Step into the shoes of an artist and experience a varied morning full of creativity and movement.
Unfortunately, this workshop is fully booked!
Thursday, 13 August, 2026
10AM—1PM
Water bottle
Athletic clothing
Outdoor sports shoes
Sunday, 28 June, gardens across the entire municipality will transform into sunny open-air stages. Local performing artists will perform behind the neighbors’ fence, the lawn becomes the stage, and the garden furniture turns into the grandstand!
There is no need to buy a ticket. But you can support the performers and the festival with a voluntary donation.
John & Maarten found each other through their shared love of music. Together, they perform singer-songwriter songs in Dutch, Limburgish, and English, with Maarten accompanying John’s deep, rich vocals on guitar and piano. The repertoire ranges from Laat me and Streets of London to Wonderful Tonight. Something for everyone!
Sunday, 28 Jun, 2026
1PM / 2:30PM / 4PM
At the back of the Marres city garden, by the ice house
Capucijnenstraat 98, 6211 RT Maastricht
Entrance through the main entrance of Marres
Join us on June 2nd at the Marres city garden for an intimate evening of storytelling, reflection and collective listening centered around the theme “Lost in Translation”.
Through personal stories shared in a warm and welcoming atmosphere, this storytelling night invites guests to gather, slow down, and experience the power of shared narratives and community.
Date: Tuesday 2 June, 2026
Time: Doors open at 19:00
Event starts at 19:30 and ends at 21:30
Location: Marres city garden
(Check in at the reception, accessible through the front door of Marres)
The evening will include a series of live stories, moments of conversation, and small snacks and drinks.
The event is free to attend, but capacity is limited, so registration is required to reserve your spot. The event will be fully in English.
Open mic for storytelling will also be available. We’d love to welcome you there!
Vladyslava (Vlada) Sylenok is a person who discovered one day through the feedback of other creatives that the notes she types in her iPhone are, apparently, quite poetic.
Since then, she has come to an agreement with her inner critic that she is, in fact, artistic, and has written around 15 to 20 poems, 5 to 7 texts, and 2 or 3 short stories.
The stories and texts, however, have been untouched for a while, waiting for their time to be edited and eventually post on Substack. Precise wording and short-form writing come most naturally to her — possibly because of some presence of neurodivergent traits.
Currently, she is searching for her style and voice whilst thinking, speaking, and writing in four languages. Her art comes from navigating life on the border between her post-Soviet upbringing, contemporary Ukrainian culture still in the making, and the Western world she once longed for, and the one that suddenly fell upon her four years ago.
Lavinia Gennari is a third year student at Maastricht University where she majored in sociology, literature, and gender studies. Apart from her studies, she is really passionate about writing, poems in particular.
Someone on a path which unfolds as I take the steps. Lover of life, the arts, silence, nature and fire.
Hello, I am a twenty-three year old, Persian Iranian, Dutch born, woman, studying Psychology at the UM. And truthfully, I have felt lost in translation my whole life. In my short story I’ll touch on my current understanding of it, considering the state of our world :,)
Oumaima Belkhdar is a spoken word artist and writer who creates experimental, genre-defying work. Her absurdist writing often explores alternative realities and focuses on the gray area between social positions and identity. Recurring themes in her work include time travel, mental health, (post)colonialism, and internet culture.
Oumaima is a former resident at deBuren and the National Theatre of Greece, has performed on a variety of stages, and has published work in, among others, De Revisor. She is currently working on her first two theatre pieces and a novel.
In the month of July, Chorusing Symbionts can be seen in the city garden of Marres. The work consists of a group of small sound creatures hidden in the greenery, creating spatial electronic music that invites listeners to pay close attention to their surroundings. They blend so seamlessly into the landscape that it feels as though they have always belonged there. As you listen, you experience how technology and nature merge into a new form of music.
Chorusing Symbionts is a project exploring whether music can bridge the worlds of humans, robots, and animals. It does so within the field of ecoacoustics, which studies how sound functions in nature. The project draws inspiration from emerging ideas in artificial intelligence and bioacoustics, particularly how animals communicate through sound. It envisions a future where new artificial beings coexist naturally with real animals, akin to a form of embodied, sensory science fiction.
At the heart of this project lies a key question: Can we use the current focus on artificial intelligence (which often centers only on human intelligence) to develop a broader understanding of intelligence? And can we learn from nature how different species coexist peacefully, thereby contributing to a more balanced relationship between humans and the biosphere?
