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Rosa Vrij

to draw , comics/cartoons , social , public space , Publication , process , performance , Body ,Experimental , crossover , Artistic research

As a visual artist and performance maker, I build universes. Such universes consist of interconnected artworks built around a single, long-term investigation. This gives me the time and space to connect social and philosophical themes and question underlying frameworks and value systems.

In my house (2017–2023), I explored what it means to give and take up space. Through drawings, performances, installations, interventions in my home, workshops in people's homes, and an interactive book presentation, I explored the relationship between the body and architecture.

I'm currently working on my second universe, The Chair, the Wig, and the Sheep, a fictional, surreal dystopia. Inspired by comic books, I'm expanding neoliberal logic into a world where people are reduced to one-dimensional cartoon characters, centered around their unique selling point. So far, I've created a tableau vivant (living statue), comic book drawings, a performance, and an interactive viewing box.

Such a universe evolves into a layered, living archive in which my personal process, visual language, and the art medium itself also become part of the research. Drawing plays a key role in this as a way of thinking, imagining, and organizing. I often use game instructions and spatial interventions to invite the audience as active participants. By carefully defining time and space, I create a shared moment for introspection, critical reflection, and imagination—as a counterbalance to a society increasingly driven by efficiency and marketization.

The chair, the wedge and the sheep - the portable universe
The chair, the wig and the sheep - the portable universe - "When she opens the dark lid of that chest, the universe sprung from her imagination makes you smile, at the same time it confronts, it encourages you to think, and after fifteen minutes it is not only in the chest, but even more in the mind of the spectator." - Joost Goutziers, De Theaterkrant Full review: https://www.theaterkrant.nl/recensie/the-chair-the-wig-and-the-sheep-the-portable-universe/rosa-vrij/ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Be surprised by a universe full of socially critical surrealism – packed in a suitcase. Join Rosa Vrij, who will personally guide you through her growing fantasy world. It literally unfolds before your eyes through drawings, miniatures and texts. Rosa's suitcase is a viewing box, pop-up book, archive and mini-exhibition all in one: grand in imagination, small in size. In this universe, acrobats function as furniture and teenagers launch themselves as brands during extravagant wig ceremonies. Political pool competitions and roller-skating advertising ballets are the order of the day. Because in this capitalist fairytale, optimization is elevated to a choreographic sport and humanity is nothing more than a cog in a production process gone haywire. Rosa Vrij is a performance artist and visual artist. Her work moves between performance, drawing, installation, and book form. The chair, the wig, and the sheep is her ongoing universe, constantly taking on new art forms. With The Portable Universe, she builds on this, exposing the excessive logic of market forces, efficiency, and self-optimization. By translating these themes into an absurd and poetic world, she invites the audience to reflect on how we value ourselves and each other in a society that puts everything at the service of economic profit. Performative reading experience | 2025, presented at Cultura Nova | Materials: Wooden suitcase containing loose comic drawings in various sizes, a concertina book with drawings, a fictional newspaper, a miniature cardboard living room, ceramic sculptures, an envelope with a fictional letter | Duration: 20 minutes | Producer: Hipsick, Co-producer: VIA ZUID
house (book presentation)
house (boekpresentatie) - house is the final destination of my years of artistic and personal research into giving and taking up space, bundled in a publication. The audience reads and experiences this book in the form of an interactive book presentation. When my partner Ben Weir and I moved in together in 2018, I invited him to reflect on our relationship to our house and to each other. Through drawings, sculptures, text and performance, we created an imaginary house in which the body and architecture merged. During the book presentation, the audience will go through this archive, and will slowly become part of a journey through architectural, personal and emotional spaces. Because how do you actually relate to the other and to the space around you? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Interactive book presentation | 2023, presented at TENT, Cultura Nova, Odapark, Museum van Bommel van Dam | Duration: 90 minutes | Director: Rosa Vrij, artistic research: Rosa Vrij and Ben Weir, co-producer: VIA ZUID | Video & Photo: Cem Altınöz
The chair, the wig and the sheep #1 (work in progress)
The chair, the wig and the sheep #1 (work in progress) - During this residency I intuitively created scenes with props and costumes that I found on the spot, alternating with drawing. Without a preconceived plan, a crossover between a graphic novel, performance and installation emerged, as if you walked into a comic book. A world full of trendy armpit hairdos, giant pool tables, a Butler revolution and rich people who are transformed into furniture. This was the beginning of my new universe: The chair, the wig and the sheep. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Living comic book | 2022, presented during Fashionclash | markers on canvas, metal frames, props and costumes from archive, 6 performers | Duration: 2 minutes | Concept, direction, scenography: Rosa Vrij | Performers: Lieke van der Vegt, Jeroen Bik, Marleen Hendrickx, Bo Oudendijk, Luca Neumann and Steff Geelen | Text: Steff Geelen | Production assistance and styling: Julia Aumann | developed during residency Talentlab (Toneelgroep Maastricht x VIA ZUID) | Video: Tibor Dieters, photo: Laura Knipsael
The chair, the wig and the sheep (work in progress)
The chair, the wig and the sheep (work in progress) - During this residency I intuitively created scenes with props and costumes that I found on the spot, alternating with drawing. Without a preconceived plan, a crossover between a graphic novel, performance and installation emerged, as if you walked into a comic book. A world full of hip armpit hairdos, giant pool tables, a Butler revolution and rich people who are transformed into furniture. This formed the beginning of my new universe: The chair, the wig and the sheep. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Sketches | 2022, presented during Fashionclash | fineliner and markers on grey paper | developed during residency Talentlab (Toneelgroep Maastricht x VIA ZUID)
house (book)
