upcoming
Join us for this drawing session with artist Len Heiner, who transforms the exhibition space into a living canvas. Using the walls—and potentially every surface—as his playground, the artist invites visitors to step into a process of ongoing creation. Through spontaneous gestures, marks, and participatory acts, Len guides participants to explore, interact, and extend the playful interventions he sets in motion.
His work blurs the boundaries between artist and audience, composition and improvisation, inviting moments of shared reflection and collective creativity. Together, we’ll experiment, respond, and make the space our own!
Date: Saturday, 8 November 2025
Time: From 14:00
Address: TROEF, Middelstegracht 87, 2312 TT Leiden
Admission: Free
RSVP: here
Come join us on November 14th at TROEF for a collective storytelling performance hosted by Nicola Caporaso, Linda Del Rosso, and Almira Tanrikulu.
Bring your own pillow and settle in — you can come to tell a story or simply lie back and listen, as we drift together through tales that travel between dreams and daylight.
In the gentle glow of Post-Ludens, we’ll build a blanket-fort of imagination — a small act of resistance against the rigidity of adulthood. Together, we’ll rediscover how easy it is to wander with our minds, to laugh, to make up worlds out of words, and to remember why play keeps us alive.
Date: Friday, 14 November 2025
Time: 20:00 - 22:00
Address: TROEF, Middelstegracht 87, 2312 TT Leiden
Admission: Free
RSVP: here
Join us for Flying Kites, a participatory session by artist Frans van Hoek that turns the act of kite flying into a poetic gesture of letting go and connection.
Together, we’ll explore our fears and anxieties tied to work, ambition, and the uncertain paths of adulthood — writing them down, giving them form, and letting them drift into the sky. Each kite becomes a messenger of what we carry within us: worries, hopes, memories, and quiet wishes that connect us through shared experience.
Through this simple yet symbolic act, Flying Kites invites reflection on what it means to acknowledge what weighs us down, to share it with others, and to transform it through play. As the kites rise, our words move with the wind, reminding us of the unpredictability of life and the lightness found in letting go together.
Date: Sunday, 16 November 2025
Time: 16:00–18:00
Address: TROEF, Middelstegracht 87, 2312 TT Leiden
Admission: Free
RSVP: here
Muddle is a collaborative board game that merges photography, collective storytelling, and speculative play to imagine new multispecies narratives in the context of the Mediterranean climate crisis.
At its core lies Posidonia oceanica — a seagrass endemic to the Mediterranean Sea and a vital yet endangered bioindicator of ecological health.
Through a system of character roles, event prompts, and photographic cards, players are invited to construct collective stories while navigating the game’s map. Each image acts as an open-ended visual cue and meaning-making tool, activated through imagination and interaction between players, humans, and more-than-human entities.
Inspired by Donna Haraway, Muddle encourages participants to “stay with the trouble,” embracing uncertainty, interdependence, and nonlinear thinking. Rather than offering resolution or escape, the game values process, dialogue, and relational storytelling.
Emerging from artistic research on Posidonia oceanica and its presence around Isola Gallinara — a small island off the Italian coast — Muddle transforms play into a process of situated learning and storytelling. It invites participants to rethink ecological relations through acts of imagination, care, and co-authorship.
Date: Sunday, 23 November 2025
Time: 14:00–14:40 & 15:30–16:10
Address: TROEF, Middelstegracht 87, 2312 TT Leiden
Admission: Free
RSVP: here
Join the Drawing Club!
Together we’ll explore what it means to draw freely with our entire body, through short and experimental movements that invite curiosity, humour, and joy. No skills required, just an openness to play! Let’s expand the notions of drawing together.
Project based in the Kunstfabriek Zuid Collective (Rotterdam).
Date: Sunday, 30 November 2025
Time: 15:00 - 17:00
Address: TROEF, Middelstegracht 87, 2312 TT Leiden
Admission: Free
RSVP: here
Join us for SOUPER CRAFTERNOON: a community-based initiative that centres creativity, connection, and joy. We learn by doing and from each other in a no-pressure, playful environment.
Born from the simple wish to spend more time with our crafts — not for production but for fun — Souper Crafternoon celebrates making together. Each session takes place in a different space around the city, which we bring to life with our crafts, laughter, and the smell of delicious soup.
Join us for an afternoon of shared making, conversation, and warmth!
Date: Sunday, 7 December 2025
Time: From 14:00
Address: TROEF, Middelstegracht 87, 2312 TT Leiden
Admission: Free
RSVP: here
Vocal expression is a playful, body-oriented approach to working with sound and resonance through your voice. You don’t need to be able to sing beautifully: through your voice, you connect with what’s alive inside you, giving space to discomfort, emotions, desires, and your zest for life.
