Groupe Non Connu
05.06. – 26.06.2025
Opening: 5 June, 2025, 6:30 pm
the people is pleased to invite you to “Greetings from Binche” the first exhibition of Groupe Non Connu in the Netherlands.
The exhibition continues the story of the imposing monolith “Rouge Royal” – a five cubic meter block of Belgian marble previously exhibited at Spare Wheel, Brussels. The work has since become a temporary part of and is currently stored in the collection of the Geological Survey of Belgium.
On request of the artists, the piece’s new iteration at the people will take place within the frame of this collection, relocating the entire archive from the storage in Binche to the gallery space for the time of the show. The context of sampling and cataloguing natural materials, but also the storage space as an in-between site where exhibits are both accessible and hidden from public view, are central aspects to this work, Group Non Connu have continuously developed over the past twelve months. Repositioning the piece to Arnhem now adds one more layer to its shifting implications: Like a monumental chamaeleon, it changes smoothly between raw material, sculpture, geological sample and travelling archive, without ever altering its marbled surface.
text by Johanna Schäfer and Jonathan Blaschke
Groupe Non Connu is the collaborative work of painters Stans Vrijsen and Sofia Boubolis. Through exercises in imitation and fabulation, the duo researches and highlights narrative qualities of their profession as well as their protagonist: the ‘Rouge Royal’, a kind of marble (or limestone) which is quarried in Belgium.
the people wants to thank Marleen De Ceukelaire and the Geological Survey of Belgium for making this show possible.
Download press release.
Download exhibition text.
Download postcard invite.
the people
Agnietenplaats 2, 6822 JD Arnhem
2025
Greetings from Binche
Power Grip
28.05. – 03.06.2025
Opening: May 28, 2025, 7:30 pm
There is evil in this world, I’ve seen it.
At a certain point in your life, you realise you need to get it out of yourself.
This doesn’t mean being selfish, a lot of pain comes from attachments.
I’m sure you did a great job.
Impossible to look inside, but you’ve felt it all,
for in our slumber we do not speak.
In between breaths a tiny meditation,
eyes stay wide open, too scared to become prey,
ready to go back on the run.
As a child it kept you from stopping to breathe,
now you can do that all by yourself,
without thinking, just like lying.
This fear is real, you’re not just making it up, it’s hard to admit.
You’ve been telling everyone you’re trying to forget and that you’re letting go,
but there is always something in the trash that we still need.
All that is long gone, very long gone, oh so long gone.
Take one last look.
the people announces that the aim of this press release was never to be completely transparent about what is actually going on.
For this exhibition, we are the kind of animal that likes a good zoo.
Documentation coming soon.
Opening: May 28, 2025, 7:30 pm
There is evil in this world, I’ve seen it.
At a certain point in your life, you realise you need to get it out of yourself.
This doesn’t mean being selfish, a lot of pain comes from attachments.
I’m sure you did a great job.
Impossible to look inside, but you’ve felt it all,
for in our slumber we do not speak.
In between breaths a tiny meditation,
eyes stay wide open, too scared to become prey,
ready to go back on the run.
As a child it kept you from stopping to breathe,
now you can do that all by yourself,
without thinking, just like lying.
This fear is real, you’re not just making it up, it’s hard to admit.
You’ve been telling everyone you’re trying to forget and that you’re letting go,
but there is always something in the trash that we still need.
All that is long gone, very long gone, oh so long gone.
Take one last look.
the people announces that the aim of this press release was never to be completely transparent about what is actually going on.
For this exhibition, we are the kind of animal that likes a good zoo.
Documentation coming soon.
Ter um banco inteiro ao seu lado é uma decisão muito particular.
Nuno Beijinho
15.04. – 05.05.2025
Opening: Apr 15, 2025, 6:30 pm,
free drink “Office Siren" by Estere Betija Grāvere and peanuts
Two men in black and blue stripes.
A men-sized plant, a table top that could be either mirror or ocean.
Two men and their reflections.
A third person whose point of view is relevant only as a spectator.
For this exhibition, I think, it would be good to have a feeling, some kind of sentiment to accompany you on your way here, so you get the most out of it and will not be sidetracked into unhelpful expectations.
Imagine looking up at night at the towering facades of one financial district or other. Faced with the brightly-lit office scenes framed by the glass architecture, there is no doubt that you are meant to see. Trust is the highest commodity in a world built on the investments of people to be persuaded that their banks, managers and consultants are unerringly competent and reliable. Having an entire bank by your side is a very personal decision, after all.
Nuno Beijinho aptly negotiates the codes of seeing, and being seen in a semi-transparent world of high stakes in his room-filling installation at the people gallery. Converted from white cube to high-class office interior, the exhibition space presents a look behind the deliberate, shiny facades and the presumptions of calm, elegant proficiency built into them. The spec- tator faces inside, the people inside never face out. Wouldn’t do to be caught caring too much about what people see in them.
