New workshops are planned for the upcoming months.

Have you always wanted to learn how to screen print or etch? Or do you want to learn how to work with analogue photography? You can sign up for the following workshops:

Friday 22 & 29 august: The Power of Super8! (8mm filmworkshop)
Friday 26 september | Workshop Pinhole photography
Saturday 27 september | Workshop screen print (beginners)
Friday 21 november | Workshop screen print (beginners)
Sunday 30 november | Workshop Pinhole photography

Read more about the workshops and how to register here.

New Workshops

Twice a year we publish Zevenblad, a magazine for poetry and visual art.

With Zevenblad, we directly reference Plaatsmaken’s history as a publishing house, while at the same time embracing experiment and multidisciplinarity. We firmly believe in bringing different languages together. The magazine is published twice a year and is launched with a festive program full of poetry.

Zevenblad#8 with poetry by Annelie David, Kiki Mulder, Willem Bentvelzen, Tabea Nixdorff and anne krul, Anke van Oostveen, Jasper van den Broek, Annet Zaagsma and Sebastiaan Mets. Art is by Floor Martens, Dominique Panhuysen, Willy de Weerd-Maas, Abel Schaminee & Daan van der Pluijm. Design by Camille Cilja Caspersen from Werkplaats Typografie/ArtEZ.

Zevenblad#7 with poetry by Arno Kramer, Antoin Lender, Inge Winter, Ellen Boersma, Roelof Schipper, Jasper van den Broek, Paul Rigolle & Norbert de Beule. Art is by Femke Vindevogel, Barbara Polderman, Frans van Tartwijk, Emily Kocken, Miyuki Okuyama, Albert van der Weide & Angeline Lips. Design by Camille Cilja Caspersen from Werkplaats Typografie/ArtEZ.

Zevenblad#6 with poetry by Anke van Oostveen, Roelof Schipper, Willem van Zadelhoff, Frank Pollet & Corie Grootendorst. Art is by Geer van der Klugt, Sunflower Soup, Tonni van Sommeren, Bert Scholten & Paul Louis van den Bergh.

Zevenblad#5 with poetry by Ellen Boersma, Tina van Baren, Lieke Gorter, Corie Grootendorst, Annet Zaagsma, Antoin Lender & Rick Kewal Gademann. Art is by van Anne Geene, Aldwin Lehr, Melanie Bosboom, Wilfried Nijhof en Ellen Fleich Gracia. 

Zevenblad#4 is een weerslag van het project Altered Breath in taal en beeld. With poetry by Ananda Serné, Dorien de Wit, Hannah van Binsbergen & Vicky Francke and art by van Marijn van Kreij, Astrid Nobel, Bernice Nauta & Muge Yilmaz

Zevenblad#3 with poetry by Astrid Arns, Maud Nass, Margreet Tjalsma en Annet Zaagsma. Art by Mirjam Kuitenbrouwer, Guusje de Bruin, Marieke Noort, Patty Struik, Melle Mijnhardt, Corine Aalvanger, Lydia Wierenga, Carel Lanters, Lenneke van der Goot, Anne Schoemaker & Karin van Pinxteren. 

Zevenblad#2 with poetry by Willem van Zadelhoff, Marije Langelaar, Maarten Buser, Moeckbert, Ralph Dassen, Méland Langeveld & Nancy de Graaf. Art by Wija de Boer, Joanneke Jouwsma, Astrid Polman, Wim Salki en Floor Martens.

Zevenblad#1 with poetry by Tijs van Bragt, Moeckbert, Arno Kramer, Edwin Fagel en Geert van de Ven. Art by Tamara Kho, Carin Unverzagt, Erik Odijk, Remco Dikken, Choi Wong, Koen Kievits, Frederique van Domburg, Rozemarijn Westerink, PJ Roggeband en Elisabeth Vuez.

0-nummer with poetry by collectiefdichters and art by Hester Louter, Hester Vis, Marten Hendriks & Anand Mahabier.

Abonnement op Zevenblad (jaarlijks 2 exemplaren):
- €18,50 (excl. verzending) per jaar
- €26 (incl. verzending) per jaar

Zevenblad

Zomersamenscholing 25.mp4

From Saturday 21 June through Sunday 29 June, the Summer Gather Together took place.

We look back on a very successful week in which we welcomed many visitors over the course of three days. Koen Kievits and Django van Ardennen photographed the Summer Gathering, while resident artist Maurice captured everything on video. At the bottom of this page you can view the photos and footage.

Day 1 | Sun Day
Artist collective Periphery Center kicked things off after workshops by Sunflower Soup and Hospitality Club, with a spoken word performance and a beautiful presentation of the printed work they produced with us in recent weeks. Curator Lenn Cox interviewed the artists during the opening about their residency period. The spicy Antillean solstice stew they had prepared was a perfect match for the occasion. After the performance, DJ Snobbie took over and treated us to great music.

Day 2 | Letter Day
The second Summer Gathering event began with a letter-stamping workshop by Sunflower Soup, during which our billboard was completely redesigned with new text and images. Many hands worked together to create a piece best described as “activist humorous visual poetry” in which—of course—cats played a central role. After the homemade “Letter Soup,” there was a presentation of the new issue of Zevenblad. Poets and artists read from or spoke—sometimes at great length—about the works featured in the magazine. It was an attentive, thoughtful gathering of the sort we’ve come to expect from Zevenblad. The evening continued long and gently, with the beer table set up outside.

