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:

Sunday 19 oktober | Workshop toyobo
Friday 21 november | Workshop screen printing (beginners)
Sunday 30 november | Workshop Pinhole photography

Read more about the workshops and how to register here.

New Workshops

Plaatsmaken has been showcasing contemporary visual art in the display case in front of the Palace of Justice in Arnhem for several years now. This is based on the idea that encountering art in unexpected places can add a touch of sparkle to your day.

In collaboration with the BEAR (Fine Art) department at ArtEZ, (former) students will have the opportunity to submit a proposal for the display case. This benefits both parties: young artists gain experience exhibiting, and Plaatsmaken is thus assured of programming young talent straight from the academy.

On display in the showcase from October 3: Abse-n-ce, by Arya Rambod

A world of thresholds in which history falls into the present, and the present breaks into the future.

only the pieces of a past breaking like an earthquake,

seeping into our joints, dehydrating them.

We had asked for a world without judgment, a world unmanageable. An error, a desire, a like.

Now, there are only the broken pieces of history, present, and future, dispersed, awaiting.

De Uitspraak

Project in the Neighbourhood; 'Kleurendal', utility boxes completely refurbished.

The Klarendal neighborhood has once again become a little more beautiful. With the completion of the Kleurendal project, 23 utility boxes in the area have been adorned with vibrant designs by graphic designer Harmen Liemburg. Inspired by stories from local residents and the unique character of the Fashion District, the artworks bring a colorful boost to the streetscape.

The project builds on an earlier series of 24 decorated boxes from 2023, when Liemburg collaborated with pupils from primary school Kunstrijk (Ogensnoep project). For this new series, he once again ventured into the neighborhood, this time together with community concierges Eric and Perry. During visits with residents, he captured their living environment, collected objects, animals, and figures from popular culture, and combined patterns and clothing styles. He then translated these into a cohesive design in his own signature style. By highlighting visual elements characteristic of Klarendal, the work seamlessly reflects the neighborhood’s identity. In addition, the beautification of the utility boxes helps to discourage littering and vandalism in public space.

Commissioned by the Municipality of Arnhem, the project is a collaboration between Plaatsmaken, residents, local organizations, and the artist, showcasing what becomes possible when art, community, and urban space reinforce one another.

On October 18th, a festive opening walk took place. The walk included a selection of the embellished electrical cabinets. Designer and artist Harmen Liemburg was present to explain his work. The walk was part of our Autumn Gather Together 

A map showing all the cabinets will appear on this page soon.

Photo credits: Harmen Liemburg / Django van Ardenne

Utility boxes designed by Harmen Liemburg

Asian Movie Night is hosting an evening at Plaatsmaken featuring four short films, curated by Malika Mukhamejan. The program will be complemented by the cinematic performance "Lady of Heaven" by Darya Andijan and a reflective drawing workshop.

Tremors Beneath the Surface: Women's Voices from Central Asia is the title of the annual program of Asian Movie Night. A program that brings together feature films, short films, and experimental works from Central Asia and its diasporas, sketching a layered portrait of women’s lives. The films are not connected by a single storyline, but by the vibrations beneath them: silence that transcends generations, memories that interrupt the present, endurance woven into the textures of the everyday.

On November 6, Asian Movie Night and the QYZQARAS Film Festival present at Plaatsmaken:
Short Programme Part II — Echoes and Traces: Experimental Cartographies of Love, Loss, and Memory.

In this section, film language itself becomes a site of resistance. Diaries, myths, landscapes, and absences take the place of linear narratives, allowing the unspoken and unseen to emerge. Queer intimacy persists despite silence and distance; maternal history returns through myths; a threatened lake speaks through poetry; and the textures of a single day transform into a meditation on healing. Together, these films create alternative cartographies of identity and survival — fragments and traces that resonate where words fall short.

