MBAL | Pour tout fair il faut une fleur: Groupshow with Ruth van Beek

Pour tout faire, il faut une fleur

To do everything, you need a flower

Curated by Nicolas Polli

For Spring 2026, the MBAL presented Pour tout faire, il faut une fleur, a group exhibition curated by Swiss artist, designer and educator Nicolas Polli. Bringing together artists from different generations and disciplines, the exhibition explores the connections between photography, graphic design, publishing and other hybrid practices, with a particular focus on archives, processes, materials and transformation.

The exhibition featured Jeanne Jacob, Olga Prader, Aldo Mozzini, Enzo Mari, Ayed Arafah, Peter Fischli & David Weiss, Linus Bill & Adrien Horni, Nicolas Polli, Alina Frieske, Ruth van Beek, Erin O’Keefe and Sabine Hess.

Among them, Ruth van Beek explores the possibilities of the archive, collage, and the transformation of found images. Her work Lazybones nr. 21 (2026) takes the form of a handmade leporello, combining painted paper, cut-out shapes and 44 photographs from her personal archive. Images that have lingered for years as seemingly insignificant fragments are carefully rearranged into new constellations. Moving between book and collage, Lazybones gives these overlooked images a new context and invites us to look at them again, echoing the exhibition’s wider interest in how existing materials, processes and ideas can be transformed into something new.

Printed and enlarged for the installation.