Day 3 | Together Day
The final day of the Summer Gathering centered on a workshop developed by Periphery Center in collaboration with Brussels-based collective Girls Like Us. Participants read aloud together, held discussions, and screen-printed texts onto sweatpants. It was a well-attended afternoon with many new faces. This event, too, ended with a communal meal.

We’ve made beautiful memories and written another chapter in our four-year artistic and social experiment. This past January we began a program curated by Sunflower Soup and Lenn Cox, with Hospitality Club handling the educational component. Rotating teams of artists, poets, and publishers work in our studios for a season. At the solstice or equinox that follows, we celebrate these new additions with a program full of workshops, presentations, gatherings, and soup. The Autumn Gathering will take place around the weekend of 20 and 21 September.

We are letting go of the traditional idea of an exhibition with a set beginning and endpoint. Instead, this year we are organizing ploegendiensten (residencies) of artists, writers, and collectives. Each season, activities culminate in a festive Gather Together, driven by artistic and social experiment.

Program curator Lenn Cox created Time Out/Tune In, a program focusing on time and the need to slow down. It examines the 'household' of Plaatsmaken and intersections are made with the 'households' of other makers and organizations. The Hospitality Club provides educational and public activities. You can learn more about Time Out/Tune In here.

Periphery Center is an emerging collective for artistic practice and shared study. Here, we center the margin as the main site for the production of a counter hegemonic discourse that is not just found in words but in habits of being and in the way one lives.* Here, we meet to inspire one another and co-create the reality we dream of through bookmaking, (graphic) design, publishing, curating, art and writing.

*bell hooks, “Marginality as site of resistance”

Girls Like Us is a queer feminist magazine made by and featuring an ever expanding community of queers from all sides of the spectrum within the arts, culture and activism. The magazine was founded by Jessica Gysel. It mixes politics with pleasure and maps collaborative routes toward a non-patriarchy. To actively build community, Girls Like Us also organizes events ranging from film screenings, exhibiti­ons, talks, workshops, presentations, pop-up shops, to parties. Katja Mater is involved as editor.

With thanks to Mondriaan Fonds and Gemeente Arnhem.

Looking Back | Summer Gather Together

In the display case in front of the Palace of Justice in Arnhem, Plaatsmaken has been programming contemporary visual art for a number of years. This is based on the idea that encountering art in unexpected places can add an extra sparkle to your day.

On display in the showcase from 1 July: Ouiee SY Park, 'The House with a Green Old Roof'

The images by artist Ouiee SY Park, which are now on display in the showcase in front of the Palace of Justice, come from her video work The House with a Green Old Roof, a personal search for Park's grandmother and the way in which their family was shaped by life in a metropolis.

Ouiee SY Park recently lost her grandmother, who is central to the images. This work therefore becomes a memoriam. By sharing these images in the showcase, Park symbolically invites her grandmother to Arnhem, her new home, where she tries to take root and flourish — as her grandmother once did under the green old roof of her house.

Watch the film from which the images come here.

In collaboration with the BEAR (Fine Art) department of ArtEZ, (former) students are given the opportunity to submit a proposal for the showcase. This is good for both parties: young artists gain experience in exhibiting and Plaatsmaken is thus assured of programming young talent straight from the academy. 

De Uitspraak

We are letting go of the traditional idea of an exhibition with a fixed beginning and end. Instead, we organize Ploegendiensten (residencies) for artists, writers, and collectives.

Every season features a Gather Together Week, during which activities are united into a vibrant whole of artistic and social experiment. For this program, we work with artist collective Sunflower Soup and program maker Lenn Cox.
The second Gather Together Week (Summer Gather Together) took place during the week of 21–29 June. The results of this second Ploegendienst and Gather Together will be on view until mid-September.

Ploegendienst 2 | Periphery Center & Girls Like Us
Working period: April/May/June 2025
Summer Gather Together: 21 - 29 June 2025
Open to visit: 30 June - 7 September 2025

About the Ploegendienst
Collective Periphery Center researched during their residency (Ploegendienst) how the collective can be a space for ideas, desires and gatherings within the current social and political landscape. Spiralling around the question what conditions make collectives possible and how, like the body, this is changeable: it can transform, grow older and develop different needs.

Periphery Center invited publishing collective Girls Like Us to join them from their years of experience to deepen this process and work together towards a public workshopping sweatpants session on Sunday June 29. Read more about this session FROM THE MARGIN TO THE SEAM in the program.

During their working period at Plaatsmaken, Jeanine van Berkel, Yusser al Obaidi, Yessica Deira, and Pelumi Adejumo of Periphery Center explored what it means to work collectively. Rooted in shared diasporic experience, they wrote, played, and experimented with cyanotype, silkscreen, and graphic design. Working with silkscreen and print became, for them, a journey of return, a repetition, a movement between presence and disappearance. Each print holds an echo of something that once was, but never returns quite the same. The blur in pigment and the rhythm of layering speak to memories of a land, a place, a time. Faded and resurfacing, again and again. In Yoruba culture, indigo is the color of love. The patterns and shapes throughout the space echo traditional Nigerian textile dyeing techniques. Once both sacred material and currency, indigo carried deep cultural meaning. Through symbolic motifs and patterns, a visual language emerged used to convey messages on clothing, express status and the bonds between people.