The following four short films will be screened:

1. Kündelık.Almaty / Aiganym Mukhamejan / Kazakhstan / 2024 / 11’
Kündelık.Almaty begins with Aiganym Mukhamejan’s spontaneous decision to film her day in Almaty, Kazakhstan. With camera in hand, she captures her personal encounters and the vibrant energy of her surroundings. The result is a cinematic diary: moments of reflection along the river, lively scenes at local bazaars, and a meaningful visit to a healer. Through her lens, we see a day of discovery and personal growth — an intimate portrait reflecting both the city’s heartbeat and her inner world.

2. Voiceless / Saadat Sataeva / Kyrgyzstan / 2025 / 15’
Voiceless is an essay film about a long-distance relationship between two young women — one in Ukraine, the other in Kyrgyzstan. Their faces remain hidden. The camera turns to their everyday surroundings: quiet houses, passing landscapes, traces of their presence. Their bond unfolds through text messages and silent phone calls, where emotions are felt in pauses, glances, and what remains unspoken. The result is a tender meditation on queer love, separation, and silent forms of communication that endure despite distance and invisibility.

3. Lady of Heaven / Darya Andijan / Netherlands / 2024 / 9’
A journey through the heavens on a flying carpet with Darya Andijan and her grandmother, newly released from a concentration camp in Xinjiang, China. As they float, the carpet transforms into a tapestry of Sumerian myths, dreams, and fragmented memories, intertwining the past and present of maternal history in Turkestan.

4. Balqaş Jyry / Artcom / Kazakhstan / 2025 / 19’
In this video essay dedicated to Lake Balqaş, the artists of the Artcom collective use the form of epic poetry (zhyr) and the tradition of qazaqylyq to depict the deep bond between humans and nature — a bond fractured by colonialism, industrialization, and ecological violence. Their aim is to give the lake back its voice and power: its capacity for resistance, its right to restoration, and its future.

Performance by Darya Andijan: Lady of Heaven

Lady of Heaven is a 15-minute expanded cinema piece featuring a solo performance by artist Darya Andijan. In it, she attempts to hold a phone conversation with her imprisoned grandmother — both within and outside the film.

A hands-on workshop exploring the concept of Asianness through the lens of Asian cinema. Film is used as a catalyst to question and reshape cultural identity. Participants work with iconic scenes, objects, and moments from films, creating experimental visual responses — doodles, sketches, and compositions — that reflect their impressions and experiences. As part of the Asian Movie Night Seasonal Festival, participants are invited to reimagine the boundaries of Asiannessthrough color, texture, and form, turning fleeting film images into personal visual definitions of culture.

18:30 Doors open
19:00 Introduction
19:05 – 20:10 Short Film Program Part II, Experimental Cartographies of Love, Loss, and Memory
20:10 – 20:25 Performance by Darya Andijan
20:25 – 21:00 Drawing Workshop Scene & Seen

€4.00 (Student rate €2.00)
Reservations via info@plaatsmaken.nl

Malika Mukhamejan is curator en filmmaker die diverse stemmen in de Centraal-Aziatische cinema belicht, met een focus op vrouwenrepresentatie en gemeenschapsvorming via film. Mukhamejan is oprichter van QYZQARAS, een filmfestival in Almaty dat zich richt op vrouwelijke filmmakers.

QYZQARAS is een onafhankelijk platform en jaarlijks filmfestival in Almaty (Kazachstan) dat in 2023 is opgericht. Het festival versterkt vrouwenstemmen in de cinema, met bijzondere aandacht voor Centraal-Azië. Het festival bevraagd dominante narratieven, ondersteunt nieuwe makers  en bied ruimte aan ondervertegenwoordigde perspectieven via filmvertoningen, gesprekken en educatieve projecten. Het motto — “women’s perspectives through the lens of cinema”— weerspiegelt de toewijding aan feministische curatoriële praktijken en de opbouw van een transnationale gemeenschap van kunstenaars, denkers en publiek.

Asian Movie Night (AMN) is een diasporisch filmplatform in Nederland. Het werd opgericht als directe reactie op het structurele gebrek aan Aziatische representatie in de Nederlandse cultuursector. AMN brengt radicaal andere verhalen en esthetieken naar een breed publiek, in samenwerking met diverse culturele instellingen. Met een interdisciplinaire aanpak die film, beeldende kunst, design en gesprekken samenbrengt, daagt AMN het idee van 'Asianness' uit door landsgrenzen en vaste identiteiten te doorbreken.

