Marc van den Broek was born on February 2, 1953 in Mortsel-Antwerp. From 1963 to 1965 and from 1970 to 1971 he studied at the Akademie voor Schone Kunsten in Bechem-Antwerp. During the years 1965–70, he attended the Technical School voor Electro-Mechanic in Antwerp, followed by studies at the Institut voor Kunstambachten in Antwerp from 1972 to 1975. Marc van den Broek is a founding member of the "Hinterhaus" cultural center established in Wiesbaden, Germany in 1978. He co-founded the Art Research Laboratories in 1990.
Art
In the early 1980s, Marc van den Broek focused largely on spatial installations based on a symbiosis of art and technology: the flying objects known as mutants. In 1984, he began developing works of kinetic art, culminating in the Archaic-Technological-Metamorphosis (A.TE.M.) in 1987–1989. A.TE.M. is the manifest expression of Marc van den Broek's overall intellectual and spiritual concept: The archaic is represented by the basic forms (sphere, cube and pyramid); the technological aspect is the principle underlying the construction of the objects, and metamorphosis is realized in the movements of the objects.
The Declaration of Independence (Die Unabhängigkeitserklärung) was realized between 1990 and 1992 as a kinetic sculpture which marks the end of the era of materialism in the waning years of the industrial age.
Inspired by intensive, long-term cooperation with leading industrial and commercial firms, Marc van den Broek developed the project entitled "The Work of Art in Corporations." In this work he takes up Joseph Beuys's concept of "Social Sculpture" and concludes that the symbiosis of art and entrepreneurship is a synergetic process of creation which contributes to the spiritual development of society through innovation and revelation. Marc van den Broek continued to pursue this approach during his years in New York (1998–2008), where he worked with numerous well-known companies.
The artist is also concerned with changing perceptions of reality under the influence of the Internet and the question of how this process can be visualized in art. His work in this area includes a series of large-scale paintings grouped under the heading of Angels and other Ambassadors.
Marc van den Broek launched his most recent project in Hamburg in the spring of 2012: The Garden of Nomads, a modular ensemble that can be installed in any setting and thus impacts on the urban organism in variety of ways.
Exhibitions
1974: Gallery Den Bellaert, Antwerp/Belgium
1976: Salon International Jeune Peinture, Versailles/France
1977: Belgian House (Consulat), Cologne/Germany
1977: International Drawing Biennale, Cleveland/Great Britain
Marc van den Broek's work is held in the following collections: City of Mainz, City of Wiesbaden, City of Wetzlar, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau KfW, Frankfurt, Credit Suisse and Zurich Airport
Awards
1994–1995 German Corporate Design Award
2001 Exhibit Design Award Monsanto
2001 Exhibit Design Award AVAYA (AT&T)
2004 Industrial Designer Society of America Excellence Awards-Silver; IDEA for the Botanical Garden Cleveland
Literature
Der Traum vom Fliegen, Rathaus Tempelhof, Berlin/Germany ISBN 3-88520-223-9
Symmetrie in Kunst, Natur und Wissenschaft, Ausstellungskatalog Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt/Germany, August 1986
Marc van den Broek: Brush Tracks, 1994–1995, Wiesbaden, author´s edition
Marc van den Broek: gezeichnet gedacht gelebt, 2013, Hamburg, author´s edition
