Marleen Sleeuwits

Her work engages with architectural spaces and the built environment, often involving temporary interventions in vacant or unused locations. Sleeuwits has exhibited internationally with solo shows at institutions such as Fotomuseum Den Haag, Kunsthal, and the Centre Photographique Rouen Normandie. Her work is held in collections including Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Valkhof Museum and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She was recognized as FOAM Talent in 2012 and won the Meijburg Art Commission in 2019.

• Name — Marleen Sleeuwits • Born — 23 June 1980 • Birthplace — Enschede, Netherlands • Field — * Contemporary art • Visual arts • Photography • Training — * Royal Academy of Art, The Hague • AKV St. Joost • Website — Official Website

Sleeuwits was born on 23 June 1980 in Enschede, Netherlands. At the age of 14, she took a photography course at a local community centre, sparking her interest in photography. She studied photography at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, earning her bachelor's degree in 2001. She then completed a master's degree in Photography at AKV St. Joost in Breda in 2005.

In her early career, Sleeuwits focused on photographing architectural spaces and urban environments. Her artistic practice evolved from photographing spaces to physically intervening in them, and she began constructing her own spaces. She was interested in exploring what she describes as "impersonal environments" — vacant spaces such as empty office buildings, unused shopping centres, and abandoned institutional buildings that became available during economic downturns, particularly after the 2008 financial crisis. Sleeuwits's work has been described as abstract and conceptual. She integrates photography with sculpture and installations to alter spaces and create a sense of disorientation for the viewer. Her core themes explore the borderland between two-dimensional and three-dimensional art, the transformation of everyday spaces, and the use of optical illusions and the manipulation of perspective. Sleeuwits often incorporates common architectural elements, such as ceiling panels, insulation, and fluorescent lighting. Many of her installations are interactive, allowing viewers to navigate through the structures. Drawing inspiration from ordinary environments such as sports fields or changing rooms, her work often evokes a sense of alienation in these familiar spaces. Her 2021 solo exhibition Isomatrix at Kunsthal in Rotterdam explored the boundary between fiction and reality using materials such as neon lights, foil, photographic prints, and mirrors to manipulate perspective, reflection, and scale within architectural spaces. In her 2025 solo exhibition Enter the Cube at the Fotomuseum Den Haag, Sleeuwits created a site-specific installation in dialogue with the work of Sol LeWitt. Another solo exhibition, Re-Surface, was held at Galerie Bart in Amsterdam during Amsterdam Art Week, focusing on the exploration of everyday interiors and their often unnoticed aesthetics. Sleeuwits's first major monograph, On the Soft Edge of Space, was published in 2016. It featured 200 images across 276 pages with essays by Edo Dijksterhuis, Basje Boer, and Freek Lomme. De Volkskrant selected the publication as one of the best Dutch photography books of 2016.

Sleeuwits lives and works in The Hague, Netherlands.

Sleeuwits has been represented by Galerie Bart in Amsterdam since 2019 and by Sous Les Etoiles Gallery in New York City. Previous representation included LhGWR Gallery in The Hague and FeldbuschWiesnerRudolph in Berlin. Solo Exhibitions • Year — Title — Institution — Location — Ref • 2005 — Fotofestival Breda — Breda • 2019 — Centre Photographique Rouen Normandie — France • 2021 — Isomatrix — Kunsthal Light #24 program, Kunsthal Rotterdam — Rotterdam • 2023–2024 — IN SITU — Centre Photographique Rouen Normandie — France • 2025 — Ongoing Series of False Ceilings — The Palace of Justice (Nest ruimte voor kunst) — The Hague • Re-Surface — Galerie Bart — Amsterdam • Enter the Cube (with outdoor installation during The Hague's Spiegelfestival) — Fotomuseum Den Haag — The Hague • Enter the Cube — Galerie Bart — Amsterdam • Solo presentation — Paris Photo — Paris, France • 2026 — Galerie Arts — Brno, Czech Republic • De Spelonk — The Hague Selected Group Exhibitions • Year — Title — Institution — Location — Ref • 2013–2014 — WHITE I PHOTOGRAPHY, ART, DESIGN, FASHION, FILM — Netherlands Photo Museum — Rotterdam • 2014 — QuickscanNL#02 — Netherlands Photo Museum — Rotterdam • 2019 — Royal Encounters — Museum Escher — The Hague • 2023 — Space: Moonshot part two — Museum Het Valkhof — Nijmegen • 2024 — Meta Festival (site-specific installation Color Glitch) — Meta Festival — Shanghai, China • 2025 — Biennale d'Images Tangible — Paris, France • Spiegelfestival (site-specific installation Enter the Cube) — The Hague • 2026 — Blow Up Art Jubilee — The Hague

• Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam • Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen

• AkzoNobel Art Collection • KPMG Meijburg & Co. • ING Group • NN Group • Erasmus University Rotterdam • De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek

• Schloss Kummerow Photographic Collection