Darya Andijan is geboren in de Oeigoerse regio en gevestigd in Nederland. Haar werk verweeft mythen, poëzie en familiegeschiedenis om onderdrukking en koloniale uitwissing te bevragen. Met film, performance en schrijven reconstrueert zij gefragmenteerde geschiedenissen en versterkt zij vrouwenstemmen in Centraal-Azië. Zo creëert zij plekken waar vergeten geschiedenissen herinnerd en opnieuw verbeeld worden.

Asian Movie Night

On the 18th & 20th of September, the Autum Gather Together took place.

Koen Kievits and Django van Ardennen photographed the Autumn Gather Together, and Plaatsmaker Maurice captured everything on video. You can view the footage at the bottom of this page.

Autumn had just begun to change the colors. In the soft September light, we celebrated the transition into the new season. On Thursday, we walked through Klarendal to see the utility boxes that Harmen Liemburg had decorated with designs based on the favorite things of local residents. Everything was color-coordinated. Some neighbors had even created small gardens around the boxes in front of their doors, complete with matching flowers. Upon returning, we were served Equinox soup made of pumpkin and ginger, with roasted sage croutons. At the table, Sunflower Soup led a workshop where participants could draw on edible paper. Cats were drawn - filled with worry and tension. When everyone was finished, the drawings - and with them the worries - were eaten.

By midday on the second day of the Gather Together, it was already bustling at Plaatsmaken. Periphery Center led a workshop involving reading, listening, writing, and ultimately creating a large collaborative work. Participants sat in a circle and discussed how to transform their anger and political disappointment into something constructive. Together, they created a large blueprint, now on display as inspiration in the Compost Heap in the corner of the space.

Outside, the Hospitality Club filled the billboard with brightly colored monoprints. Here and there, a windmill appeared - an early hint at the upcoming Windmill Project, in which they’ll create sails for the blades. After these activities, we enjoyed delicious banana bread in preparation for the basement rave.

It was time for the presentation of Ploegendienst 3. The work of Margreet Sweerts was presented through a performance. Two flag bearers approached the audience from the entrance, waving wildly and then calmly locking eyes. The banners flapped vigorously in the wind. Later, they were tied together into one large flag—surrender and acceptance.

Emmeline de Mooij took us on a hilarious journey through her bodily transformation - from standing still in her body to exuberantly celebrating and sharing it. Moni Zwitserloot performed equally physical texts, with subjects such as worms, maggots, and loose cuticles. Hussel Zhu stood on the millstone and spoke in Chinese about his work. The fact that no one understood what he was saying was no issue - we followed blindly, guided by his passionate explanation.

We headed to the basement for the launch of the collaboratively made music video. For the occasion, the entire basement had been wrapped in black plastic, with a smoke machine, laser lights, and a DJ. We saw Margreet, Emmeline, Hussel, and Moni scream, dance, move, and summon and battle their demons. Then it was our turn to face our own, to dance, arms in the air, helped along by the music and the occasional fitting cocktail, like a Dark & Stormy.

The Autumn Gather Together is part of H0ha, a program in which poets, visual artists, activists, and publishers are invited to (co-)work in rotating “Shifts” (Ploegendiensten) at Plaatsmaken. Each season includes a Gathering Together, in which activities are bundled into a vibrant mix of artistic and social experiment. For this program we collaborate with artist collective Sunflower Soup and curator Lenn Cox.

ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS

Moni Zwitserloot is a writer and performer. Key elements in their work include physicality, transformation, and community. Being strange, muck, or weird is celebrated through the use of gore elements and magical realism. Current obsessions: insects, fungi and bodily fluids.

Hussel Zhu is a visual artist, short fiction writer, and researcher. In his printmaking, he often uses the image of a dancing frog—inspired by the Japanese ink painting Birds, Beasts, and Human Play, and the animal paintings of Bada Shanren—where animals satirize those in power.

