Reconnecting with nature
PERK
An Enclosed Garden for Artistic Proliferation
PERK is an outdoor research and exhibition platform exploring enclosures, rewilding, and the hortus conclusus—a medieval symbol of purity, restraint, and control over nature and femininity. Through new curatorial strategies and outdoor ways of exhibiting, artists reinterpret this powerful metaphor, challenging capitalist and patriarchal narratives. PERK reclaims the enclosed garden as a space for polyphonic perspectives on our relationship with the more-than-human world.
Belgium
National
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Prototype level
No
No
As an individual
PERK aims to evolve into an outdoor artistic and curatorial research garden exploring enclosures, rewilding, and ecological exhibition-making. Within a fenced space, artists reflect on restriction and freedom, engaging with the hortus conclusus—a medieval metaphor for female purity, restraint, and control and reflects historical and contemporary thinking about nature and femininity. This powerful metaphor still shapes how capitalist and patriarchal societies extract and dominate both women and the natural world.
Reclaiming the enclosed garden as a site of resistance and imagination, PERK invites artistic interventions that reinterpret the hortus conclusus, creating new, polyphonic narratives. The first intervention—an enclosing metal structure by visual artist Margo Veeckman with support from architect Aurike Quintelier—will serve as both a setting and exhibition platform. Within its boundaries, the project sparks a dialogue between openness and seclusion, control and wildness, the human and the more-than-human.
Challenging the cultural divide between nature and culture, mind and body, and the feminine and the public sphere, PERK rethinks the garden as a living exhibition space. Rather than static relics, artworks will be invited to grow, evolve, decay, and return to the earth. Moving beyond the individualistic white-cube model, the garden fosters interactions between diverse contributors, creating a microcosm where cultural hierarchies are dismantled. By embracing the agency of more-than-human contributors, PERK envisions a more sustainable, symbiotic approach to art-making and exhibiting.
Located on the Ter Beken castle grounds on the outskirts of Ghent, the project will be embedded in a vibrant site managed by LUCA School of Arts, home to biological farmers, researchers, and a cherished local community. PERK welcomes nearby residents and city dwellers seeking refuge from urban enclosure, offering a space for alternative imagination and ecological engagement.
Reclaiming the enclosed garden as a site of resistance and imagination, PERK invites artistic interventions that reinterpret the hortus conclusus, creating new, polyphonic narratives. The first intervention—an enclosing metal structure by visual artist Margo Veeckman with support from architect Aurike Quintelier—will serve as both a setting and exhibition platform. Within its boundaries, the project sparks a dialogue between openness and seclusion, control and wildness, the human and the more-than-human.
Challenging the cultural divide between nature and culture, mind and body, and the feminine and the public sphere, PERK rethinks the garden as a living exhibition space. Rather than static relics, artworks will be invited to grow, evolve, decay, and return to the earth. Moving beyond the individualistic white-cube model, the garden fosters interactions between diverse contributors, creating a microcosm where cultural hierarchies are dismantled. By embracing the agency of more-than-human contributors, PERK envisions a more sustainable, symbiotic approach to art-making and exhibiting.
Located on the Ter Beken castle grounds on the outskirts of Ghent, the project will be embedded in a vibrant site managed by LUCA School of Arts, home to biological farmers, researchers, and a cherished local community. PERK welcomes nearby residents and city dwellers seeking refuge from urban enclosure, offering a space for alternative imagination and ecological engagement.
Outdoor exhibition making
More-than-human collaboration
Ecofeminist thinking
Artistic and curatorial research
Connection transience with durability
The enclosed garden will offer a platform for experimentation and research towards more ecological and sustainable ways of art production and exhibiting. Artists will be invited for their engagement in that area, or will be asked to think about new materials or production methods for their work that are in accordance with the environment. An artwork will only be accepted if 1. The production method does not cause harm to the ecosystem & 2. The artwork is able to remain at PERK indefinitely and does not cause harm to the local environment in any way. Together with the artist we will look at how circular and nature-based solutions can be implemented. Artists will be encouraged to think about how an artwork can go in relation/in dialogue with the natural environment.
The making of the structure will be done with respect towards and in symbioses with the close environment. The structure will be made of three fence-like-walls forming an open space. The covering of the ground will be part permeable metal structure, part concrete tiles. These tiles will be made out of recycled stones from the castle of Ter Beken that is currently under construction due to renovation works. Due to the renovation a lot of original material will have to be thrown out and can be recycled and repurposed as new building blocks for PERK.
