M A R I E L L E V A N D E K E R K H O F
Art and Culture
Business Development Specialist - Curator
2025
Woman and Work
By and From Women, For Everyone
Museum Helmond x Human Campus
The exhibition Woman and Work at the Brainport Human Campus showcases artworks in which women are both creators and models. The exhibition offers an inspiring look at the role of women in the world of work and art. From craft professions to young artists, the exhibition highlights the resilience, creativity and influence of women in various sectors. Using historical objects, personal stories and contemporary art, it presents a multifaceted picture of the challenges and successes experienced by women. Woman and Work invites visitors to reflect on social change and the ongoing struggle for equality in the workplace and the art world, while helping to recognize and acknowledge women and their work.
2024
Museum Helmond x Freedom Pavilion
June 12, 2024 was the day ... Mayor Blanksma opened the Museum Helmond x Freedom pavilion by unveiling the poem about the National Festive Skirt and "cutting" the ribbon with Daisy Roefs, city artist of Helmond (2024 and 2025).
On the first afternoon, we welcomed about 80 visitors and two Freedom posters were turned. Also, several works and objects appropriate to the theme of Freedom have already been offered for display in the pavilion.
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Saturday, September 28, was the last afternoon that the Museum Helmond x Freedom Pavilion was open to the public. It was a very special afternoon with the unveiling of the beautiful liberation skirt by Mayor Elly Blanksma. Mieke Manders was well deservedly put in the limelight and explained how this great liberation skirt came about.
Ernesto Arrendell once again provided a special musical setting. His perfomance is not only beautiful to hear but also to watch. In addition to the many different objects and musical instruments he uses, he makes the music from his toes with his whole body and face moving with the music. This musical freedom was a true asset at the Pavilion.
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Since June 12, dozens of Freedom posters have been made and several elementary schools have created a total of 20 1m2 paintings on which they have collectively depicted what freedom means to them.
2024
PowerWork
Museum Helmond x Human Campus
The new exhibition KrachtWerk on the Human Campus had a clear link with the annual theme of Driessen Groep, superheroes and super talents with the question #Watisjouwsupertalent?
The satellite exhibition KrachtWerk seamlessly combines the themes of superhuman abilities and exceptional talents, inspired by a diverse range of works from the collection of Museum Helmond. As you embark on this ‘journey’, you will encounter images that celebrate the strength and resilience of both fictional superheroes and real people. You will encounter iconic photographs by Anton Corbijn, including the striking portraits of Kraftwerk. In addition, the Art Route shows the visionary designs of Paul Smith. His innovative creations invite us to look at the world through an artistic lens. KrachtWerk makes you think about the strength and potential that lies within each of us.
2023
Uniform Satellite Exhibition
Museum Helmond x Human Campus
In May 2023, a unique event took place, both in the history of Brainport Human Campus and Museum Helmond. It was the first time that art left the museum depot, not to another museum, but to a business location.
It is special that in some cases art from the collection of Museum Helmond is now on display that has not seen the light of day for decades, as it were, because it was stored in the depot, but can now be seen by a new audience. Simultaneously with the Uniform exhibition in Kunsthal Helmond we are showing the satellite exhibition Uniform on the Human Campus.
In addition to the selection made from our own collection, we also show work by Bo Bannink and Caz Egelie, two artists whose work can also be seen in the exhibition at the Kunsthal.
As a curator, I hope that the works I have selected will cause visitors and employees of the Human Campus to feel a sense of wonder, that the art will, as it were, take them 'out of their ordinary daily life' for a moment and show them something slightly different.
2023
Castle garden through the ages
In this exhibition, the Castle Garden, with its rich history, plays the leading role. For almost 700 years, Helmond Castle, the largest moated castle in the Netherlands, has stood in the heart of the city. The city castle changed function over the centuries, as did its castle garden. In the past, the land around the castle mainly served as an agricultural country house and vegetable garden. Later, it became an ornamental garden for the rich and noble castle residents. For more than 100 years, it has been a city park, open to everyone.
