Trypan Blue: A Fresh Wave of Art in Groningen

Groningen is known for its cobbled streets, lively student energy, and a creative pulse that runs quietly but deeply through the city. Nestled among the cafés, bookshops, and historic buildings, a new chapter in Groningen’s art scene is being written - one that is bold, inclusive, and refreshingly human. This is the story of Trypan Blue, a rising art organization that’s redefining what it means to connect with art and the people who make it.

From Student Idea to Emerging Cultural Force

Trypan Blue was founded by Anastasiia and Sarra, two friends whose paths first crossed during their student years. What started as casual conversations about art over coffee soon grew into a shared vision: creating a platform where emerging artists could show their work, meet new audiences, and be taken seriously, without needing a long list of credentials or gallery representation. In their own words, the early days were “part dream, part experiment.” They booked small spaces, reached out to artists they admired, and learned curating on the go. What fueled them wasn’t just a love of art, but the belief that it should feel approachable and alive, not locked away in white-walled rooms where people whisper and feel they don’t belong. At its core, Trypan Blue is about connection: connecting artists with each other, with audiences, and with collectors. It’s about turning exhibitions into meeting points, where conversations, ideas, and friendships are as much a part of the experience as the art on the walls. And now, there’s a new layer to that connection: every artwork in their exhibitions will be available for purchase, both in person and online through their website. Whether you’re an experienced collector or simply someone who’s fallen in love with a piece, you can take home a part of the show and directly support the artists creating it. That could be done through simply scanning a QR code on the wall during the exhibition, which will link you to the story about the artist and the work itself. The house rules of the purchase you also will be found there.

The Team Behind the Vision

While Anastasiia and Sarra are the driving force, Trypan Blue is very much a collective effort. ● Milenco, the organization’s brilliant photographer, doesn’t just document exhibitions he creates portraits of each artist for social media that tell a story in themselves. His images capture more than a face; they capture presence, personality, and the subtle details that speak volumes about an artist’s work and spirit. ● Marina, the meticulous financial coordinator, keeps the practical side of Trypan Blue running smoothly, making sure every ambitious idea has the support it needs to come to life. ● Sanda, the creative assistant, adds depth and flair to every project, from helping shape exhibition concepts to ensuring the final presentation feels as cohesive as it is striking. Together, this team blends artistry, organization, and vision - a combination that’s helping Trypan Blue grow into one of the most exciting new voices in the Northern Dutch art scene.

The Vision Beyond Groningen

While Groningen will always be home, Anastasiia and Sarra are thinking bigger. With graduation just ahead, they see Trypan Blue entering its next chapter - one with more ambitious exhibitions, collaborations beyond the city, and a stronger online presence to reach people who may never set foot in the Netherlands but still want to engage with its artists. But for now, they’re focused on their next major event, a show that’s both intellectually rich and emotionally resonant.

Nature vs. Nurture: The Exhibition

Opening on August 23rd at 19:00 in the historic Akerk, Nature vs. Nurture brings together artists who explore one of the oldest debates in human history: how much of who we are is determined by our biology, and how much is shaped by our environment? The theme unfolds in diverse, deeply personal ways through paintings that dig beneath the skin, installations that turn reflection into a literal act, and intricate works that weave memory and material into something tangible. The Akerk itself, with its soaring ceilings and centuries-old walls, provides a striking place for the dialogue between instinct and influence, inheritance and adaptation.

Meet the Artists

Each artist in Nature vs. Nurture approaches the theme from a unique angle, bringing their own story, techniques, and questions into the conversation.

Tirza Mafi

Tirza’s paintings are raw and unflinching, born from her own physical experiences. Her fascination with organic textures and bold forms isn’t just aesthetic, it’s personal. She confronts the body in all its contradictions: the beauty and strangeness of flesh, the tension between attraction and discomfort. Influenced by thinkers like Julia Kristeva and Georges Bataille, her work probes the edges of what’s pleasurable and what’s unsettling. In Tirza’s hands, a canvas becomes a living surface: pierced, layered, and exposed, challenging viewers to sit with sensations they might otherwise turn away from.

Espen Makken

For Espen, art is a mirror, sometimes literally. Using mirrors and projections, he creates works that invite viewers to see themselves as others might see them. It’s not just about reflection in the visual sense, but about reflecting on how we project our beliefs, hopes, and fears onto those around us. His installations act as quiet conversations, asking us to consider the invisible exchanges that shape relationships. In a world where we’re constantly influenced by others, Espen’s work turns that influence into something visible, almost tangible.