Two men shaking hands.
Closing a deal, sharing some small talk, sharing a moment, talking business, talking shop, talking dirty… This is a picture only if someone is watching. Otherwise it’s only two men in expensive clothes.
It’s too dark to make out the details, but if I were to costume-design, the colour palette would be white and black and blues – soft blue shirts, navy blue jackets, night-blue skies, blue pens on white paper, blue collar against white skin, blue college logos on heather-grey sweats in the occasional gym bag: Oxford blue, Cambridge blue, Yale blue. Against all the glass and the sky and the chrome, blue is barely even a colour, merely a variation on the interior design. A very typical and forgettable look is perfect.
Two men in a too-bright glasshouse.
The scene is set on a smoking hot summer day. Do not let the cool colours fool you. Looks are deceiving and these two are professionals, never showing their true colours.
the people announces {the aim of the press release} was never to be completely transparent about what’s actually going on.
For this exhibition, I think it would be good to have a bit of juicy rumor, some insightful gossip about what happens behind closed doors.
Text written by Johanna Schäfer.
Documenation coming soon.
Download press release.
Download exhibition leaflet.
Print advertisement in the art auction catalogue Works from the Collection of Holly van Houten.
15.04. – 05.05.2025
Opening: Apr 15, 2025, 6:30 pm,
free drink “Office Siren" by Estere Betija Grāvere and peanuts
Two men in black and blue stripes.
A men-sized plant, a table top that could be either mirror or ocean.
Two men and their reflections.
A third person whose point of view is relevant only as a spectator.
For this exhibition, I think, it would be good to have a feeling, some kind of sentiment to accompany you on your way here, so you get the most out of it and will not be sidetracked into unhelpful expectations.
Imagine looking up at night at the towering facades of one financial district or other. Faced with the brightly-lit office scenes framed by the glass architecture, there is no doubt that you are meant to see. Trust is the highest commodity in a world built on the investments of people to be persuaded that their banks, managers and consultants are unerringly competent and reliable. Having an entire bank by your side is a very personal decision, after all.
Nuno Beijinho aptly negotiates the codes of seeing, and being seen in a semi-transparent world of high stakes in his room-filling installation at the people gallery. Converted from white cube to high-class office interior, the exhibition space presents a look behind the deliberate, shiny facades and the presumptions of calm, elegant proficiency built into them. The spec- tator faces inside, the people inside never face out. Wouldn’t do to be caught caring too much about what people see in them.
Two men shaking hands.
Closing a deal, sharing some small talk, sharing a moment, talking business, talking shop, talking dirty… This is a picture only if someone is watching. Otherwise it’s only two men in expensive clothes.
It’s too dark to make out the details, but if I were to costume-design, the colour palette would be white and black and blues – soft blue shirts, navy blue jackets, night-blue skies, blue pens on white paper, blue collar against white skin, blue college logos on heather-grey sweats in the occasional gym bag: Oxford blue, Cambridge blue, Yale blue. Against all the glass and the sky and the chrome, blue is barely even a colour, merely a variation on the interior design. A very typical and forgettable look is perfect.
Two men in a too-bright glasshouse.
The scene is set on a smoking hot summer day. Do not let the cool colours fool you. Looks are deceiving and these two are professionals, never showing their true colours.
the people announces {the aim of the press release} was never to be completely transparent about what’s actually going on.
For this exhibition, I think it would be good to have a bit of juicy rumor, some insightful gossip about what happens behind closed doors.
Text written by Johanna Schäfer.
Documenation coming soon.
Download press release.
Download exhibition leaflet.
Print advertisement in the art auction catalogue Works from the Collection of Holly van Houten.
General Renovations
Heating has been installed in the gallery space, the tapwater is still undrinkable.
That’s all really.
Download floorplan.
That’s all really.
Download floorplan.
Fools are everywhere. But are the fools of today the same as the fools of yesteryear?
20.12. – 30.12.2024
Opening: Dec 20, 2024, 6 pm;
free beer
Fools are everywhere. But are the fools of today the same as the fools of yesteryear?"
Jonathan Blaschke, 2024. graphite on paper, tape.
Motif after Two Chained Monkeys (1562) by Bruegel the Elder, (re-)drawn by Sanie Irsay.
Download exhibition leaflet.
Opening: Dec 20, 2024, 6 pm;
free beer
Fools are everywhere. But are the fools of today the same as the fools of yesteryear?"
Jonathan Blaschke, 2024. graphite on paper, tape.
Motif after Two Chained Monkeys (1562) by Bruegel the Elder, (re-)drawn by Sanie Irsay.
Download exhibition leaflet.