In addition to the historical context, the life-size flower still lifes of visual artist Linda Nieuwstad can be seen, both inside and outside. Nieuwstad bases her works on historical flower still lifes from the seventeenth century, using leftover materials such as truck tarpaulin and wool blankets.
The floral motif in the design is based on one of Julia IIlkiv's works.
For this exhibition I have been involved in both components, the exhibition concept and the fundraising.
The exhibition was made possible in part by the Mondriaan Fund, the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund and Vlisco.
2022
Miss Emelie Wesselman of Helmond (1895-1987)
In 2018, Museum Helmond was pleased to receive the Earp donation from Mark Luis Earp, grandson of Emelie Wesselman of Helmond. The donation is a valuable addition to Museum Helmond's permanent collection. Family heirlooms, with accompanying memories and stories, make Museum Helmond's collection come alive, especially when we share them with the public. In 2021, as junior curator, I get to work on collection research. All the family heirlooms are like puzzle pieces that, collectively, tell the story of Emelie and her family. The results of my collection research will be shown in the exhibition Freule Emelie Wesselman van Helmond (1895-1987) where daily life at Castle Helmond over a century ago plays a leading role. For example, Emelie was a pupil at the Wilhelminaschool in Helmond and also at the Rijks-HBS, now better known as the Jan van Brabant College.
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Helmond Castle has been the domain of the Wesselman family for four generations. And in recent decades, Museum Helmond has highlighted the lives of Messrs. Wesselman more than once. But in this exhibition, we shine our light on Emelie Wesselman of Helmond, who spent her younger years and her youth at Helmond Castle. Emelie and her younger sister Betsy were the last girls to grow up in Helmond Castle. What was it like as a young girl exploring the castle while playing? What was Emelie's life like as a young lady? Although society 100 years ago looked very different from today, there are also surprising similarities. For example, Emelie (Emilia to family and friends) grew up to be a confident and modern woman. A young woman who drove a car and volunteered for association Tesselschade, a non-profit organization that mediated for, civilized, job-seeking women. Emelie was one of the mediators and educated about vocational training opportunities, among other things.
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We outline Emelie's life through original footage and objects that belonged to her and her family. These include the family albums, her mother's diary, the school report card, the quartet and several children's books. The notebook in which Emelie, among other things, writes an essay as a 13-year-old girl about her first ball at Castle Helmond opens the door for us as spectators to the world of the past.
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And that is what I had in mind with this collection research and accompanying exhibition, a look into the world of the past, with the connection to the world of today.
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The accompanying publication Freule Emelie Wesselman of Helmond is available in the museum shop for 14.95 euros. This publication was co-sponsored by the Mondriaan Fund, Wesselman Accountants and Advisors, the Association of Friends of Museum Helmond and WBooks. And thanks to Mark Luis Earp for the visual material.
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This exhibition and its accompanying film and education program was made possible in part by the Mondriaan Fund, Coovels Smits Foundation, Tiny and Anny van Doorne Fund, ZLM Insurance and the many (private) loaners.
Emelie Wesselman from Helmond 1895
Emelie Wesselman from Helmond 1897
Emelie Wesselman from Helmond 1899
2022-present
Julia Ilkiv
Julia Ilkiv & Co. Pop Up Art Gallery
Since September 2022, thanks to VOLOP Helmond and Elzaspassage, I have had a Pop Up Art Gallery in the Elzaspassage in Helmond together with Julia Ilkiv.
In addition to showing her work, Julia also uses the gallery as a studio. Visitors can see her create her artwork live. In the meantime, dozens of Julia's works have found their way to new owners and walls to hang. She receives a number of visitors in multiples, with several visitors coming by on a regular basis.
2022
Sofia Shilova
Artist in Residence & Resilience Exhibition in POST#5700
Sofia Shilova, a young artist of 21 from Ukraine, fled the war and ended up in Helmond.
Sofia Shilova has been given the opportunity to create new work as an artist in residence in the studio space made available to her at cultural breeding ground POST#5700 since November 2022. During her artist in residence period, she created new work. She was also given the opportunity to show her work for the first time in a solo exhibition. In collaboration with Joke Smeulders, I was involved as an initiator and curator in developing and implementing the exhibition concept in POST#5700.
