Art house and gallery TESE: A gallery like no other

There's just something special about the Graven in Aarhus.

Maybe it's the mix of old buildings, cobblestones and people who are never in a hurry to move on. Cafes, ice cream parlors and small specialty shops lie side by side and in the middle of it all is the TESE Art House and Gallery.

On the ground floor, art hangs on the white walls, with a large mahogany grand piano standing in the room. The door to the garden is open in the summer. Outside, people sit with a cup of coffee or a beer, while conversations flow between tables, artworks and the day's plans.

It feels less like a traditional gallery and more like a place where people meet.

Sarah-Kamille Amininejad Koushki Teib, who founded TESE in 2020 and moved into Graven a year ago, holds a silver-plated denture in her hand as we speak. She found it in the basement, a relic from when the house was a dental clinic. She thinks it’s too fun to throw away. Behind her hangs a large painting in strong, fiery colors.

“It’s more of a community,” she says when I ask if she runs the place. “I see myself more as a curator than the classic manager.”

And you can clearly feel that when you walk around the older premises.

Because even though the house has a clear common thread, it is not built around one person. Artists with very different expressions work throughout the house. Here you will find, among others, a photographer, a set designer, a performance artist, an art conservator, musicians, writers, painters and designers who work with recycled materials and slow fashion.

The common denominator is not the art form, it is curiosity.

A gallery where you can be skeptical

Many people still associate galleries with something a bit solemn. A place where you walk around quietly, nodding in appreciation and hoping that no one notices that you may not fully understand the works. TESE deliberately tries to challenge that atmosphere.

Sarah-Kamille describes the place as an educational space and a democratizing space.

“It’s okay if the art on the walls isn’t exactly your style. You’re welcome to disagree. That’s actually the point.”

She often finds that guests linger for several hours after a vernissage. Not because they necessarily want to buy a work of art, but because the conversations continue long afterwards.

“People have missed a place like this,” she says. “Where the gallery is not a place where you know what you are going to experience. But where you come to be surprised.”

New artists get space to take chances

Sarah-Kamille often works with less established artists. She doesn't do this because it's necessarily easier, quite the opposite.

But because something special often emerges when people are allowed to experiment without constantly thinking about the market or the industry's expectations.

The current exhibition “I Fear the Impersonal Between Us” brings together two first-time exhibitors. The title is borrowed from Inger Christensen, and the exhibition revolves around identity, belonging and the modern human relationship to oneself and one’s surroundings.

Here you will encounter both Terkel Mira's personal investigations of identity and community and Emilie Lystberg's more socially critical look at social media, self-presentation and digital consumer culture.

Sarah-Kamille particularly highlights Terkel Mira, who is non-binary and has long navigated a public that was not built for them.

“When you’re non-binary, you have to be cool enough to accept that being yourself defies norms,” she says. And then, a little more directly: “And that’s why I just think it’s even cooler to stand so strongly in your voice and develop your craft.”

The house with the details

One of TESE's basic ideas is to bring together artists across disciplines, working side by side and meeting in joint projects.

According to Sarah-Kamille, the art industry is often divided into small worlds that rarely talk to each other. And TESE is trying to change that.

“You are forced to relate to art industries other than your own. And that just makes you get closer to the heart of why you do what you do.”

One of her favorite examples is an event where author Jonas Eika read while the house's painters created works live, with musicians playing in the background. The result was a joint artwork that still hangs in the house.

And that is exactly what happens when people with different expressions share the same address.

Cultural store Bellis

On one side of the building is Kulturbodega Bellis, a café and bar with its own kitchen. Aesthetically, it is a different universe than the gallery, with a do-it-yourself energy.

Bellis is run by Anja and the café is not just next door to TESE. It is part of the same building, and it shows in the program. When Tese holds an opening or dinners with salon debates, Bellis is the one who provides the service. And vice versa, when there is a music festival and casual community atmosphere in Bellis, it takes place under the same roof as avant-garde art and performance in the gallery.

This gives the place a vibe that not many cultural venues in Aarhus have. You can come for the art, for the food, for the conversation or just to sit outside on the hill down towards Graven. Outside, the two places flow together, and it is not always clear where one ends and the other begins.

I personally think it fits the whole place quite well. Because the TESE Art House and Gallery is really not just about art.

It's about creating a place where people can meet, be surprised and gain new perspectives.

Practical information

Art house and gallery TESE, Graven 21, Aarhus.

Opening hours: Tuesday and Thursday 13-16, Wednesday and Friday 15-18, Saturday 11-14.

Current exhibition: “I fear the impersonal between us” with Terkel Mira and Emilie Lystberg, until June 27, 2026.

Cultural Bodega Bellis: Open every day from 12:00 noon