The collaborative process of Periphery Center is embedded in their work. One begins, another holds the grid, someone else completes the line or fills in the color. The piece moves between hands, like memory: shared, shifted, held. Phonetic similarities across languages create poetic bridges across cultures. Throughout the space, the word refugee/visitor in both Arabic (Laje’) [لاجئ] and Yoruba (Àlejò) are referenced. Inspired by the root structure of the Arabic language, you find motifs derived from the root ل ج ء • (l j ʔ) 1. related to refugeprinted on plaid plastic bags. Informed by thinkers like Édouard Glissant, they engaged in conversations about what it means to come from a place where you are always a guest, always arriving, always returning. How this movement might, over time, become a form of grounding instead of mourning.

The color blue carries more than nostalgia or tradition. Their visual language draws on the faded blue posters of old travel agencies, once vibrant, now ghosted by time, their original tones erased. Periphery Center draws inspiration from the design and visual cultures of the Global South, aesthetics often dismissed as kitsch or amateur by the standards of Western modernism. Here, these visual languages are, similar to the many languages underneath their tongues, celebrated and reimagined as Vernacular Diasporic Design: layered, hybrid, and resonant.

This working period (Ploegendienst) is part of the Time Out / Tune In program that program maker Lenn Cox has curated around Plaatsmaken's shared household. Time Out / Tune In connects the cyclical nature of time and its seasons, with a call to slow down! The program explores with multiple generations how we can organize together, what we can learn from each other and what is at stake in the cultural field and beyond. Dancing through chosen families, kindred spirits and ancestral matters. 
Read more about the program Time Out / Tune In.

Lenn Cox
Lenn Cox is a community organizer, artist, educator, and program maker. She explores solidarity economies by immersing herself in self-organized environments for learning, working, and living—many with an ecofeminist and queer core. She uses clothing and navigation cards to carry the exchanges and stories she gathers. Lenn initiates gatherings that enable collective learning. This is an ongoing research into how we organize ourselves, what we can learn from each other, and what is at stake in the cultural field and beyond. 

Now showing | Ploegendienst 2

The first new residents have arrived, materials have been ordered, and boundaries are being explored and stretched. Over the next four years, we will embark on an experiment in which two parallel programs intersect and strengthen each other.

We are letting go of the traditional idea of an exhibition with a fixed beginning and end. Instead, we are organizing shifts of artists, writers, and collectives. Each season, this culminates in a 'Samenscholingsweek' (Gathering Week), where activities are bundled into a vibrant mix of artistic and social experimentation. For this program, we are collaborating with the art collective Sunflower Soup and curator Lenn Cox. The first Gathering Week will take place from March 17–22, with more details in the March newsletter.  

For a four-year program at Plaatsmaken, Sunflower Soup presents HOHA. HOHA is a spicy soup of wordplay and visual discoveries that we will keep simmering for four years. It is a platform for finding new ways for people to make their voices heard, using the space and resources that Plaatsmaken provides. Posters, protest (Ho!), poetry & pleasure (Ha!).  

We start with homemade protest signs featuring inventive slogans and move through spoken word, dreamy poets, local residents, craftspeople, graphic hardliners, and printers resisting oppression. We experiment with new combinations of all these elements, creating them in our workshops in rotating shifts. The results can be showcased at Plaatsmaken, but also far beyond—on the streets, in jacket pockets and backpacks, in libraries, and community spaces.  

People who, for various reasons, are on the fringes of the art world—those who independently create magazines and visions for change and resistance, those who find ways to laugh despite hardship, those who have developed their own words and language—will have a central place in HOHA.  

The Time Out / Tune In program has emerged from the compost heap that Plaatsmaken has grown from, mixed with the nomadic practice of Lenn Cox and her ongoing research project Collective Wandering. This project explores self-organized socio-ecological communities and collectives—often with an (eco)feminist and queer core—born from a need for greater collectivity in the work and lives of artists and cultural workers.  

In recent years, we have seen increasing interest in and necessity for collectivity in the precarious cultural field. This program connects to the cyclical nature of time, calling for slowing down. The value of time and slowness for artists and collectives is fundamental, yet it is constantly under pressure. Sometimes, slowing down seems nearly impossible, given the productivity demands required to survive in the precarious cultural sector.  

Time Out / Tune In places time as a co-creator and currency at its core. It embraces the cyclical clock of the seasons, hoping to move beyond the relentless ticking of clock time. Through seasonal work, this way of thinking and working is given extra space. In intensive seasonal programs, residents at Plaatsmaken will be brought together with other makers.  

Time Out / Tune In takes the household of Plaatsmaken as its focal point, examining it closely and creating intersections with the ‘households’ of other makers and organizations. Seemingly everyday actions become part of the artistic process; they shape the conditions and rhythms that make art possible. Through recurring moments, we explore how to organize collectively, what we can learn from each other, and what is at stake.  

Art-making, in this context, is about setting things in motion—it moves beyond conventional standards of what art is, can be, or should look like.

Ploegendienst 1: January/February/March 2025
The results of the first shift will be showcased in the 'Lente Samenscholing' from March 17–22. During the months of April, May, and June, the presentation will remain open to visitors and will be regularly reshaped.

You can read more about the results and the artists here.

Ploegendienst 2: April/May/June 2025
The results of the second shift will be showcased in the 'Summer Gather Together' from June 21 - 29. During the months of July, August & September, the presentation will remain open to visitors and will be regularly reshaped.

H0Ha & Time Out Tune In

Plaatsmaken is looking for two new members for its Supervisory Board (Raad van Toezicht), both from the Arnhem region.

