Marcel van Beek (Bonn, 1990) is a German visual artist and photographer based in Leipzig. He studied painting, graphic art and photography at Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences in Alfter, graduating with distinction in 2017. An earlier internship in stage design and theatre production helped shape his attention to space and painterly composition.
His work examines the relationship between humanity and nature in the context of climate change. Projects including Unsustainable Earth, Urbs accommodata, Planetary Boundaries and World of Water explore ecological limits, urban adaptation, biodiversity and water. He collaborates with Leipzig University and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), linking artistic practice with environmental research.
He has exhibited internationally since 2014, and his work is held in public and private collections. His publications include Schattenlicht. Werke 2012–2022 and the bilingual photobook World of Water.
His series The Future Was Extracted Here won the 2026 Patricia D. Richards Legacy Award. Made in the coalfields around Leipzig, its black-and-white photographs examine the intertwined histories of energy, housing, work and environmental change, using tonal inversion in selected images to unsettle familiar views.