house (boek) - This publication unfolds like a puzzle, consisting of five separate volumes - documentation of artistic research, Messenger dialogues, a letter, an essay and drawings - elegantly held together in a metal frame. The book can be hung on the wall like a literary painting. The unique design invites readers to embark on a non-linear journey, navigating through texts, drawings, photographs and chat messages that form an ever-changing narrative. 'house' is the culmination of years of artistic and personal research into the giving and taking of space, bundled into a publication. Rosa Vrij and her partner Ben Weir delve into the intimate space they share. What began as a reflection on their relationship and house in 2018 developed into a captivating exploration of the intersection between the body and architecture, the 'me' and the other. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Publication | 2022, exhibited at TENT, Cultura Nova, Odapark, Museum van Bommel van Dam | ink on paper, stone paper, metal clips, thread, glue | 250x300x30mm | design: Rosa Vrij, editor: Rosa Vrij, artistic research: Rosa Vrij and Ben Weir | producer: TimeWindow, co-producer: VIA ZUID, with thanks to Toneelacademie Maastricht
The soles of my feet merge
The soles of my feet merge - During the group exhibition Speaking Soil, I explored how meditation and movement exercises could deepen my connection to the ground beneath me. Over the course of three days, I responded to the architecture of the exhibition space by creating a floor drawing in charcoal and chalk. This intuitive and slow approach countered the transience and efficiency that is so often demanded of us in our capitalist society. Without a preconceived plan, I let the drawing emerge slowly, capturing a visual record of the exchange between the space and the visitors. The performance invited the audience to slow down, stand still, and become aware of the ground that carries us. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Live drawing | 2024, Shown during the group exhibition Speaking Soil | Curated by Sammlung Philara | Initiated by BORDERLAND RESIDENCIES | charcoal and chalk on concrete | Duration: three days
Picture a vacuum
Picture a vacuum As part of the exhibition "Beauty," a retrospective of architectural photographer Machteld Schoep, I was asked by the Van Bommel van Dam Museum to respond to her work. I explored the question: can a space house memories? In Schoep's photographs, I saw objects whose human traces were clearly visible, in settings where humanity itself was absent. In these objects, I saw a strange mix of absurdism, arbitrariness, and specificity. Some were carefully chosen for decoration, and others were coincidentally present or even indefinable in function. Figuring in the background of our daily lives, it felt as if these objects contained stories. I cut a selection of objects from the photographs and wrote a contemplative monologue about a person with a rigid routine who slowly becomes one with the objects around her. This narration, combined with the images, resulted in a rhythmic video poem that reflects on space as an extension of ourselves, where memories are stored and forgotten. The video was shown against a backdrop of secondhand furniture, reflecting the interior style depicted in Schoep’s photographs. The video was shown against a backdrop of secondhand furniture, reflecting the interior style depicted in Schoep’s photographs. The drawer of the TV stand was filled with stickers featuring items from the background of Schoep’s photographs. The audience was invited to take these stickers home, thus spreading traces of these objects into new spaces. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Video poem | Commissioned by and exhibited at Museum van Bommel van Dam | Written, directed and edited by: Rosa Vrij | Voice actress: Princess Isatu Hassan Bangura | Audio recorded by: Edis van der Pajazetovic (Banka Studios) | Curated by: Sjors Bindels | Featuring quotes from: Kae Tempest, Georges Perec, Martin Buber, Italo Calvino | Special thanks to: Ben Weir | All images in the video are taken from Machteld Schoep’s photographs
HOUSE III
HUIS III - What makes your house your home? HUIS III invited the public to explore this during a private workshop. An exercise in mindfulness, creative outlet and ode to playfulness in one. After a series of works in which my research into my own house was central, I decided to pass the baton to my audience. With my suitcase full of materials, I traveled from house to house throughout Limburg. During intimate home visits, I met residents of creaking houses that have been in the family for generations, temporary, sterile nursing homes, houses where the boxes have never been unpacked, houses that have been said goodbye to. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Traveling workshop in people's homes | 2023, results exhibited at B32 | Coaching: Felicitas Lenz | Suitcase design and execution: Tjeerd Vrij and Rosa Vrij | Producer: Odapark | Co-producer: VIA ZUID | Supported by Cultuurfonds and GAVE Fund | With thanks to B32 Artspace and all participants
Daily Drawings (work in progress)
Daily Drawings (work in progress) - In 2023 I bought a bullet journal to organize my life. Besides its function as a diary and a diary, I decided to use it to integrate drawing into my daily life. To put quantity over quality, process over result. To embrace mistakes. Since then I draw almost every day. I draw what I see around me and sometimes my observations lead to fantasies. Sometimes the drawings are individual scenes on one page, sometimes they tell a story together. The only rules are that they are drawn within a frame. And drawn without first sketching with a pencil. Just with pen directly on paper. Sometimes I improvise with elements from my environment to create new compositions and let my imagination run wild.
The tip of my head itches (2022)
The tip of my head itches - During a residency at Destination Unknown I explored how I could capture the atmosphere of the Heilig Hartkerk (Venlo) by drawing in the here and now. I continued this quest during the public exhibition, by - without a preconceived plan - making a live drawing in charcoal and white chalk on a platform where the church pews used to be. In doing so, I invited the public to become a witness and sparring partner of my process. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Live drawing | 2022, shown at Destination Unknown | charcoal and chalk on wood | video & photo: Hester van Tongerloo
Collective Container - Collective Container was created for the Sea Container Program of the Over het IJ Festival, in line with my research into the body in relation to space. Under the guidance of performer Ylva Rietman, an audience of nine people removed the frame from the sea container. Together, they carried this empty space across the festival site and then dismantled it into a spatial drawing. The audience was placed in this 'drawing', so that a new relationship to the space around them and to each other emerged. In this process, the audience became performers, and the random passer-by became audience. A new audience of nine people was then ready to take over the task of the first audience, but in reverse order. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Interactive performance | 2021, shown at Over het IJ Festival | Birch plywood, wheels, bolts, paint, chalk | Duration: 20 minutes | Concept & direction: Rosa Vrij | Scenography: Ben Weir | Performer: Ylva Rietman | Producer: Over het IJ Festival | Thanks to the Master Theater (Maastricht Theater Academy) | Video: Thomas Caarls, photo: Tomas Mutsaers

