The Great In-Between

Tanja Smeets grows vines and corals in De Utrecht. The exhibition The Great In-Between is on view at De Utrecht until September 26, 2026.

Visual artist Tanja Smeets (62) has appropriated the spaces of De Utrecht. From the cupboards on the ground floor and in the new extension, she grows organisms that look very much like fungi, corals or vines. With the difference that they are made of textiles, ceramics and very ordinary objects from the hardware store. The exhibition The Great In-Between opens on April 11 and runs until September 26.

Every year, De Utrecht invites an artist to create work inspired by the building, this richly decorated Art Nouveau building on the Tweebaksmarkt in Leeuwarden. After Anke Roder, Maartje Korstanje, Kim Boske, Pieter Bijwaard, and Tjibbe Hooghiemstra, it is Tanja Smeets' turn this year. She uses a variety of techniques to 'cover' a space with vegetation and has a preference for everyday materials such as coffee cups, leaf catchers, cable ties, or frying strainers. As long as the material has the potential to transform into an organic structure.

The cabinets in the former life insurance office immediately appealed to Tanja Smeets. Behind the doors, painted with organic motifs, she lets molds grow from gray felt, cable ties, and leaf traps. Frying baskets filled and covered with porcelain drip like solidified lava over the edge of the shelves. Aerial roots reach for breath.

In De Utrecht, Smeets uses rollade nets for the first time, in which she catches molds on ceramics. The long nets snake like vines through the stairwell, from the Platform to the Top. Here and there, they take hold of the walls.

Central to Smeets's work is her investigation into space. She then selects from an arsenal of materials and techniques, ranging from embroidery and sculpting to soldering and braiding. And from clay to wool, and metal to plastic. The result has a strong science fiction-like character. In her work, both the sweet and the uncanny come together.

Part of the exhibition is a short documentary about Smeets's creative process, and the book The Great In-Between , volume 6 in De Utrecht's art book series.

Thirty numbered copies of the book The Great In-Between contain a unique ceramic artwork by Tanja Smeets.

Smeets lives and works in Utrecht. She trained at ArteZ University of the Arts in Arnhem and participated in residencies in the Netherlands, China, and South Korea. Her work was shown at Manifesta 15 in Barcelona (2024) and the Gyonggi International Ceramics Biennale in Icheon (South Korea), Kunsthal Kade in Amersfoort, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Keramiekmuseum Princessehof in Leeuwarden, the Henan Museum in Zhengzhou, TextielMuseum in Tilburg, Centraal Museum in Utrecht, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. Her work is included in the collections of the Henan Museum, the TextielMuseum, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, and the Centraal Museum. 

De Utrecht was a branch office of Levensverzekeringsmaatschappij Utrecht. The national monument by architects Alexander Kropholler (1881-1973) and Jan Frederik Staal (1879-1940) has recently been renovated and expanded with a new annex. Borren Staalenhoef Architecten has connected the ground floor to the attic via the dormer using interconnected tilted triangles. On the exterior, the roof has been given a stunning skin of ceramic elements, developed in collaboration with Koninklijke Tichelaar Makkum. Bronze-glazed 'bowls' in five variations give the monument a futuristic twist, with a nod to the exuberance of Kropholler and Staal.