One member with a strong background in governance, preferably in the cultural sector and with knowledge of local politics.

One member with an emerging artistic practice and a keen eye for the current art field. For this profile, the maker’s perspective is essential, and no prior board experience is required.

Plaatsmaken is a growing art platform whose core values are experimentation and solidarity. We have an exhibition space, a project office, and studios. Our inclusive artistic programme features the printmaking studios as a key component, alongside dialogue and depth. We have a close-knit team and regularly undertake activities. In our Supervisory Board we strive for a diverse composition with a wide range of skills and perspectives.

The members of the Supervisory Board are all unpaid. The Board follows the Governance Code for Culture. Its task is to help Stichting Plaatsmaken put the principles of this Governance Code into practice and explain how this is done:

Creating cultural value for and within society

Acting with integrity and awareness of roles: there is no conflict of interest within the Board

Careful governance: the Board supports the daily management as needed in the responsible use of people and resources

Exercising good oversight: by maintaining a professional, independent Board with an eye for diversity

The Raad van Toezicht meets four times a year, with management attending these meetings. When necessary, the Board consults more often, and if desired without the management present. Additionally, members of the Board individually act as sparring partners for management on an ad-hoc basis.

The Board approves the foundation’s annual report and financial statements. It also actively contributes ideas to the foundation’s policy plans and formally approves them. Attendance of Board members at Plaatsmaken activities is highly appreciated.

Inge Pollet, Director/Board Member (+31 6 28114388)

Gijs Frieling, Chair of the Supervisory Board (+31 6 27021853)

Please send your application before 15 August to info@plaatsmaken.nl, addressed to Inge Pollet.

Vacatures

Due to exceptional circumstances, we will be closed this coming Wednesday. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.

We look forward to welcoming you back on Thursday, June 26.

Plaatsmaken closed on June 25

From Friday 27 June until Sunday 29 June, Plaatsmaken is taking part in the Arnhem Stock and Design Days.

We’re opening the doors to our depot. For three days, you can purchase some of the most beautiful prints and artwork from both well-known and emerging artists. And all for very kind prices. We’ll transform one of our workshops into a salon filled with art to view and buy. While supplies last!!

Arnhem Stock Days!

For the next four years Plaatsmaken will be working with program maker and artist Lenn Cox. She created the program Time Out - Tune In.

Lenn Cox is a community organizer, artist, educator, and program maker. She graduated in 2020 from the ArtEZ Master Practice Held in Common, where she developed the manual Collective Wandering: Hanging Out with Our Everyday Ecology. Lenn explores solidarity economies by immersing herself in self-organized learning-working-living environments, also beyond the arts. She uses clothing as correspondence (method) to bring the exchanges and stories she gathers into conversation. Alongside this, she develops Navigation Cards as a conversational tool in exchange with artists, makers, cultural workers, and educators.

Lenn created Time Out - Tune In, in which artists, writers, and collectives collaborate during Ploegendiensten. The results are shown every season during the Samenscholingsweken. Time Out - Tune In runs parallel to the H0ha program by Sunflower Soup. They overlap and reinforce each other.

Let's introduce

The latest edition of Zevenblad will be presented on Friday, June 27.

From a heap of submissions, the editorial team selected contributions in which daffodils feature strikingly often. Black daffodils, wilted ones, with a seventies vibe. Larger topics are not avoided either, right up to a close-up of the moon. 

Zevenblad#8 features poems by Annelie David, Kiki Mulder, Willem Bentvelzen, Tabea Nixdorff and anne krul, Anke van Oostveen, Jasper van den Broek, Annet Zaagsma and Sebastiaan Mets. The visuals are by Floor Martens, Dominique Panhuysen, Willy de Weerd-Maas, Abel Schaminee and Daan van der Pluijm.

Zevenblad#8 will be presented on Friday, June 27 at 19:30.

Image: Dominique Panhuysen

You can find more information about Zevenblad here.

Presentation Zevenblad #8

Periphery Center and Girls Like Us invites you to a workshop day fueled by manifestos and essays of bell hooks on Sunday June 29th at Plaatsmaken.

Together we depart from a collective reading of existing texts, move towards the quotes that speak to us and land at joined sweatpants printing to end the day with a shared meal.

Periphery Center proposes bell hooks’ 1989 essay ‘Choosing the Margin as a Space of Radical Openness’ in which she writes “for me this place of radical openness is a margin—a profound edge. Locating oneself there is difficult yet necessary. It is not a ‘safe’ place. One is always at risk. One needs a community of resistance.”

And Girls Like Us selects excerpts of manifestos from ‘Love And Lightning. A Collection of Queer-feminist Manifestos’, a book edited by them in collaboration with Valiz, that will be published in September 2025. "An army of lovers can never loose” (Queer Nation Manifesto 1989) joins forces with “Y’all better quiet down" (Sylvia Rivera, 1973).

This literal workshopping session (2-5pm) is followed by a collective dinner (6pm), where people can continue to print, read and experience other forms of collective resistance or radical resting.

Everyone is welcome! We start at 2pm. BYOS; bring your own sweatpants. Appreciated if you can sign up via lenn@plaatsmaken.nl so we know how many eaters will join. The language of communication this day is English and Dutch.

This workshop is part of the Summer Gather Together.

Workshop: FROM THE MARGIN TO THE SEAM

Plaatsmaken will be working with art collective Sunflower Soup for the next four years. They came up with the H0Ha plan.