The making of the structure will be done with respect towards and in symbioses with the close environment. The structure will be made of three fence-like-walls forming an open space. The covering of the ground will be part permeable metal structure, part concrete tiles. These tiles will be made out of recycled stones from the castle of Ter Beken that is currently under construction due to renovation works. Due to the renovation a lot of original material will have to be thrown out and can be recycled and repurposed as new building blocks for PERK.
The site where the project will take place has a multi-layered history, where various human and non-human interactions have taken place. As an 18th-century walled castle, located on the border of Drongen and Mariakerke (Ghent), it was built on the site where a feudal castle once stood. In the beginning of the 20th century, it became a luxurious country retreat and in 1948 a catholic training centre for young priests was built. In the nineties it turned into a boys boarding school. Now it is a meeting place for researchers, farmers and the neighboring community.
Histories and aesthetics of exclusion and binary thinking are imbedded in the architecture and landscaping of the site, which makes it an interesting spot to oppose and open up these boundaries. The hortus conclusus is also an exclusionary image that was developed to seclude women. Making the analogy of women with walled gardens says that both nature and women have to be tamed, controlled, kept under surveillance, because otherwise they will proliferate. PERK will start from the principles and aesthetics of the hortus conclusus but through artistic integration of rewilding and ecofeminist voices the archetype will be reclaimed as a space for new, polyphonic narratives.
Histories and aesthetics of exclusion and binary thinking are imbedded in the architecture and landscaping of the site, which makes it an interesting spot to oppose and open up these boundaries. The hortus conclusus is also an exclusionary image that was developed to seclude women. Making the analogy of women with walled gardens says that both nature and women have to be tamed, controlled, kept under surveillance, because otherwise they will proliferate. PERK will start from the principles and aesthetics of the hortus conclusus but through artistic integration of rewilding and ecofeminist voices the archetype will be reclaimed as a space for new, polyphonic narratives.
The project will be embedded in multisensorial strategies. It is very important that the experience of the space and exhibitions will be sensorial/ physical in the first place. In a further stage visitors can discover multiple cerebral layers of history, of critical thought, of polyphonic stories.
There will be a ramp incorporated in the design of the space for wheelchair users. The ramp will have a direct visual link to the tradition of the hortus conclusus, which was always portrayed with a closed fence in the middle. The ramp will replace the closed gate.
The site of Ter Beken is open for everyone and there is no access fee involved which makes it financially inclusive.
Mariakerke is the sub-municipality from Ghent with the least amount of young adults (age 20-29) living there. The project aims to work with a lot of young and mid-career artists that will result in an intergenerational exchange. With every new addition to the garden, the neighborhood will be invited for an introduction. The integration of this artistic platform will hopefully also attract more young people and artistic initiatives to the neighborhood.
The artists will also be invited based on their experience and/or engagement within intersectional ecofeminist praxis, working with ecological and nature-based materials. In the selection there will be a lot of attention going towards the inclusion of people from diverse backgrounds bringing different perspectives on art and the themes at hand.
There will be a ramp incorporated in the design of the space for wheelchair users. The ramp will have a direct visual link to the tradition of the hortus conclusus, which was always portrayed with a closed fence in the middle. The ramp will replace the closed gate.
The site of Ter Beken is open for everyone and there is no access fee involved which makes it financially inclusive.
Mariakerke is the sub-municipality from Ghent with the least amount of young adults (age 20-29) living there. The project aims to work with a lot of young and mid-career artists that will result in an intergenerational exchange. With every new addition to the garden, the neighborhood will be invited for an introduction. The integration of this artistic platform will hopefully also attract more young people and artistic initiatives to the neighborhood.
The artists will also be invited based on their experience and/or engagement within intersectional ecofeminist praxis, working with ecological and nature-based materials. In the selection there will be a lot of attention going towards the inclusion of people from diverse backgrounds bringing different perspectives on art and the themes at hand.
An architect and colleague at LUCA, Aurike Quintelier, is supporting the development and implementation of the structure. Together we will guide a class of 2nd bachelor students Visual Arts in the development of the repurposed tiles. Together with the students we will think about how natural elements have been incorporated in indoor spaces as ornamental patterns (as for instance in the Art Nouveau architecture style). Students will develop patterns based on the elements present on the site as a reference to this history.
For the welding of the structure we will work together with volunteers living in the surrounding neighborhood, appealing to the knowledge that is present there.
Once the structure is placed there will be guided tours provided for people of the neighborhood and people coming from further. Those tours will be done by the initiator of the project in the beginning. Gradually we will work towards a network of neighbors who are enthusiastic about the project and who would like to give guided tours as well.
Neighbors will also be invited to take up the role of gardener. All that lives needs to be cared for, so we will need a group of people who would like to take care of the garden in one way or another. Eventually, if people get invested, there is room for co-curation. This co-curation does not have to be based on naming possible artists, but can depart from needs of the garden.