Vocal expression helps you to:
- Connect with your body
- Feel and express your emotions
- Become more aware of your life energy and creativity
Date: Friday, 12 December 2025
Time: 19:30 - 21:30
Address: TROEF, Middelstegracht 87, 2312 TT Leiden
Admission: Free
RSVP: here
Join us for KLEIden, a playful community ceramics workshop where participants are invited to shape a piece of clay inspired by home, memories, or surroundings — a balcony rabbit, a childhood tree, or the sea from long ago.
Together, these individual creations form a collective village of stories, bringing people of all ages, backgrounds, and experiences together. KLEIden creates space for imagination, connection, and shared creativity, turning simple clay into a tapestry of collective memory.
Date: Sunday, 14 December 2025
Time: 15:00 - 18:00
Address: TROEF, Middelstegracht 87, 2312 TT Leiden
Admission: Free
RSVP: here
Join us for the closing of Post Ludens, with a few talks and drinks.
Date: Saturday, 20 December 2025
Time: 15:00 - 17.00
Address: TROEF, Middelstegracht 87, 2312 TT Leiden
Admission: Free
past events
Closing event THE CLEAN THAT STAINS | October 11th, 15:00
We’re scrubbing in a final event on Saturday, 11 October, where two of the makers will be present to give the exhibition one last rinse. We start at 15:00! Thomas Schoenmaker will give a reading from his thesis. Seulbin Roh will present research from her PhD. We wrap this up with drinks.
This event is free, and you can sign up here: https://forms.gle/4um62VP8rPtMSNuM9
Op zaterdag 11 oktober organiseren we een afsluitend evenement, waar twee van de makers aanwezig zullen zijn om de tentoonstelling nog een laatste keer te schrobben. We beginnen om 15:00 uur! Thomas Schoenmaker zal een voordracht geven uit zijn scriptie. Seulbin Roh zal onderzoek uit haar PhD presenteren. We sluiten af met een borrel.
Dit evenement is gratis en je kunt je hier aanmelden: https://forms.gle/4um62VP8rPtMSNuM9
This year, TROEF is participating in Kunstroute Leiden with the group exhibition The Clean that Stains.
More information coming soon.
Program
18.00 - Doors open
19.00 - Welcome, speeches & artist talk
19.30 - Drinks
22.00 - End of opening
We hope to see you there.
On behalf of TROEF and the participating creators,
Charmaine de Heij and Jonathan Tang
The Crochet & Crying Club meets to crochet, knit, embroider, and share stories and knowledge. Whether you knit full sweaters, crochet freestyle, or want to make your first stitch: everyone is welcome! Just bring your project and join us. Tea and tissues will be provided. Feel free to bring snacks to share. No registration required.
Leiden-based artist Karl Karlas will get married to their house! In a time when ownership is centered around transactions, Karlas proposes an alternative approach: a plea for love, care, and dedication to one’s living environment instead of mere appropriation. In this talk, Karl will share insights about the project and its various perspectives.
Sign up here.
Feeling at home goes beyond the walls of your house. That’s why we’re organizing a neighborhood party! In the courtyard behind TROEF and in the hall of Theater de Generator, we’ll gather around the heart of our neighborhood: the old canning factory.
Sign up here.
Bloeifilm is an activist film collective. This evening, director Finn van den IJssel and visual artist Jara van den Bosch will take us on their quest for stories about hope and radical love.
Outside in the garden, we will watch a short film made by Bloeifilm, after which we will delve into the content, artistic and activist depth in a short Q&A. Afterwards, you can get started with bundling your own story during the zine workshop.
Sign up here.
Join Katayun Taraporevala for a Queer Migrants Eating! “Food has always been my way of connecting. A joyful, intimate act I brought from India to the Netherlands. After moving here in 2020, I missed the shared meals that once filled my life. Since 2024, I’ve been hosting dinners to rebuild that sense of community within the queer migrant circle. Cooking together, sharing stories, and creating tablecloths as memories of what we’ve built. Come, sit, eat, and be part of my queer migrant table!”
Sign up here.
Beatrice Cera's workshop explores belonging through reflection and conversation. Participants examine “dwelling” and “care” to co-create a glossary of shared meanings, contributing to a collective vocabulary of “belongings.”
Sign up here.
We warmly invite you to the kick-off of the Textile Festival Leiden! This evening will be a relaxed and open opportunity to meet potential partner organizations, share our plans, and look ahead to the first edition of the festival together.
Sign up here.
Sign up here.
25 May 2025 - 13:00 to 17:30
🧶 13:00 – 15:00
Felting Workshop with Lucia Koevoets
You will discover two felting techniques in this felting class: wet felting and dry felting. Inspired by shapes from the exhibition and the environment, we will make felt sculptures. At the end of the session, the works created will be added to the wall as applications and included in the exhibition. Both beginners and experts can deepen and share their knowledge.