Sunflower Soup is a collective founded in 2021 with the aim of connecting art and activism. The members of Sunflower Soup (SFS) are educated as artists. In recent years, they have also been active in climate, housing and anti-racism protests. Sunflower Soup makes exhibitions, drawings, zines and soup, among other things.

In the summer of 2023, Sunflower Soup created a forest world of paper pulp in Marres, Maastricht. Plants proliferated throughout the whole building, banners hung and people were invited to contribute to the growing 'Plantiarchy'. For this project, SFS worked together with various groups of people from the Marres area for months, in order to create a joint new reality in which plants have the say instead of people.

Following this impressive presentation, Plaatsmaken asked them to develop a multi-year plan in which collaboration from the workshops is central to arrive at other ways of publishing. Collective working, as SFS did in Maastricht, was Plaatsmaken's first thought for the 2025-2028 programme.

The impetus for this approach was the programmes Altered Breath (2022-2023) and Half Rhyme (2024) that were curated for us by Sunflower Soup member Ester Venema. Due to the duration of these programmes and the collaborations between writers and artists that yielded a lot, we realized that this collective way of working fits very well within Plaatsmaken. Mainly because it has both experiment and solidarity as starting points. We think it's great that Ester will remain involved in the coming years, but now from a larger perspective.

SFS came up with H0Ha, in which artists, writers and publishers collaborate during Ploegendiensten. The results are shown every season during the Samenscholingsweken. H0Ha runs parallel to Lenn Cox's Time Out Tune In programme. They overlap and reinforce each other.

Photo from left to right: Derk Thijs, Simon Kentgens and Ester Venema

Brief introduction

From Saturday, June 21 through Sunday, June 29, the Summer Gather Together (Zomer Samenscholing) will take place. 

We are letting go of the traditional idea of an exhibition with a set beginning and endpoint. Instead, this year we are organizing ploegendiensten of artists, writers, and collectives. Each season, activities culminate in a festive Gather Together, driven by artistic and social experiment.

16:00 | Walk-in workshop by Hospitality Club: Ventilate and Digest.
Come share your own worries, wishes, or past and express them on pancakes. Then, rechew and enjoy eating them.
16:00 | Walk-in Cativism workshop by Sunflower Soup: Feline activist printing.
All Cats Are Beautiful!

17:00 | Opening with activity by Periphery Center and Summer Solstice Soup
From 19:30 Listen with DJ Yessica Deira & writer Pelumi Adejumo followed by dancing with DJ Snobbie

17:00 | Walk-in workshop with lino letters by Sunflower Soup
Create slogans using the collective font of the Mobiele Eenheid. 
18:00 | Letter Soup 
19:30 | Presentation Zevenblad #8, featuring various art and poetry performances 

SUNDAY 29 JUNE - TOGETHER DAY

14:00 – 17:00 | Workshop FROM THE MARGIN TO THE SEAM with Periphery Center and Girls Like Us
Periphery Center and Girls Like Us invites you to a workshop day fueled by manifestos and essays of bell hooks on Sunday June 29th at Plaatsmaken. Together we depart from a collective reading of existing texts, move towards the quotes that speak to us and land at joined sweatpants printing to end the day with a shared meal. Everyone is welcome! You can sign up and read more about the workshop here.
18:00 | Shared meal

Summer Gather Together

Friday March 14th at 7:30pm: We close the exhibition with an artist talk, admission is free.

TLP-DEF-2.mp4

The finissage of the exhibition The Living Print will take place on Friday 14 March.

We close the exhibition with an artist talk about the course of the various work processes and how the works relate to the landscapes from which they emerged. When do we speak of appropriation and extraction in an art practice and what are ways to deal with this honestly?

Four artists have experimented in our workshops with natural materials with which they created printed matter. However, their work also contains references to the omnipresent AI and the immense amounts of waste that remain in nature. Writer Lucie Fortuin followed the artists in their work process and wrote an overarching text.
----

in the present tense, in the present tense.

- Ursula K. Le Guin, excerpt from ‘Infinitive’ -

Curator: Astrid Nobel
Artists: Arvo Leo, masharu & Olga Ganzha, Ratu R. Saraswati
Writer: Lucie Fortuin

An exhibition about the world between ourselves and the living nature, made transferable through words and images. On one hand, there is interaction and recognition, as described in the lines above by Le Guin. On the other hand, the loss of biodiversity and living landscapes due to colonialism and capitalism leads to sensations formally named as landscape grief and solastalgia or to the formation of definitions such as ecocide. In what ways do references to nature and materials extracted from it interact within an artistic practice with a responsibility towards the living world they refer to, and how do new forms and ways of working emerge here as well?

Four artists, including a duo, experiment in our workshops with natural materials to create prints. Their work contains references to colonialism, AI, and the foraging of materials. Writer Lucie Fortuin follows the artists in their work process and writes a unifying text.

Friday, January 17 at 5:00 PM: opening
Friday, January 24 from 4:00 - 6:00 PM: workshop by masharu and Olga Ganzha, free entry
Friday, March 14 at 7:30 PM: We close the exhibition with an artist talk about the progress of the different work processes and how the artworks relate to the landscapes they originate from. When does artistic practice involve appropriation and extraction, and what are ways to engage with this ethically?