For the welding of the structure we will work together with volunteers living in the surrounding neighborhood, appealing to the knowledge that is present there.
Once the structure is placed there will be guided tours provided for people of the neighborhood and people coming from further. Those tours will be done by the initiator of the project in the beginning. Gradually we will work towards a network of neighbors who are enthusiastic about the project and who would like to give guided tours as well.
Neighbors will also be invited to take up the role of gardener. All that lives needs to be cared for, so we will need a group of people who would like to take care of the garden in one way or another. Eventually, if people get invested, there is room for co-curation. This co-curation does not have to be based on naming possible artists, but can depart from needs of the garden.
The site of Ter Beken is managed by LUCA School of Arts, an organization that I work for as guest lecturer and that has given me permission to use the grounds for the project. They have also generously granted a small production budget to create the structure (4500 euros). This budget will be enough to build the structure, but not for the financing of the artistic programming. I am currently applying for other grants and financial aid to finance the artistic program.
An architect working at LUCA, Aurike Quintelier, is supporting in the development and implementation of the structure. Together we will guide a class of 2nd bachelor students Visual Arts in the development of the repurposed tiles. Together with the students we will think about how natural elements have been incorporated in indoor spaces as ornamental patterns (as for instance in the Art Nouveau architecture style). Students will develop patterns based on the elements present on the site as a reference to this history.
An architect working at LUCA, Aurike Quintelier, is supporting in the development and implementation of the structure. Together we will guide a class of 2nd bachelor students Visual Arts in the development of the repurposed tiles. Together with the students we will think about how natural elements have been incorporated in indoor spaces as ornamental patterns (as for instance in the Art Nouveau architecture style). Students will develop patterns based on the elements present on the site as a reference to this history.
The most important fields are curatorial studies, visual art, art history, anthropology, architecture and landscaping. Because the project is still being developed on a smaller scale, this knowledge has mainly been accessed by personal research through the artistic practice of the initiator of the project. There has been and will continue to be an exchange with architect Aurike Quintelier for the technical aspects of the space. In the future botanical experts will be consulted about the plants that are present at the site and how the preservation and stimulation of biodiversity can be achieved.
In the future there will be, ofcourse, a lot more transdisciplinary exchange. Artists will bring their own expertise and set of skills. They will also bring questions and needs for specific knowledge for the translation of their artistic ideas into ecological elaborations. For each case, the right expert (by experience) will be consulted.
In the future there will be, ofcourse, a lot more transdisciplinary exchange. Artists will bring their own expertise and set of skills. They will also bring questions and needs for specific knowledge for the translation of their artistic ideas into ecological elaborations. For each case, the right expert (by experience) will be consulted.
In the field of art presentation there is little research and experiment around outdoor exhibitions. There are sculpture parks, sculpture gardens and temporary art festivals but little to no outdoor exhibition spaces. In Belgium there is Middelheim, a sculpture park, and Publiek Park, a traveling sculpture festival, but both initiatives make little distinction between curating art outside or inside. In both cases the artworks are highly preserved leaving a high division between artobject and natural environment. There is little research and action to let the two grow into each other. This is what PERK aims to do: eliminate culturally instated hierarchies between nature and culture, actively work together with the more-than-human and inspire more inclusive, sustainable ways of art making and exhibiting.
The highly sensorial and immersive experience of the space is also an innovative aspect. Generally there is the tendency to present art in the most “neutral” way, eliminating the spatial context and depriving the visitor of an extra layer of embodied experience. In the setting of PERK there is not one subject, but many different actors/organisms contributing to a whole-body-experience.
The ephemeral approach of art is also very little explored in visual arts today. Even in art movements like Arte Povera there is a usage of natural materials but as soon as something becomes an ‘artobject’, the market value becomes more important and with the help of preservation the object stops living. In PERK, an artwork continues living when it is placed in the exhibition space.
The highly sensorial and immersive experience of the space is also an innovative aspect. Generally there is the tendency to present art in the most “neutral” way, eliminating the spatial context and depriving the visitor of an extra layer of embodied experience. In the setting of PERK there is not one subject, but many different actors/organisms contributing to a whole-body-experience.
The ephemeral approach of art is also very little explored in visual arts today. Even in art movements like Arte Povera there is a usage of natural materials but as soon as something becomes an ‘artobject’, the market value becomes more important and with the help of preservation the object stops living. In PERK, an artwork continues living when it is placed in the exhibition space.