The Feministische Handwerkpartij is a political feminist artist movement that is dedicated to studying, repairing, speaking, patching up, unlearning and mending. It is initiated by visual artist Emmeline de Mooij and performance director Margreet Sweerts.

Periphery Center is a collective for artistic practice and shared study. They meet to inspire one another and co-create the reality they dream of through bookmaking, graphic design, publishing, curating, art and writing. Periphery Center consists of Leana Boven, Pelumi Adejumo, Yusser Al Obaidi, Jeanine van Berkel en Yessica Deira.

For our small-scale educational projects, we collaborate with Hospitality Club, consisting of Mirka Farabegoli and Krista Burger. These projects involve local primary schools, young people, children, ArtEZ students, MBO students, and neighborhood residents.

With thanks to the Mondriaanfonds and the Municipality of Arnhem.

Looking back | Autumn Gather Together

Now on view: the results of the third Ploegendienst, part of the H0ha program.

Ploegendienst 3 | Moni Zwitserloot, Hussel Zhu & de Feministische Handwerkpartij
Work period: June – September 2025
Autumn Gather Together: 18 – 20 September 2025
On view: 22 September – 5 December 2025

H0ha is a program in which poets, visual artists, activists, and publishers are invited to (co-)work in so-called “Ploegendiensten” (Shifts) at Plaatsmaken.
Each season concludes with a Gathering Together, during which activities are brought together into a vibrant mix of artistic and social experiment.
For this program, we collaborate with the artist collective Sunflower Soup and curator Lenn Cox. The Autumn Gather Together took place from 18 to 20 September.

Ololyga is an Ancient Greek word that refers to the 
high-pitched, horrifying, blood-curdling screams of a woman*. 
These are sounds that are emitted during intense pain or intense pleasure.

The overarching theme of this Ploegendienst is how the body can serve as a space for resistance. This resistance is not bombastic and in-your-face as we are perhaps accustomed to, but rather modest, subtle and subversive. Through etchings, textiles, prints, texts and other interventions in the space, the artists demonstrate how they challenge societal norms and celebrate bodies, both human and non-human, that do not conform to the status quo. These works demand the viewer's attention and concentration, inviting them to engage with them, participate, question them, and adjust their own expectations.

In her essay 'Gender of Sound', Anne Carson describes how special festivals were held in classical Greek culture where women could make these sounds outside the city limits, the domain of civilised men. Men, who use reason as a barrier to keep emotions at bay, want nothing to do with people who leak on all sides. The person with two 'mouths', one above and one below. One with which unspeakable things are done, and one with which unspeakable things are said. With all their frightening, uncontrollable physicality and bodily fluids, this person is closer to the animal kingdom than to the world of developed humans, oh oops, cisgender men.

The etchings by Emmeline de Mooij (Feministische Handwerk Partij), featuring the figure of Sheela Na Gig, illustrate this very directly. We see an old body that is as much vulva as mouth, with hands that spread the genitals open. This figure was often carved in stone and placed on buildings, primarily medieval churches in Ireland. The reason for this is unclear, but what we do know is that the figure predates Christianity. They were considered a witch-like figure associated with twilight, transition and transformation. Embodying death as much as life. Through Sheela Na Gig, Emmeline questions current issues, such as who can claim ownership of their sexuality. Is it reserved for young bodies? Why are we not surprised when an older man displays his sexuality, yet turn up our noses when an older woman does the same?

In their text 'Vruchtvlees', Moni Zwitserloot offers a different perspective on the body. They employ the horror trope of 'gore' to challenge our perception of what the body can experience. Moni began by asking whether it is possible to make etchings using bodily fluids. This then gave rise to their text. Drawing inspiration from the everyday sensation of pulling a piece of skin off your fingernail, the text takes us on a journey of sensations that far surpasses this experience. The text can be read on the back of the prints, which hang gracefully from thin chains suspended from the ceiling.