1—31 July 2026
closed on Mondays
12PM—10PM
The city garden is freely accessible through the gate of Marres Kitchen.
Marres city garden
Capucijnenstraat 98, Maastricht
Do you want to share your experiences in the garden? Do you have any questions that you would like to ask Matteo Marangoni? Then fill out the brief form below and let us hear your thoughts on this project!
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In connection with the Chorusing Symbionts project, which will be on display in July, Matteo Marangoni led a workshop. In Marres’ garden, he explored how people can share and interact with different life forms—plants, animals, and humans—through sound and music.
Free entrance
17 July 2026
Walk in from 5PM, start 5:30PM
Visit the exhibition Limburg Biënnale between12-8PM, free entrance from 5PM.
Marres city garden
Capucijnenstraat 98, Maastricht
Matteo Marangoni is an artist specializing in sonic rituals, DIY media, and applied utopianism. His artistic practice focuses on exploring the relationship between humans and things, nature, and technology. Together with Dieter Vandoren he created Komorebi: a swarm of artificial creatures that generate music in response to the shadows of trees moving in the wind. He is eager to explore how artificial intelligence can facilitate connections with other forms of intelligence on our planet. Marangoni is a co-founder of the instrument inventors initiative (iii) in The Hague.
TEAM Chorusing Symbionts
Chorusing Symbionts builds upon previous work developed with Dieter Vandoren
PARTNERS
FONDSEN
Municipality of The Hague
Creative Industries Fund NL
Performing Arts Fund NL
On Wednesday, June 11, the whole country turns into one big playground, and Marres is joining in! Come play outside in our delightful city garden.
Make your own witch’s brew, smell fragrant flowers, taste fresh elderflower, and search for all the colors of the rainbow.
Let your senses be stimulated and your imagination run wild. Be sure to wear old clothes, because getting dirty is not just allowed, it’s a must!
Date: Wednesday, June 10, 2026
Time: 12—4PM
Location: The city garden of Marres in Maastricht
Free entrance
Read more about the Marres city gardenParents can enjoy a book in the garden, or relax at Marres Kitchen.
Free entrance
Discover the magic of moss! As appreciation for nature declines, so does the willingness to take climate action. The project Moss explores this development through a sensory installation that encourages calm, awareness, and respect for the natural environment. In addition, visitors are invited to search for moss in the Marres garden. During this exploration, special attention is given to this small yet important plant, which can be found almost everywhere and plays an essential role in the ecosystem.
While studying visual communication in Maastricht, Anneke Wubbolts learned to look at art, creators, and the world around her in a new way. After graduating, she founded her own company, studio KEANS. In her work, she combines various media and techniques to make social themes accessible and stimulate dialogue. Through this, she aims to spark awareness and forge new connections.
Friday, 12 June, 2026
Project Mos will also be on display on June 13!
5:30—8PM
Free
Dutch
20 persons
Marres city garden
Capucijnenstraat 98, Maastricht
Please check in at the front desk first!
Discover the hidden layers of Marres’s urban garden and join us in exploring its history, value, and future, gaining practical knowledge and insights along the way.
Angelina Valleau (1971) is an expert in built heritage and its sustainability, with a growing specialization in green heritage: an often-overlooked aspect of historic preservation. Drawing on her “Green Heritage” program at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, she focuses on analyzing, evaluating, and future-proofing historic gardens and landscapes.
Saturday, 13 June, 2026
10—11AM
Day pass for Saturday: €15
This includes:
– Guided tour by Angelina Valleau
– Workshop (including lunch) by Wilgenvrouwen
– Performance by Plantelectra Orchestra
Dutch
20 persons
Marres city garden
Capucijnenstraat 98, Maastricht
Please check in at the front desk first!
Explore how a garden can function as a living workplace, where the relationship between art, spirituality, and natural cycles is brought to life through artistic inquiry, daily care, and self-sustaining practices.
At lunchtime, we’ll enjoy a plant-based meal together.
Pleun Moons draws inspiration from her collaboration with her garden, which centers on the relationship between humans and the earth. Her practice combines physical labor with more contemplative methods, resulting in a variety of forms such as paintings, dinners, and harvest festivals. She works cyclically: what grows is processed and returns as the foundation for new work. In this way, she develops a sustainable, ever-evolving practice.