In terms of construction we are designing the structure to have as least (negative) impact on the environment as possible. The structure will have a surface area of 25 square meters (5x5m) with a fence-height of 3m. The ‘fence-walls’ will exist out of a frame with a woven trellis-structure so it is still possible to see through the ‘walls’. We will use screw foundation elements to stabilize the construction with very low impact on the soil. The floor covering will exist mainly out of a metal grid tiles with an outer contour of concrete tiles. The floor covering creates a possibility to move freely on the platform with no harm to the biodiversity and the life of the soil.
In terms of exhibition making the project draws inspiration from the principles of the Endless Exhibition (a curatorial-manifesto-as-artwork by Prem Krishnamurthy and implemented by Kunsthal Ghent as curatorial principle). Artists are invited to contribute with an intervention to the garden, accepting the artwork being a living (and dying) organism. Artworks will always be added in a duo.
Overarching, ‘rewilding’ is used as an artistic methodology. Thinkers like Jack Halberstam (Wild Things, 2020) consider rewilding a form of (queer) resistance to the orderly impulses of modernity. Rewilding can be a tool to regenerate our perspective and reconstruct more fluid and multiperspectival narratives.
In terms of exhibition making the project draws inspiration from the principles of the Endless Exhibition (a curatorial-manifesto-as-artwork by Prem Krishnamurthy and implemented by Kunsthal Ghent as curatorial principle). Artists are invited to contribute with an intervention to the garden, accepting the artwork being a living (and dying) organism. Artworks will always be added in a duo.
Overarching, ‘rewilding’ is used as an artistic methodology. Thinkers like Jack Halberstam (Wild Things, 2020) consider rewilding a form of (queer) resistance to the orderly impulses of modernity. Rewilding can be a tool to regenerate our perspective and reconstruct more fluid and multiperspectival narratives.
The concept and construction of PERK can be replicated or transferred to other locations because of its elementary principles and simple construction. In case of duplication, it is important that the structure can remain there for a longer time so it has the opportunity to grow and develop in a slow and grounding manner. All things that live must be cared for so it is important that there is a primary caregiver or network of caregivers living close-by like in the situation of the original PERK.
Museums often have parks or greenery around it, which could be interesting spots to duplicate the structure. PERK could also work well in a highly urban context as a public artwork/artspace.
Museums often have parks or greenery around it, which could be interesting spots to duplicate the structure. PERK could also work well in a highly urban context as a public artwork/artspace.
In order for us to safeguard a future, we have to learn how to listen to more-than-human voices, giving back space and start actively collaborating. This project will experiment in how we can weave symbiotic relations through our human structures, habits and rituals. An artistic practice is an excellent place to experiment with and implement these methods since a lot of knowledge can be transmitted through aesthetic and embodied experiences. PERK will be exemplary on making art and exhibitions in symbiosis with the more-than-human. This means making space not only for creation but also for decay. Life-cycles can only be renewed when decomposition is allowed.
March-April: Finishing technical plans and preparing for the start of the construction. Applying for other grants and financial support for the programming of the artistic interventions. In the meantime I will be looking at an appropriate (inclusive) social media platform to communicate about PERK and its development.
May-August: Building of the structure. In may the concrete tiles will be developed with students of LUCA. The rest of the period will be used for the placing of the screw pile foundations, the welding of the structure, and the weaving of the trellis (fence-walls). In the meantime, the first artists will be approached and invited to explore the site. There will be a first exchange of ideas and the planning of the first interventions.
September-December: The space will be inaugurated on a small scale. Neighbors and LUCA staff and students will be invited to hear about future plans and to look at the first artistic intervention: the space. Meanwhile the production process of the first interventions will be executed and the space will be prepared for its official activation. There will be more effort to reach out to neighbors to start a network of caregivers.
January: Hibernation
February: first opening of the exhibition space with artistic interventions. This will be communicated and promoted on a broader level. In the meantime two new artists will be contacted to think about the following interventions.
May-August: Building of the structure. In may the concrete tiles will be developed with students of LUCA. The rest of the period will be used for the placing of the screw pile foundations, the welding of the structure, and the weaving of the trellis (fence-walls). In the meantime, the first artists will be approached and invited to explore the site. There will be a first exchange of ideas and the planning of the first interventions.
September-December: The space will be inaugurated on a small scale. Neighbors and LUCA staff and students will be invited to hear about future plans and to look at the first artistic intervention: the space. Meanwhile the production process of the first interventions will be executed and the space will be prepared for its official activation. There will be more effort to reach out to neighbors to start a network of caregivers.
January: Hibernation
February: first opening of the exhibition space with artistic interventions. This will be communicated and promoted on a broader level. In the meantime two new artists will be contacted to think about the following interventions.
