PRESS RELEASE

Three artists to take part in NP3|Groninger Museum talent development scheme

April 2026 – April 2027

Irene De Boer, Mylan Hoezen and Karina Puuffin

Following a highly competitive initial selection round, NP3 and the Groninger Museum have chosen Irene de Boer, Mylan Hoezen and Karina Puuffin to take part in Young Grunn Artist 4. The three artists will join the one-year talent development scheme starting in April 2026. At its conclusion, one artist will be awarded the €5,000 Gerrit van Houten Prize, with the other two artists receiving €2,500 each.  

In total 83 artists and collectives, all with links to Groningen, applied to take part in Young Grunn Artist 4. The overwhelming number of high-quality entries made compiling the shortlist a huge challenge. Along with Irene De Boer, Mylan Hoezen and Karina Puuffin,the artists who made the shortlistwere Shervin Atighehchi, Ra’fat Ali, Aisha Hachem, Siavash Naghshbandi and Stephanie Smit.

NP3 and the Groninger Museum selected the three participants based on their submitted documentation, motivation statements and interviews. They will take part in the Young Grunn Artist 4 programme from April 2026 through April 2027.

Irene de Boer graduated from Minerva Art Academy in Groningen in 2016 and obtained a master’s degree from the Frank Mohr Institute in 2018. In her work she investigates the interplay between nature, (sub)culture and technology. Her art focuses on transformations, patterns, and the ways natural and artificial systems influence each other, from the material to the metaphysical.

Mylan Hoezen completed his studies at Minerva Art Academy in Groningen in 2017 and earned a master’s degree from theSandberg Instituut in Amsterdam in 2023. Rooted in performance, his work examines the mind-body relationship in diverse ways, including performance but also sound, sculpture and film. His practice interweaves endurance, movement, repetition, spatial arrangement and composition in structures that shift perception and heighten awareness.

Karina Puuffin graduated from Minerva Art Academy in Groningen in 2020. She transforms painting into a spatial, performative practice in which humour and exaggeration create space for play, freedom and experimentation. Her work reflects critically on the traditions and conventions of painting and actively invites the viewer to move, experience and explore. Playfulness and messiness are strategies for disrupting existing artistic hierarchies and opening up fresh possibilities in the medium. Puuffin has recently taken a new direction in her work that involves ceramics.

Young Grunn Artist 4 
The Young Grunn Artist programme, financially supported by the Gerrit van Houten Stichting, is designed to supplement the selected artists’ existing professional practice. By providing the necessary professional support, NP3and the Groninger Museum give three artists or artist collectives a unique opportunity to take the next step in developing their work, raising their profile, and refining and deepening their practice.