Drawing inspiration from the Japanese Chōjū-giga scrolls, in which monkeys, frogs, and rabbits take on human roles, Hussel Zhu employs the frog (or toad) as a subtle means of criticising contexts in which political expression is suppressed. His etchings are like a 'knife in water': sharp yet restrained. We see frogs in many guises: disguised as bodhisattvas (in some forms of Buddhism, this is a being striving for enlightenment), nailed in the corner like a curse on a piece of paper, or hanging from the willow branch of Guanyin, the goddess of mercy. At the back of the room is a large piece of work in which a frog is surrounded by yellow and gold lines. These colours are associated with power in China. Visitors are invited to challenge the concept of power itself by leaving their mark on the work. 

Visitors are also challenged by the work of Margreet Sweerts (Feministische Handwerkpartij). White flags bearing etchings in the corners stand motionless in the space. This piece awaits activation by two people. They want to feel the resistance of the air and serve as an extension of the bodies that set them in motion. The piece calls for movement together and stems from the question: what do we surrender to? Do we submit to harsh forces that squeeze all humanity out of us? Or do we surrender to a society that seeks to render disabled, feminine, queer and trans bodies invisible?

The white flag is often considered taboo in contemporary activism, particularly when used by white people from a Western perspective. However, if you look closely or hold the flags in your hands, you will see that they are not actually white. They have a tactile history. They are not passive; they call for connection and reflection on the body of the person wearing them. While you are in the Plaatsmaken space, you might like to ask another visitor to accompany you outside, where you can tie the flags together and experience how the wind plays with the fabric.

The four participants have collectively made a music video based on their shared experience of the suppression of raw energy. In the video, they allow the sounds inside them at that moment to come to the fore. Is this perhaps a modern version of ololyga? Do we still feel uncomfortable expressing these kinds of sounds? Are they permitted within the city limits?

*In this day and age, 'woman' could refer to anyone who does not identify as a cisgender man. A cisgender person is someone whose gender identity corresponds to their birth sex.

Now showing | Ploegendienst 3

On October 11th we'll be monoprinting on textiles, in the patch making workshop 'Monomill II' by Hospitalityclub.

This workshop is part of a larger plan to develop special sails for our neighbours from windmill De Kroon.
You're invited to join us in brainstorming and designing! During this workshop, you’ll create stencils that we’ll use to print on fabric with monoprint techniques, ecological inks, and leftover materials. Hospitality Club will photograph your designs and include them in their image archive. You're welcome to take your printed patches home with you.

INFORMATION
When | Saturday, 11 October, between 12:00 and 16:00
Entry | Free, open to all – drop in any time

Want to secure a spot? Please register by emailing info@plaatsmaken.nl, mentioning Workshop Mono Mill II – 11 October.

Educational projects in collaboration with Plaatsmaken
Hospitality Club is an artist initiative by Mirka Farabegoli and Krista Burger. Over the past years, they have developed various projects in collaboration with Plaatsmaken.
In 2023 and 2024, they realized two larger initiatives, including a flag project with students from Ibn-i Sina primary school. The children used different printmaking techniques to decorate fabrics. These flags now hang at more than fifty local shops and are used during events. With these projects, they focus on collaboration with schools and other community partners. For 2025, they're working on a new project centered around the sails of windmill de Kroon.

Monomill II | Patch making Workshop

Plaatsmaken publishes the magazine Zevenblad twice a year, featuring contributions to poetry and visual art. Submissions for the ninth edition of Zevenblad are now open.

This December, we will present the ninth issue of our poetry and visual arts magazine. As always, we will do so during a festive gathering where poets will read and artists will explain their work.

There is no theme; the editors will select a coherent collection from the submissions following an Open Call. Werkplaats Typografie will handle the design. Zevenblad #9 will be published in December in an edition of 100 copies. The deadline for submissions is November 1st. Please note: only WORD files will be considered for poetry, and JPEG files for images. Send your work to  uitgeverij@plaatsmaken.nl.

Zevenblad #9

On Thursday September 18th and Saturday September 20th the Autumn Gather Together (Herfstsamenscholing) will take place. 