Ratu Rizkitasari Saraswati
Ratu Rizkitasari Saraswati reflected on the intersection between colonization and fascination with nature. She searched for traces of the old city of Batavia in North Jakarta. The city was built under the command of the perpetrator of the Banda massacre, VOC General J.P. Coen. The original land of the city of Jayakarta was burned down and destroyed by him and the colonial powers in 1619. He also ordered the indigenous people of Nusantara to extract coral building stones from the seabed. These stones are incorporated into Porosity of Parables.

A hike on Mount Salak in West Java and conversations with a local guide who accompanied her there served as a point of reflection on social mobility in Indonesia and the Netherlands, as well as the lasting impact of Dutch colonization on the land and society. She also examined how nature and human exploitation relate to each other and raised questions about the extraction of natural resources, which to this day have changed the landscape of her homeland and the origins of living beings. Like the kantjil, a clever and resourceful animal from Indonesian fables, which was brought to the Netherlands in 1949 for the first post-war aquarium and terrarium exhibition in The Hague and is now part of a breeding program at Artis.

Arvo Leo
From September 25 to October 24, 2024, Arvo Leo crossed the mountains of the Pyrenees, leaving temporary footprints from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. In his backpack (where every item was practical, necessary, and weighed down to the gram), he carried one object that seemed to serve no purpose but later became a deliberate starting point. A sheet of temporary glitter dolphin tattoos was carried in a cartoonish manner from the ocean to the sea. While in the mountains, Arvo searched for hallucinogenic mushrooms growing in cow dung, with which he eventually made spore prints. Salt & Vinegar potato chips became one of his favorite snacks, and he imagined having a bag of chips big enough to sleep in. Now it’s 2025, and it's good to remember that with every bag of chips you eat, you're also creating a temporary shelter where you might fall asleep, staring at the ceiling above painted with cave drawings of dancing dolphins.

Dr. masharu and Olga Ganzha
Dr. masharu and Olga Ganzha printed using earth from the Museum of Edible Earth and homemade compost, which continued to evolve even during printing, causing the color to change constantly. They also made their own paper with compost and used paper containing peat and flowers from De Middelste Molen, a traditional paper-making workshop.

The tulip forms balance between stages of decay and resemble organs, somewhere between human and organic forms. Stones, collected from various parts of Russia, are tied to the idea of a severed connection to one’s birthplace due to the uncertainty of being able to return. The experiments with AI led to a discussion about the use of AI within the conceptual framework of this project. Some of the clashing viewpoints are made visible in the form of various annotations.

Lucie Fortuin
During the working period, Lucie Fortuin followed the work and creative processes of the various artists. She spoke with them about the ongoing influence of colonial power structures; about leaving traces, both visible and invisible; about lightweight walking sticks and edible earth. She also shared ideas from her own research into stones as markers of a boundary between life and non-life. “Where I Sit Sand” is a poetic text in which these elements come together—not as a closed whole, but rather questioningly, searching. How does what is happening now live on in an unknown future?

Finissage The Living Print

A new workshop is planned: on August 22 and 29, filmmaker Wim van der Aar will give the two-day workshop 'The Power of Super8'.

During this intensive workshop you will learn the basic techniques of analogue filming on Super8 and develop your own black and white film. A perfect start for anyone who wants to experiment with analogue film as a means of expression.

On the first day we will dive into the analogue world of Super8. We will start with an extensive explanation of how Super8 cameras work: the different models that are available and which camera best suits your personal wishes and style. We will also discuss the history of Super8 film: from home memories to artistic experiments. At the end of the day, each participant will receive a Super8 camera and a black and white film cassette, with which you can make your own short film in one week. This is all about experimenting and trying out, it's not about perfection, but about personal discovery.

Day 2 (one week later): Developing and Projecting

On the second day we will develop the film you shot ourselves. We will use a classic LOMO tank for this, a compact developing tank specially designed for narrow film. Developing your own films not only has practical advantages, such as independence from a laboratory, but also offers a lot of creative freedom. By developing yourself, you can make conscious choices that influence the character of your film. It is also fun and exciting to do: you see your own images slowly emerge! At the end of the day, we project all films analogously with a classic Super8 projector. A special ending where we look together and discuss the unique result of everyone's experiment.

- Basic knowledge of Super8 cameras and film types

- Basic principles of black and white film development

- Creative experimentation within analogue boundaries

When: Friday 22 August (10:00 - 15:00) and Friday 29 August (10:00 - 17:00)

Costs: €295,- (including VAT and materials)

Register or do you want to know more? Then send a message via the registration form.

Super8 workshop

We let go of the traditional idea of an exhibition with a start and end point. Instead, we are organizing ploegendiensten with artists, writers and collectives.

Every season, there is a Samenscholingsweek, in which activities are bundled into an exuberant whole of artistic and social experiment. For this program, we collaborate with art collective Sunflower Soup and curator Lenn Cox. The first Samenscholingsweek took place in the week of March 17-22. The results of this first Shiftwork and Samenscholing can still be seen until mid-June.

Spring Samenscholing: March 17 - 22, 2025

During this first ploegendienst, Sunflower Soup, Zaban Razdar and Notshitprint have been working in Plaatsmaken for the past few months. A central question in the work created during this first ploegendienst is how the West views the way in which oppressed people have fought for their liberation in different places and at different times, or are still doing so.

Art collective Sunflower Soup emerged from a shared activist commitment and an urgent need to explore what art can mean beyond the personal, isolated individual. The collective is driven by a series of lively questions: can working in community foster a less passive, more participatory experience of art? How can art contribute to the politics of the everyday in which people relate to each other and to the more-than-human, planetary world? How do we reconcile the importance of activism with a poetic visual language that allows for humor, paradox, and ambiguity?