🍴 15:00 – 15:30
Food break around the algae table
A shortened version of the performative food gathering “Rooted in Water / Rock / Time,” in which we gather, eat, and slow down together. The table transforms into a living archive, accumulating gestures, objects, and residues of the gathering. It functions as an inversion of the colonial collecting table: not a tool of classification, but a space for encounter, exchange, and co-creation. The menu combines familiar ingredients with foraged wild herbs.
🧤 15:30 – 17:30
Choreographing hand(s) with Wietske Flederus
A workshop and performance in which we design and create new iterations to add to the collection of glove formations. We will explore movement, performance scores, and ways of being (together). Conclude the day with a collective performance.
Everyone is welcome. Materials for the workshops are provided, but feel free to bring your own.
Finissage 25 May 2025 - 15:30 to 17:30
Workshop with Wietske Flederus
A workshop and performance in which we design and create new iterations to add to the collection of glove formations. We will explore movement, performance scores and ways of being (together).
💥 Free event
23 May 2025 - 17:30 to 19:00
Come gather around a table parasitising knees —
where drift meets hand, and hunger meets hush.
We’ll blur the line between taking and giving,
in the slow rhythm of underwater whispers.
🦀 No price — donation-based and open.
🦀 Limited spaces available - sign up here!
🦀 Bring your appetite and curiosity!
10 May - 13:00 to 16:00 ** May 11 cancelled!!**
Experimental class with Steffen Vogelezang & Amanda van der Zalm.
Kritiek leveren is makkelijk als je boos bent, maar wat als we LIEF KRITIEK leren geven? Kom mee op een creatieve zoektocht naar klein ongemak en ontdek hoe je daar op beeldende wijze kritiek op kunt leveren.
💥 Free event
💥 Sign up required: please fill in the form
18 May 2025 - 14:00 to 16:00
Join us for a nice Sunday crafternoon at the gallery. No skills needed and crying is not required😉. Knitters are tolerated. Bring your project and we will see you there!
💥 Free event
💥 Drinks, cookies and tissues provided
💥 BYO slippers to be extra comfy
met Lucia Koevoets
4 May 2025 - 13:00 to 15:00
(english below)
In deze viltklas ontdek je twee vilttechnieken: natvilten en droogvilten. Geïnspireerd door vormen uit de tentoonstelling en de omgeving gaan we aan de slag met het maken van viltsculpturen. Aan het einde van de sessie worden de gemaakte werken als applicaties aan de muur toegevoegd en opgenomen in de tentoonstelling. Iedereen is welkom, zowel beginners als gevorderden kunnen hun kennis verdiepen én delen. Materialen zijn aanwezig, maar eigen materiaal meenemen wordt aangemoedigd!
Felting class - for beginners and advanced
In this felting class you will discover two felting techniques: wet felting and dry felting. Inspired by shapes from the exhibition and the environment, we will get to work making felt sculptures. At the end of the session, the works created will be added to the wall as applications and included in the exhibition. Everyone is welcome, both beginners and experts can deepen and share their knowledge. Materials are provided, but bringing your own materials is encouraged!
💥 Free event
💥 Planning to join? Let us know through this link!
April 19 & 27 - 13:00 to 17:00
Come and join the Queer Sewing Group at TROEF! The queer sewing group is a sewing circle by and for queer people. It is a safe space to craft and meet new people. You need no experience in sewing, if you want I can teach you all you like to learn. There is the option to bring your own project, or to customize a garment.
💥 Free event
💥 All materials are provided
💥 Planning to join? Let us know through this link!
12 April - 13:00 to 17:00
Outdoor workshop + lecture with Paul Nieboer
In deze workshop gaan we wilgen laten spreken en luisteren we naar hun verhaal over de landschappen van de Lage landen. We zullen tekenen, onderzoeken en verbindingen leggen om zo, als groep te vertragen en park Cronesteyn vanuit een ander perspectief te zien.
💥 Free event
💥 Drinks provided
Exhibition
4 April - 25 May 2025
Exhibition
Bij deze nodigen wij iedereen van harte uit de nieuwe exporeeks IN SHARED AIR feestelijk samen in te luiden. Naast de opening van expositie SPINNING JENNY is er op de binnenplaats een nieuwjaarsborrel waar we samen met collectief ROEM graag met jullie willen verbinden en proosten op een inspirerend en cultureel rijk 2025.
15 November 2024 - 16:00 to 22:00
Second opening + Performance at 20:00
15 November 2024 - 16:00 to 22:00
Opening + Meet the artists
Performance at 20:00