Carmen Heemels at the MIDAC – the digital catalog

Carmen Heemels at the MIDAC – Alfonso Caputo’s text

“The unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics…”
(Eugene Paul Wigner – Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963)

If a project begins with a question, objectively, we’re on the right path.
Asking questions and seeking answers is the foundation of every project.
This title, “The Fibonacci Hierarchy?”, is a question, not a typographical error.
With this project, Carmen Heemels has a specific goal: to understand whether the Fibonacci sequence, closely connected to the Golden Ratio as demonstrated by Kepler, and universally considered the basis of perfection in nature, can determine a hierarchy of values.
Can it unconsciously influence human beings, subjectively and collectively, in their aesthetic and moral evaluations and judgments?
Could imperfections and anomalies, that is, everything that falls outside of the supposed perfection, become the basis and pretext for discrimination and for generating a scale of values, thus creating a hierarchy, which in this case would be founded on the Fibonacci sequence, a mathematical sequence, understood as objective as such?
A question or series of questions Carmen has posed as a visual artist and a person deeply convinced of the value of art as experimentation and of culture as a fundamental element for human growth.
If this curiosity were applied solely to the concept of beauty in art, it would ultimately be pure philosophical speculation.
However, if a rigid and binding concept of evaluating beauty, and consequently of correctness and justice, were applied to human aesthetics or, even worse, to ethical and moral values, it would be a very tense confrontation between free interpretations of human thought and different lifestyles.
In each of her works, Carmen Heemels inserts so many signs and comparisons that inevitably push the observer to delve into every detail in search of harmonies or disharmonies.
Similarly, asking the question: “Exist a Fibonacci hierarchy?” and, above all, seeking a coherent answer would perhaps mean adopting the right antibodies to avoid uncritically adopting a formula, however mathematically indisputable, as an objective parameter for evaluating beauty.

Alfonso Caputo
Artistic Director, MIDAC Museum
Belforte del Chienti – September 2026

Carmen Heemels at the MIDAC – Artist’s Statement

The Fibonacci Hierarchy, the theme I chose for this exhibition, refers to the principle of the Fibonacci sequence and its application to natural patterns and structures.
The Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers in which each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, etc.). This sequence is observed in natural patterns such as:
the branching of trees and flowers, the arrangement of leaves on stems, the shapes of shells and pine cones, the structure of DNA molecules, the proportions of a body and face and so on.
The Fibonacci Hierarchy explores the idea that these patterns follow a hierarchical structure, in which smaller units combine to form larger ones in a harmonious and efficient way.
In the context of my visual art, the theme of the Fibonacci Hierarchy inspires questions about conformity, beauty, and judgment.
By exploring deviations from this principle, I highlight the tension between natural patterns and the human perception of beauty and harmony through images.
I also question the meaning and consequences of disrupting this model, this structure.
Therefore, the questions I ask myself (through images), among others, are: What happens if we deviate from this principle?
Are those who do not fit these canons, as human beings, condemned or considered ugly, for example?
Are images that meet these criteria more harmonious, more pleasant?
Does the Golden Ratio (Fibonacci) determine (a certain degree of) hierarchy? A hierarchy of which we are unaware?

Carmen Heemels
Belforte del Chienti
September 2026

Carmen Heemels at the MIDAC

The 2026 artistic season at the MIDAC Museum in Belforte del Chienti continues with the third event of the year, “Fibonacci Hierarchy?” by artist Carmen Heemels, a solo exhibition curated by Terra dell’Arte and under the patronage of the Municipality of Belforte del Chienti, which will take place from September 12th to November 15th, 2026.
At the same time, in the same space, Carmen Hemeels will present the international mail art group exhibition “Self-Portrait in BLUE”, which she organized and curated.

Carmen Heemels is a Dutch visual artist, curator/initiator of the non-profit gallery – art platform KunstSalon Kasteel Daelenbroeck, and art teacher.
Heemels creates mostly conceptual art, installations, makes videos and Land Art, draws, photographs, and initiates many (inter)national (mail)art projects and events.
She is also a co-organizer of GAPi (Genuine Art Projects International), an organization that organizes socially engaged events worldwide.
She also designs logos and catalogs.
Carmen exhibits in the Netherlands and in countries worldwide and has realized her Land Art/Conceptual Art in various countries, including: the Republic of South Korea, Iran, the USA, Portugal, Macedonia, Mexico, Turkey, England, Finland, Italy and India.
In this context, she was invited to visit many countries in person, such as South Korea, Portugal, Finland, Turkey and Iran, where she also served as a jury member.
Her work is included in the collections and catalogs of various museums worldwide. She has received various awards, such as the most original work in the international exhibition Human and Stone in Armenia and the International Art Leaders Award (for demonstrating artist’s leadership) presented by the Fantapia M Museum in the Republic of South Korea.

Opening Saturday, September 12th at 7 pm
former Church of San Sebastian – home of the MIDAC Museum
historic center of Belforte del Chienti

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