Vlada Chernavina

With a background in classical art, Vlada brings a meticulous, almost meditative attention to detail. Her pencil drawings, often combined with ceramics, textiles, or printmaking, weave together personal and cultural memory. Vlada revisits the myths, childhood stories, and symbols that shaped her, giving them new life by blending traditional techniques with modern elements. The result is intimate and layered, inviting viewers into a space where nostalgia meets reinvention. Her work doesn’t just depict stories; it preserves them, reshaping them for new audiences and new contexts.

Sofie Fazeli

Life is chaotic, layered, and constantly in motion, and Sofie embraces that complexity. Working with tactile, organic materials, she captures the sensation of overlapping moments: the way experiences, emotions, and memories fold into each other until they become inseparable. Her work invites viewers to slow down and look closer, to find clarity inside the messiness of life. In a sense, her pieces are visual pauses, reminders that even in chaos, there’s an underlying rhythm worth noticing.

Kaja Manthei

Kaja’s work is an exploration of belonging. What is home? Is it a place, a feeling, or a set of relationships? And how do our early experiences shape the way we see the world? Through portraits of strangers and loved ones, Kaja documents the shifting landscapes—physical and emotional—that make up her world. Many of her pieces incorporate embroidery, glass beads, and lace, adding texture and intimacy. Each stitch feels like a small act of connection, a way of grounding herself in the midst of change.

Marijke Breuers

Over the past year, Marijke’s process has evolved, yet her core remains the same: she studies the relationship between people and their surroundings. She once sought out abandoned homes across Europe, where traces of daily life lingered like echoes. These spaces sparked her curiosity about the choices people make and the marks they leave behind. Now, her gaze has turned inward, considering her own place within a chaotic world. Each piece begins with a fresh selection of materials, chosen to suit the emotion or idea she wishes to express. Her work invites reflection on how our environments shape us—and how our choices shape the world in return.

Danne Bouman

From her home city of Groningen, Danne paints the delicate paradox of human connection: our deep longing for closeness set against the solitude of our own bodies. Her works capture fleeting, unintentional moments of vulnerability, using rich textures and patterns to make her subjects both tangible and slightly out of reach. Straddling the line between figuration and abstraction, her paintings live in an in-between space—between intimacy and distance, body and landscape, reality and illusion.

Sander Jorn Vermeulen

Raised in the countryside of northern Netherlands, Sander’s earliest artworks were born from walking dirt roads and searching for patterns in the earth. That curiosity—a mix of treasure-hunting and close observation—still drives his work today. His recent work is based on his observations of the public space. Drawing with pen and ink gave him the focus that fits the atmosphere of the work. The sceneries he presents have an atmosphere of pleasant desolation. The aspect of seeing and not seeing is often subject in his work.

Bart Bruinsma

Bart works in sound, crafting immersive audio installations that balance subtlety with presence. For Nature vs. Nurture, he brings an eight-channel speaker setup that threads together mangled voice tones, soft-spoken poetry, and rhythmic patterns. The work plays with the duality between our actual self—embodied, physical, moving through the world—and our virtual self—fluid, formless, existing online. By layering these sonic identities in the resonant space of the Akerk, Bart explores the friction and overlap between the natural and the manufactured, the physical and the digital. His installation invites the audience to inhabit both worlds at once.

Why This Matters

In an age where much of our interaction with art happens through screens, Trypan Blue offers something rare: the chance to stand in front of a piece, to see the texture of the paint, the weave of the fabric, the glint of a bead, and to speak directly with the artist who made it. And the fact that you can purchase the works you love, either on the spot through the QR code attached to the artwork or later through their website, means the connection doesn’t have to end when you walk out of the Akerk. Owning a piece isn’t just about having something beautiful in your home; it’s about becoming part of the story, supporting the person who created it, and keeping that dialogue alive.

Practical information

Exhibition: Nature versus Nurture
Opening: August 23, 19:00
Location: Akerk, Groningen
Duration: August 23 – September 21
Tickets: via this link, Instagram, or the website
Sales: Artworks are available for purchase during the exhibition and online.

Whether you’re a seasoned gallery-goer, a student looking for inspiration, or someone who simply wants to spend an evening surrounded by beautiful and thought-provoking art, Trypan Blue’s latest exhibition offers the chance to experience the power of art up close. Step into the space between nature and nurture. August 23. Akerk. Groningen.