exchange: of knowledge, stories, skills and attention. Each gathering is shaped by the season, the needs of the land and the people present. What emerges is not a fixed format, but a living programme that grows alongside the garden itself.
Through these shared moments, the work is experienced collectively — embodied, situated and relational. They form the entry points into the project, inviting others to step into the garden, to participate, and to become part of its ongoing cycle.
