17 august 2026, Wouter van den Eijkel
tegenboschvanvreden opens second location in Heusden
The Amsterdam gallery tegenboschvanvreden is opening a second space just a stone’s throw from Den Bosch, in Heusden on the River Maas. It is the result of a search for a different gallery space and a changing art world. Renovation work in Heusden is still underway when Marien Schouten’s In this dark room opens, but that does not matter, as the spaces have a character of their own. ‘It doesn’t have to be a white cube.’
‘It’s a new and exciting adventure,’ Pietje Tegenbosch says over the phone. She and her husband, Martin van Vreden, had been looking for somewhere in Amsterdam where they could live and work for about a year and a half. That proved difficult in the current housing market, but when Tegenbosch helped her stepmother clear out her father’s house and former gallery in Heusden on the River Maas, near Den Bosch, the idea arose to try it there. ‘We’re simply going to see whether it works.’
The decision to open a second space outside Amsterdam was made easier by the fact that the art world has changed since the gallery opened in 2009, Tegenbosch says. ‘The number of gallery visitors has declined. Many people see a work online or at one of the many art fairs. Hardly anyone makes the rounds of the galleries anymore.’
Setting up in a special location also attracts a different audience and creates a different kind of contact. ‘In Amsterdam, somewhere nearby like Abcoude is quickly considered far away, but if you go to a truly special location, you tap into something else. You have to make the journey here, but you can combine it with a visit to Museum De Pont and the Noordbrabants Museum.’
tegenboschvanvreden will continue to mount exhibitions in Amsterdam. ‘We think it’s important to remain visible in Amsterdam as well.’ There is a significant difference between the two gallery spaces. The space on Bloemgracht is flexible and has a more industrial feel. The historic townhouse in Heusden has a different character of its own, but here too the space is dynamic, with flexibility as its starting point. This is immediately apparent in the first exhibition, Tegenbosch says.
Renovation of the building is in full swing and will not yet be complete when the first exhibition opens, but it does not have to be a white cube, Tegenbosch says.
One of the two spaces in Heusden is occupied by an L-shaped architectural sculpture by Marien Schouten. In this dark room is an exhibition space within the gallery space. The sculpture provides a stage for a series of Schouten’s new ceramic sculptures and works on paper. His new works have a surprisingly physical character.
The other space will feature works by Sander Breure & Witte van Hulzen, Tom Callemin, Cristina Lucas, Lorian Gwynn, Emma van der Put, Fernando Sánchez Castillo, Dieuwke Spaans, Marenne Welten and Aimée Zito Lema. At the Amsterdam gallery on Bloemgracht, the gallery season will open on 5 September with a two-person exhibition by Ricardo van Eyk and Han Schuil.