Lenn Cox is a community organizer, artist, educator, and program maker. She explores solidarity economies by immersing herself in self-organized learning-working-living environments, many with an ecofeminist and queer heart. She uses clothing and navigation maps to carry the exchanges and stories she collects. Lenn initiates gatherings that enable collective learning. An ongoing investigation into how we organize ourselves, what we can learn from each other, and what is at stake in the cultural field and beyond.

Zaban Razdar is in the holy land to support the indigenous population in their fight against ethnic cleansing together with other activists. In between, he picks up the pen to write off the Palestinian he is in love with.

Printing house for social justice. Notshitprint is a non-commercial printing house for activists and grassroots projects.

Tabea Nixdorff is an artist, typographer, and researcher. Her artistic practice includes (self) publishing, sound and language-based performances, collaborative learning, and social gatherings.

Anne Krul is an Afropese visual artist, poet, archivist, and activist. She was a member of Strange Fruit, an organization for young queer people from diverse cultural backgrounds (1989-2002).

Archival Textures is a publication series that gives space to unlikely finds from traditional archives, local community archives, conversations and personal collections, to find narratives from the past that can feed our current vocabularies of resistance and solidarity.

The Indian-Dutch theatre maker and storyteller Abhishek Thapar makes visual and intimate performances on the border between documentary and fiction. His performance can be seen at Plaatsmaken as part of the collaborative project Stadsatelier Arnhem.

For our small-scale educational projects we work together with the Hospitality Club, which consists of Mirka Farabegoli and Krista Burger. We involve primary schools from the neighbourhood, young people, children, ArtEZ students and MBO students and residents.

The Ploegendiensten and Samenscholingen are part of the programmes H0ha (by Sunflower Soup) and Time Out Tune In (by Lenn Cox). Read more about the programs here.

Now showing  | Ploegendienst 1

De Stroomversneller (Arnhem) and Groeispurt (Nijmegen) are subsidy schemes for new makers, artists and performers. Three times a year, Cultuur Academy, of which the two funds are part, organizes a drink for former applicants, future applicants and anyone who is curious about the schemes. This time the drink is at Plaatsmaken.

De Stroomversneller and Groeispurt stimulate innovative ideas and initiatives, and offer flexible support without unnecessary restrictions and obligations. During the drinks, you will meet other makers, the fund coordinator, the advisors of the funds and the team of Cultuur Academy. We also invite two makers from Groeispurt and Stroomversneller to talk about their project. This is an opportunity to hear how they experienced the schemes, what steps they took and what it brought them. We also pay brief attention to a changing theme. This edition focuses on private donations. We share inspiring examples and practical tips on how you can use private donations.

You are free to come along, there is no obligation to register, we enjoy talking to you and hearing what you are working on and how we can help you. You can find more information about the schemes here.

Costs: Free (registration is welcome, but not mandatory)

Stroomversneller & Groeispurtborrel

The annual Hoogte80 festival will take place from May 29 to June 1 and Plaatsmaken will be there!

This year we will be at Hoogte80 for the very first time. Have you always wanted to do screen printing, or have you seen our super cool t-shirts or bags on or by someone recently? You can come to us to print your Hoogte80 daily newspaper with a cheerful color. Besides, you can also bring your own shirt, bag or whatever and choose a print of your choice to screen print.

 Of course you can also buy a bag or shirt from us for direct printing. Success guaranteed.

Here you can find more information about Hoogte80.

Plaatsmaken staat op Hoogte80 !

Arnhems Stadsatelier concludes 2024-2025 programme with premiere of Lacuna Kitchen and publication

Over the past year, Arnhems Stadsatelier offered five artists the space and opportunity to conduct artistic research in various locations throughout the city and to share their work with the residents of Arnhem, with students, and with each other. Arnhems Stadsatelier is a collaboration between four cultural organizations in Arnhem: Theater a/d Rijn, Plaatsmaken, ArtEZ, and The Hub. The program encourages collaboration between individuals and institutions in Arnhem and breaks down artistic boundaries through cross-disciplinary and innovative research.

Social theatre maker Abhishek Thapar turned his lens on invisible kitchen workers within the hospitality industry. Lacuna Kitchen is a community arts project where theatre, gastronomy, community building, and social activism converge.

In addition, four emerging makers — Ro Smit, Levi Overvest, Mel Kikkert, and Charlotte Gillain — carried out their artistic research at Plaatsmaken and Theater a/d Rijn. They were introduced to presenting their work to an audience. Their projects engaged with social themes and were characterized by a variety of analog and digital art forms, as well as new ways of experiencing art. The outcomes of their residencies were presented in exhibitions, performances, and workshops.

Arnhems Stadsatelier is made possible with the support of the Municipality of Arnhem.

The Indian-Dutch theatre maker and storyteller Abhishek Thapar creates visual and intimate performances that balance between documentary and fiction. He connects personal narratives with global themes. In collaboration with the Lacuna Kitchen collective and Afra Tafri Creations, the team explored, during their residency at Arnhems Stadsatelier, how migration and colonialism have shaped the local food culture in Arnhem. Through conversations with kitchen workers, archival research, and participatory cooking sessions, forgotten stories become visible — and tasteable.

