Marjolein Guldentops is a visual artist and performer based in Brussels, who explores the materiality of language and the dynamics of textual experience through writing, orality, and visual compositions. Her practice delves into movement, place, urban rhythms, and the semantics that shape our perceptions of both physical and metaphysical spaces. She focuses on the interplay between the human body, its surroundings, and the communicative interactions between people. Through her daily writing and walking practice, Guldentops distills information from her environment, uncovering nuances in language and spatial experience.
Regarding words as her collaborators, she blends graphic and typographic elements, spatial compositions, and lyrical sequences, weaving together different linguistic systems to convey multiple meanings through the ambiguity and conventionality of language. These compositions often take sculptural form, unfolding through performances and paper sculptures. Guldentops challenges traditional notions of functionality and significance by recontextualising elements of corporate culture—such as desk settings, office supplies, corporate workwear, and administrative codes—imbuing them with new interpretations. Her work spans various forms, including performance, drawing, publication, and installation, while also exploring different printing techniques.
Education
2017 - 2019 Teachers training Visual Arts - LUCA School of Arts, Ghent (BE)
2016 - 2017 MFA, LUCA School of Arts, Brussels (BE)
2015 - 2016 Erasmus exchange, Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, Leipzig DE
2013 - 2016 BFA, LUCA School of Arts, Brussels (BE)
Upcoming:
Spring 2025
Book + Record launch, Right Now, Right Here, Here Now, Brussels
Past:
Exhibitions and Other Activities
2024
Performance, Tell Tales, Nicosia (CY)
Mäander:::meander, a process-orientated project on walking methodologies in Berlin (DE)
OPEN STUDIO, Cité Internationale des arts, Paris (FR)
Performance, Blue Bench Session #3, Bizet Bizar, Brussels (BE)
Performance, Where Are We Going, Cité Internationale des arts, Paris (FR)
Group exhibition, Au bord de l'infini, Cité Internationale des arts, Paris (FR)
Screening, Turning Point, Antwerp Art Weekend, From me To You Space, Antwerp (BE)
In-situ installation and performance, Nomadic, Bloemenhofplein, Brussels (BE)
Artist talk w/ Niels Poiz, ABCB, MAX, Brussels (BE)
Group exhibition, Lunar Practices, Bananafish, Shanghai (CN)
2023
Duo show w/ Eva Karduck, FLUX I BELL PLACE, Berlin (DE)
Billboard, Living by the Sun, Dreaming with the Moon, Lunar Practices, B09k, Changsha (CN)
Group exhibition, LINGUISTIC XPEDITION, URBAN NATION, Berlin (DE)
Performance, Somewhere along the Line, Jester, Genk (BE)
Activation Bureau of Lost Causes, artists’ books fair Apples & Oranges, Jester, Genk (BE)
Group exhibition, Rhizome structures, Hamburg (DE)
OPEN STUDIOS, Fresh A.I.R. #8, Berlin (DE)
Performance, There and Back Again, Flyktig / Fugitive, Valdres (NO)
Activation Bureau of Lost Causes, Week-end LIVE, Musée Boverie, Liège (BE)
Group exhibition, Banqueroute, Musée Boverie, Liège (BE)
Book launch & performance, Where Are We Going, SB34 - The Pool, Brussels (BE)
2022
Performance, Here now, WIELS Art Book Fair, Brussels (BE)
Performance, Here now, Le Lac, Brussels (BE)
Performance, Boarding Call, Les Heures Sauvages, curated by Pauline Hatzigeorgiou, Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris (FR)
Vitrine, Urban Rhythms, Art au Centre #9, Liège (BE)
Workshop, Walking and Writing the City, Le Lac, Brussels (BE)
Audio commission, Airport Special (O.J.A.I./No Tourists), Dublin Digital Radio
Performance, Final Call, SB34 Clovis, Brussels (BE)
2021
Performance, Space Travel, BANG! Big Bang city festival, Stelplaats, Leuven (BE)
Performance, Assembly Call, SB34 Clovis, Brussels (BE)
Activation Bureau of Lost Causes, Apples & Oranges artist publications and multiples fair, C-Mine, Genk (BE)
Solo exhibition, Urban Rhythms, GC De Maalbeek, Brussels (BE)
Group exhibition, Bruoscella, K.L.8, Brussels (BE)
Performance, Lost and Found, SUEUR festival, Abdij van Vorst, Brussels (BE)
2020
Group exhibition, THE FEMALE HAZE(d), Decoratelier, Brussels (BE)
Group exhibition, Slow Motion Slumber, Rue Denmark 35, Brussels (BE)
2018
Video screening, Circular Movements, Cas-co, Leuven (BE)
Solo exhibition, (To Take) A Form To Make A Form, Cas-co, Leuven (BE)
2017
Group exhibition, Jonge Kunstenaars, Carrington Gallery, Ghent (BE)
Graduation show, Reviewing Authorship, LUCA SCHOOL OF ARTS, Brussels (BE)
Group exhibition, There’s Always More to See, M Museum, Leuven (BE)
2016
Group exhibition, I EYE MADE THIS THESE, Greylight Projects, Brussels (BE)
Group exhibition, I spy with my little eye, Gap gap gallery, Leipzig (DE)
Group exhibition, Brussels Complex, HGB, Leipzig (DE)
2015
Group Exhibition, HET HUIS, MEC site, Mechelen (BE)
Group Exhibition, Le mythe acide de la cerise éclectique au salon sauvage: Maison Des Arts, Brussels (BE)
2013
STRANGE LOOPS, Congres station, Brussels (BE)
Publications
2024 Art Au Centre - Catalogue 2022-2023
2024 SOFAM Revue #4
2022 Artistic contribution, Linda Nochlin Fanzine, Kiosk Gent, (BE)
2021 Artist book, Where Are We Going, published by Zero-Desk Editions
2022 Article, Boarding Call, written by Raymond Balau, L'art même #87
Artistic collaborations
2017 NEKUIA, group show, soundpiece w/ Stephanie Becquet, Brussels (BE)
2017 Soup Sonnette, Festival Poisson-Évêque, performance w/ Stephanie Becquet and Romy Vanderveken, Brussels (BE)
2017 Do Not Open: 02, performance w/ Bo Vloors, Emma Verbeeck, Max Meyer, Arthur Brouns, Oscar Cassamajor and Quinten Vermaelen, La Vallée, Brussels (BE)
2016 Sneeuwlicht a theaterplay by Heleen Desmet, scenography w/ Stephanie Becquet and Romy Vanderveken, OPEK, Leuven (BE)
Grants & Residencies
2024 Two-week residency culminating in a three-day festival, Xarkis, Nicosia (CY)
2024. Mini-grant by SOFAM
2024 Culture Moves Europe grant, Funded by the creative Europe programme of the European Union
2024 Three-month residency supported by the Flemish Government, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (FR)
2023 One-year artist in residence scholarship program, Fresh A.I.R.#8, Berlin (DE)
2023 One-week on-site research and public presentation program, Flyktig/Fugitive, Valdres (NO)
2023 Grant for visual artist, SOFAM
2023 Grant for emerging artist, The Flemish Community Commission (VGC)
2018 Two-month residency, N+1 Project Space, Cas-co, Leuven (BE)
2017 Award: N+1 Project Space, Leuven (BE)
2017 Two-month residency, La Vallée, Brussels (BE)