The chair, the wig and the sheep - the portable universe

Date:
Location: Cultura Nova
In association with: Hipsick, VIA ZUID
https://www.culturanova.nl/programma/rosa-vrij/rosa-vrij?fp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.culturanova.nl%2F

The chair, the wig and the sheep - a universe under construction

Date:
Location: TimeWindow
In association with: Hipsick, VIA ZUID, TimeWindow

The chair, the wig and the sheep

Date:
Location: Podium Islemunda
In association with: VIA ZUID, IMPACT

Group show Speaking Soil

Date:
Location: Sammlung Philara
In association with: Borderland Residencies, Sammlung Philara

The ground beneath our feet is more than just the surface on which we stand. The scholarship holders of the Borderland Residencies 2023-24 got to the bottom of its complex meaning during their field trips in the border region between Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. Moments of collective artistic research gave rise to work impulses, the results of which they will present in the exhibition SPEAKING SOIL.

Schoonheid

Date:
Location: museum van Bommel van Dam
In association with: museum van Bommel van Dam, Borderland Residencies

For the first time since the reopening of the Van Bommel van Dam museum, the museum presents a major exhibition in the freely accessible section. Beauty is the first solo museum presentation of the work of Venlo-born photographer Machteld Schoep (1962 – 2019). The exhibition shows more than 75 photos from the oeuvre of a photographer with a special sense of humor and an eye for the beauty of the everyday.

https://www.vanbommelvandam.nl/tentoonstellingen/schoonheid/

house-toolkit

Date:
Location: B32
In association with: VIA ZUID

HUIS III

Date:
Location: Bij mensen thuis in Limburg
In association with: VIA ZUID

Talentlab

Date:
Location: Toneelgroep Maastricht
In association with: Toneelgroep Maastricht, VIA ZUID

Destination Unknown

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On July 1, I will start my residency at Destination Unknown.

Residentie FLACC

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As part of The Known Artist I did a short residency at FLACC.

The Known Artist

Date:
In association with: Huis voor de Kunsten Limburg, FLACC, Odapark, Destination Unknown, Van Bommel van Dam, Greylights Projects, Consulaat Generaal Düsseldorf en B32

The Known Artist is a talent development trajectory and a unique partnership in Limburg for young visual artists. I was selected to participate along with four others. We made working visits to the partners and received artistic guidance. This trajectory is rounded off with an exhibition at Odapark, which opens June 26.

https://hklimburg.nl/theknownartist

By R.C. Vrij

Date:

Published essay. By using quotations as a tool, Rosa Vrij explores tradition and originality in art and writing, both in form and content. This essay was written during the Master in Theater at the Institute of Performative Arts in Maastricht, The Netherlands.

https://texturmag.com/blick-essay-by-rosa-vrij/

This artist has no awards yet.