Beatrice Pittman sees the bringing together of people, objects, and rituals as a form of “weaving.” This gives rise to interactive situations in which people and their surroundings enter into dialogue with one another. Her work is exploratory and experiential, with a focus on physicality and encounter. She draws on ancient crafts and rituals and works as a spaceholder: she creates and maintains a setting in which exchange and shared experience take center stage.
Saturday, 13 June, 2026
11AM—3:30PM
Day pass for Saturday: €15
This includes:
– Guided tour by Angelina Valleau
– Workshop (including lunch) by Wilgenvrouwen
– Performance by Plantelectra Orchestra
Dutch
20 persons
Marres city garden
Capucijnenstraat 98, Maastricht
Please check in at the front desk first!
Experience an intimate performance in which plants use technology to produce sound, effectively becoming musicians themselves. In a small, immersive setting, a performer moves among the plants and interacts with them, while their rhythms and vibrations become audible to the audience. Get closer to nature, which takes center stage here as a living presence.
Julia van de Kar is a theater artist, performer, and educator who graduated from the Maastricht Academy of Performing Arts. She works intuitively and physically, focusing on voice and movement as universal forms of communication. Her performances exist in the space between the visible and the hidden, creating opportunities for connection and reflection. She also develops participatory workshops and works as a museum educator.
Ananya Samyt is a performer and sound artist who works at the intersection of nature and technology. Using modular synthesizers and biosensors, she translates electrical signals from plants into sound, with the plants acting as active creators. Her work often emerges in collaboration with musicians and invites a new way of listening, where nature and electronics converge.
Saturday, 13 June, 2026
3:30—5PM
Day pass for Saturday: €15
This includes:
– Guided tour by Angelina Valleau
– Workshop (including lunch) by Wilgenvrouwen
– Performance by Plantelectra Orchestra
Dutch/English
20 personen
Marres city garden
Capucijnenstraat 98, Maastricht
Please check in at the front desk first!
Throughout the day, ecological gardener Hans van Engelbrecht will be on hand to answer a wide range of questions about the flora and fauna in the Marres garden, which he knows like the back of his hand.
Hans Engelbrecht is the owner of the company De Groene Stap. He skillfully weaves together cultural history, ecology, and the surrounding environment. This results in a connection between gardens and landscaped spaces where nature and natural processes take center stage. In Maastricht, his projects include the Marres city garden, the Sphinxpark, and the Garden of Mercy.
The workshops will take place regardless of the weather, so please dress appropriately!
Questions? Email receptie@marres.info
Marres receives ongoing support from the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science, the Province of Limburg, and the City of Maastricht.
Thanks to the Elisabeth Strouven Fonds.
Thanks to everyone who, through the workshops, guided tour, or performance, took us into their world and connected us just a little more with nature.
Marres would also like to thank Hans Engelbrecht, the ecological gardener and designer of the city garden, our volunteer Thuur, and everything that grows and blooms in the garden.
Marres and Queer Art Club are hosting a storytelling evening on Friday evening, 10 October 2025.
We invite you to gather around a campfire in Marres’ intimate city garden and listen to stories with “queer” as the theme.
With:
Marc Boas
Pia Breuer
Brunei Deneumostier
Frida Roper
Friday, 10 October 2025
inloop vanaf 18:00
storytelling: 18:30—20:30
Marres garden
Capucijnenstraat 98, Maastricht
Free admission
Please reserve a spot via reserveringen@marres.info. There’s a maximum of 50 visitors. The event is in English.
Made possible by Cultuurmakers Maastricht
Marres receives structural support from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Province of Limburg, and the Municipality of Maastricht.
After a fun and successful edition in April, Marres will host another neighborhood gathering. Come join us in the Marres city garden. Everyone is welcome – neighbours, friends, and passers-by.
At around 1,000 m², the Marres garden is the largest public city garden in Maastricht. It features a vegetable patch, herb beds, and several fruit trees.
Together we’ll pick ripe figs (maybe even some apples!) and enjoy the fruit, drinks, and summery vibes. You’re welcome to take your harvest home with you.
Friday, 29 August 2025
Picking: 4:30—5:30PM
Drinks until 7:30PM
Marres City Garden
Capucijnenstraat 98, Maastricht
Entry is free. We appreciate your RSVP at reserveringen@marres.info.
Extended invites you to the presentation of their final project on Saturday, June 21st.
Over the past few months, Extended has been working with the theme of dreams, which served as the inspiration for their final project on lullabies. During the final presentation, we invite you to share your own lullabies with us, so we can listen to them together. Maybe, in doing so, we can escape our nightmares.