"Total let go cathartic healing pleasure activist transformative release dance party"

Come dance and celebrate the results of the third Ploegendienst, in which Moni Zwitserloot, Hussel Zhu and the Feministische Handwerkpartij have been cooperating. Apart from various etching experiments and seemingly out of nowhere, they developed a music video that functions as a releaser for hidden and oppressed energies. This release can be seen as a critique of normative and patriarchal structures, but also as a way to reclaim and even celebrate ageing, screaming, and orgasmic ugliness. Apart from this, you are also very welcome to join the various workshops.

We are letting go of the traditional idea of an exhibition with a clear beginning and end. Instead, this year we are organizing shifts of artists, writers, and collectives. Each season, activities are brought together in a festive Gather Together, driven by artistic and social experiment. For this program, we are collaborating with the artist collective Sunflower Soup (SFS) and program maker Lenn Cox. SFS created the program H0Ha and Lenn Cox developed Time Out / Tune In. The Hospitality Club provides educational and public activities alongside the program. You can find more about H0Ha and Time Out / Tune In here.

Program Autumn Gather Together (all events are free)

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
16:00 | Kleurendal
Walk through Klarendal along a selection of electrical boxes designed by Harmen Liemburg for Plaatsmaken. The project, commissioned by the Municipality of Arnhem, is a collaboration between Plaatsmaken, residents, local organizations, and the artist. Informal drinks at Plaatsmaken afterwards.
17:00 | Workshop Cannibal Cats by Sunflower Soup
In this workshop, you can really speak your mind while creating an edible zine. This is your chance to be deliciously catty - give your inner killjoy free rein, dig your claws in, let your hair stand on end. Together we’ll create texts, drawings, and prints, while swallowing each other’s frustrations and worries - only to collectively digest them in the end.
All concerns are beautiful!
17:30 | Equinox Soup

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
12:30 – 14:30 | Workshop Blues & Rage by Periphery Center
During this workshop we dive into the language, colour and sound
of political disappointment and anger, by reading, writing, listening & cyanotype printing. You can find more information on the workshop here. 
12:30 – 14:30 | Drop-in workshop MONOMILL by Hospitality Club
Monoprinting workshop
14:30 | Cosy Food Break
15:30 | Opening: Total let go cathartic healing pleasure activist
transformative release dance party
17:30 | Autumn Soup, cocktails and more Partying!

Autumn 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. 

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 - 5 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.

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.

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

In this workshop, we dive into the language, colour and sound of political disappointment and anger.

By reading queer, feminist and Black manifestos, we discuss how we can feel and express ourselves without censorship, and how we can use our anger (and rage) to imagine new ways of living and being in the world. We give shape to our anger by writing our own manifestos.

The reading and writing session will be followed by a listening session, featuring a collectively compiled playlist. As sound moves our bodies, we will translate our feelings into images through cyanotype: a printing technique that combines sunlight and indigo.

Creating an imprint of something that does not want to be forgotten, made visible in light.

Everyone is welcome to join! Please register via lenn@plaatsmaken.nl so we can take that into account when preparing for the workshop. English and Dutch will be the main languages spoken during the workshop.

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. Periphery Center is based in Rotterdam and consists of Leana Boven, Pelumi Adejumo, Yusser Al Obaidi, Jeanine van Berkel en Yessica Deira.

This workshop is part of the Herfstsamenscholing.

Workshop Blues & Rage

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.

Ploegendienst 3: July/August/September 2025
The results of the third Ploegendienst will be presented in the Fall Gather Together, from September 18 - 20. The presentation will be on view in September, October and November, and will be regularly reshaped (omgeploegd).

H0Ha & Time Out Tune In

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

Zomersamenscholing 25.mp4

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.

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.

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

With thanks to Mondriaan Fonds and Gemeente Arnhem.

Summer Gather Together

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

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

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

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De Uitspraak

Plaatsmaken has been showcasing contemporary visual art in the display case in front of the Palace of Justice in Arnhem for several years now. This is based on the idea that encountering art in unexpected places can add a touch of sparkle to your day.