Lacuna Kitchen is a sensory theatre experience in the form of a pop-up restaurant, where the stories behind our food culture are explored. The performance gives voice to kitchen workers and chefs from European gastronomy and translates migration history into the dishes on our plates. Through cooking with special ingredients, personal stories, and shared meals, Lacuna Kitchen shows how food can build bridges between cultures — and between past and present.

The performance, presented by Theater a/d Rijn, will premiere on May 23 in Arnhem at Oude Kraan 72, and will then travel to the Oerol Festival and the Grand Theatre (Groningen), and in 2026 to Amsterdam.

Sharing experiences, methods, and research

Creating art across various domains requires diverse working methods. A key principle of Arnhems Stadsatelier is to make visible the research, experiences, and methodologies that precede the final work.

During the program, these elements were shared in various public moments. A publication was also released, compiling the makers' research into five interviews written by curator and art journalist Lieneke Hulshof. In these interviews, the makers reflect on their working methods, experiences, and the process that led to new work. Additionally, video portraits were created that visually present the makers' research. The video portrait of Abhishek Thapar will be released in June.

Click here to view the video portraits of the other residents.

The second edition of Arnhems Stadsatelier will begin in September with new makers and collaborations with cultural institutions in Arnhem. The four partners believe it is important to give a new generation of makers the space to experiment with various art forms and social themes. In doing so, they demonstrate that Arnhem is a city where makers can continue to develop, even after completing a creative or arts education. The research projects of Arnhems Stadsatelier explore how to engage audiences, especially those who do not naturally come into contact with art, and how to further develop cross-disciplinary practices.

Follow Arnhems Stadsatelier on Instagram @arnhems_stadsatelier

Lacuna Kitchen

The coming four years, we will embark on an experiment in which two parallel programs intersect and strengthen each other.

We are letting go of the traditional idea of an exhibition with a fixed beginning and end. Instead, we are organizing rotating shifts of artists, writers, and collectives. Each season, activities are brought together into a festive Gather Together, driven by artistic and social experimentation. The first Gather Together will take place in the week of March 17–22.

For this program, we are collaborating with the art collective Sunflower Soup (SFS) and program maker Lenn Cox. SFS developed the program H0HA, and Lenn Cox created Time Out/Tune In. The Hospitality Club provides education and public activities. More about H0HA and Time Out/Tune In can be found here.

MONDAY, MARCH 17 – FRIDAY, MARCH 21
Open continuously, results of Shift 1 on display. Participating creators are Notshitprint, Zaban Razdar & Sunflower Soup. In the etching studio downstairs, linoprints by Willemijn Theisens are on display.

THURSDAY, MARCH 20
15:00 - 17:00 | Protest Pasta - Hospitality Club
Drop-in workshop for screen printing on lasagna sheets
15:00 - 17:00 | Mobile Unit - Sunflower Soup
Screen printing with a mobile screen printing unit
17:00 - 19:00 | Spring Outing Soup - Lenn Cox & Sunflower Soup
Join us and celebrate the beginning of spring!

FRIDAY, MARCH 21
14:00 - 16:00 (Possibly extended until 17:00) | Fonts - Sunflower Soup
Drop-in workshop for designing a font for the Mobile Printing Unit
17:00 - 20:00 | Theater Performance - Abhishek Thapar
As part of the Arnhem City Residencies. Entrance is free, reservations can be made via info@plaatsmaken.nl. Read more about the performance here.

SATURDAY, MARCH 22
14:00 - 16:00 | T-shirts - Notshitprint
Screen print your own t-shirt with a design by Notshitprint (second-hand t-shirts only!)
14:00 - 16:00 | Action Research Walk - Republishing: Umoja Zwarte Vrouwenkrant with Archival Textures, Tabea Nixdorff & Anne Krul
During this tour, we will revive several historical locations in Arnhem North – such as an unofficial women's house and editorial office in one – while hearing stories about the Umoja Black Women’s Newspaper and weaving new narratives together.

At 14:00, we gather at Plaatsmaken with tea and coffee; around 15:30, we return to Plaatsmaken for snacks. The walk lasts approximately 45 minutes and is accessible to wheelchair users.
Limited spots are available, please register via lenn@plaatsmaken.nl
Read more about Umoja Zwarte Vrouwenkrant and the walk here.

16:00 - 18:00 | Presentation - Zaban Razdar
Zaban shares experiences from his recent stay in the West Bank

Watch the video below for a throw back at the Spring Gather Together 2025 (Lente Samenscholing).

Gather Together

Arnhems Stadsatelier is a brand-new collaboration between four cultural organizations in Arnhem: Theater a/d Rijn, Plaatsmaken, ArtEZ, and The Hub. 

Five artists are given the space and opportunity to conduct artistic research in various locations across Arnhem in the coming months and share their work with the city's residents, students, and each other. The program encourages unique collaborations between people and organizations in Arnhem and breaks artistic boundaries through cross-disciplinary and innovative research.

Social theater by Abhishek Thapar turns the spotlight on invisible kitchen workers in the hospitality industry. Lacuna Kitchen is a community arts project where theater, gastronomy, community-building, and social activism come together in a long-term research process and a performance that engages both the intellect and the heart.  

Additionally, four emerging creators—Ro Smit, Mel Kikkert, Levi Overvest, and Charlotte Gillain—are conducting their research at Plaatsmaken and Theater a/d Rijn, taking their first steps into the cultural field. Their work touches on social themes and is characterized by diverse analog and digital art forms, exploring new ways to experience art.  