Date: 21 June 2025
Time: 12—2PM
Location: Marres City Garden, Maastricht
The educational program Extended is a collaborative project by Marres and the Jan van Eyck Academie, in which young people work together for four months on a socially engaged art project.
Read more about the Extended youth program
How can you capture the essence of a place in a drawing? And how much space do we actually include when we draw a scene? In this special drawing workshop, we’ll dive into the garden of Marres and uncover its hidden language—a language of shapes, memories, and wonder.
You’ll receive a handmade field guide as your starting point, inviting you to set off on an adventurous pencil journey through the garden. This field guide will serve as the foundation for a personal archive we’ll build together, filled with sketches, mementos, and stories.
We’ll use this collection to question and explore the space and to create a visual narrative without words—told entirely through shapes and images. Inspired by old botanical illustrations, you’ll combine your own sketches with fragments of photos and stories from the past and present of the Marres garden.
With a variety of drawing materials and visual examples, Gladys will show how wordless visual stories can come to life. Explore books on forgotten plants to help shape a unique, personal interpretation of this walled garden.
This workshop is an invitation to slow down, to feel, and to connect deeply with the nature around us through drawing.
Saturday 23 August 2025
You can sign up for one of the two workshops:
12—2PM (Fully booked)
3—5PM (Last tickets!)
€5,00 per person
Dutch
Maximum of 12 persons per workshop
Marres
Capucijnenstraat 98, Maastricht
Materials included:
The garden of Marres was the source of inspiration for the linocut that Elisa Verkoelen created a few years ago. “In the Marres garden, I saw how light and shadow alternated, and how the garden was made up of layers.”
On Sunday, August 24, 2025, she will lead a linocut workshop. Discover the Marres garden in a new way: work with negative space and let shadows and shapes tell new stories, which you will then translate into blind drawings and black-and-white linocuts.
No prior experience with linocutting is necessary to participate in the workshop. It is recommended to wear clothing that can get dirty.
Sunday 24 August 2025
You can sign up for one of the two workshops:
12—2PM (Fully booked)
3—5PM (Fully booked)
€5,00 per person
Dutch
Maximum of 8 persons per workshop
Marres
Capucijnenstraat 98, Maastricht
Materials included
The workshops will take place in all weather conditions—please dress and equip yourself accordingly!
Questions? Email receptie@marres.info
Would you also like to visit Vultures & Fireflies? You can with a valid admission ticket.
Marres receives structural support from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Province of Limburg and the Municipality of Maastricht.
In addition, Marres thanks Hans Engelbrecht, our volunteer Thuur, as well as everything that grows and flourishes in the garden.
On Wednesday, June 11, 2025, the whole country turns into one big playground — and Marres is joining in! Come play outside in our delightful city garden.
Make your own witch’s brew, smell fragrant flowers, taste fresh elderflower, and search for all the colors of the rainbow.
Let your senses be stimulated and your imagination run wild! Be sure to wear old clothes, because getting dirty is not just allowed — it’s a must!
Date: Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Time: 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Location: The city garden of Marres in Maastricht
The garden is free to enter
Read more about the Marres city gardenFor parents, there’s the option to visit the Vultures & Fireflies exhibition, enjoy reading a book in the garden, or relax at Marres Kitchen.
We’re so glad you’d like to join! Unfortunately, this workshop is already fully booked.
On Friday evening, July 4, Dutch designer and tailor Sophie Nelissen—the creative mind behind Studio SUFI—will lead a workshop. Inspired by the Marres garden, you’ll create a fabric bookmark and learn how to use local flowers to print or dye the fabric.
Sophie is a passionate researcher who works with locally sourced materials such as sheep’s wool and natural dye plants, creating designs that tell a story of sustainability and craftsmanship.
Friday, 4 July, 2025
Start 6:30PM
Marres
Capucijnenstraat 98, Maastricht
Roll out your yoga mat in Maastricht’s city garden and join this yoga session.
Raeesah teaches Hatha yoga with a focus on creating classes that are inclusive and accessible to all levels. Her main goal is to ensure that participants leave the session feeling better – mentally, physically, and/or spiritually. In addition, she collaborates with people from across Maastricht to make her classes more accessible to a wider community.
Bring your own mat!
Friday, 23 May, 2025
start 6:30PM
Marres, Maastricht
