De Weerd is a temporary garden on the forecourt of the Bonnefanten. Its form and planting are based on the floodplain along the River Maas.

In the Limburg dialect, ‘weerd’ means ‘floodplain’, which is the flat area around a river. Everything you see in the garden De Weerd can be found in the floodplain along the River Maas. The artists’ duo Stefan Cools and Sandra van den Beuken did fieldwork there, collecting materials and seeds conveyed by the Maas. In the garden, their idea is to combine their finds with other elements, like tree trunks and plants. In creating the shape of the garden, the duo looked at the natural shapes made by the Maas. A section of these shapes formed the basis for the organic design of De Weerd.

The importance of the River Maas

The River Maas, which flows alongside the Bonnefanten, is an important line in the landscape and a lifeline for many species. Creatures fly, swim or float along it. Seeds bob along in the water, are taken up by other animals and thus end up somewhere else. In De Weerd, you find plants and animals that use the Maas as their highway.

Less concrete, more green

An increasing number of places along the River Maas, particularly in the urban environment of Maastricht, are built-up or otherwise uninhabitable for these species. The ‘Maas island’ De Weerd aims to do something about that. By filling this garden with plants that are distributed by the Maas, the animals linked to these plants (for food or as host plants) get the opportunity to feed or settle here.

About the makers

Stefan Cools is a visual artist and Sandra van den Beuken is a landscape designer. Together, they develop projects on the interface between art, nature and landscape. Mainly projects in the public space, they range from butterfly gardens to meadows, created in collaboration with universities, art academies, citizen researchers and local residents. Collaborations with museums like Bommel van Dam and now the Bonnefanten have led to some exceptional natural and temporary gardens, inspired by the visible changes in rural and urban environments.