Yemo Park, Hildur Elísa Jónsdóttir, Dirk Hoogeveen – photo: Jedidja Smalbil

 

 

exhibition opening hours 3 may - 7 june

Every Saturday and Sunday: 16:00 - 19:00

Stop by for Dirk Hoogeveen's ice sculpture, order spit spirit from Yemo Park at the bar and be surprised by Hildur Elísa Jónsdóttir's sound work!

 

program

May 18: performances

17:00 - Popsicle's Lament, Hildur Elísa Jónsdóttir

19:00 - Popsicle's Lament, Jónsdóttir

20:00 - The Gospels, Jónsdóttir

 

May 23: FRIDAY | EXTRA EVENT | friday drinks + artist talk

16:00 – 20:00 the artists take a bar shift

17:30 – artist talk

 

25 May: performance

17:00 - Popsicle's Lament, Jónsdóttir

 

June 1: performance

17:00 - Popsicle's Lament, Jónsdóttir

 

June 7: FINNISAGE

16:15 - Popsicle's Lament, Jónsdóttir

17:45 - The Gospels, Jónsdóttir

 

 

 

In 2025, het resort delves into food and drink culture. Under the umbrella of popular culture (volkscultuur), we go to places where everyday life takes place and dwell on everyday peculiarities. We zoom in on the care and attention with which our (semi)-public space is designed. Because nothing is just there and much is invisible.

Living room for everyone, surprise in every nook and cranny and the richest stories on a bar stool. Cafés have belonged to Dutch culture for centuries. Especially in residential areas with small working-class houses, the brown café was an extension of the living room. Where the name refers to the often dark brown interior (because of smoking in the old days) with wooden paneling, dimmed mood lighting and flood of old memorabilia. While this immediately captures the imagination of many, there is no official definition for the brown pub. What makes a brown pub a brown pub? And  how do we preserve their value?

 

S08E01 takes place at Schouwburgcafé de Souffleur. Cafes have been part of Dutch culture for centuries. The often informal and recognizable establishment is a widespread phenomenon. Yet the brown pub is rapidly disappearing, due in part to gentrification and the rise of anonymous chains looking to make a quick buck. In several cities, including Groningen, actions have been launched to get the pub on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

 

The artists invited for episode S08E01 are Hildur Elísa Jónsdóttir, Dirk Hoogeveen and Yemo Park. They all have a preference for site-specific work and share an interest in interpreting hidden stories. In a variety of ways, they unlock these for a wide audience. During a 5-week residency, they will dive into the pub and become regulars. What is the value of the brown pub and why does it deserve protected status? Who do you meet on either side of the bar and what brings them there?

 

Doesnt’ last then, does it? is a constellation of site-specific works – passing gestures and tangible offerings spanning performance, installation and even consumable art. Yemo Park seeks connection by distilling jenever from chewed Groningse Knol’s Koek, an ancient brewing technique used around the world, as an alternative way to evoke intimacy. Hildur Elísa Jónsdóttir offers an ode to female friendship, carving out space for reflection on the finiteness of things. Dirk Hoogeveen’s work also addresses impermanence: his ice sculpture is both a tribute to the regular guest and a symbol of something slowly fading. Because a pub without patrons is like a corpse — it doesn’t live. The brown café lives through its guests — but how do you preserve that?

 

From Saturday, May 3rd to June 7th on Saturdays and Sundays from 16:00 – 19:00, the works can be experienced at De Souffleur in Groningen — a place where art and pub culture will blend together.

 

 

 

about de Souffleur

The brown pub on Kruitlaan, next to the Schouwburg, is one of the oldest pubs in Groningen city centre. For more than 100 years, regulars, neighbours, students and theatre visitors have been welcomed to the brown pub. In the 1990s, the pub was named schouwburgcafé de Souffleur by then-owner Luuk Verpaalen. Besides the theatre visitors, performing artists also knew where to find the pub.

 

Nowadays, the café is operated by Anne Miek Meijer. In 2019, she took over the establishment: ‘Because it's a beautiful brown pub, it's nice and lovely, it has a beautiful terrace with plane trees’. She regularly organises events and theme nights here. The authentic character of this café has been preserved to this day, and many old elements still adorn the walls. But in the end, of course, the pub is about the people who come there.

 

photos: sjoerd knol