Due to the heat, we are closed on June 26th and 27th.

We are also rescheduling the launch of our new Zevenblad#10, which was scheduled for this Friday. This event will take place on September 11th, at 20:00h.

Plaatsmaken closed

On Friday, June 26th at 20:00h we are launching the tenth edition of Zevenblad. 

From loads of submissions, we unanimously selected a number of triptychs, ranging from self-portraits with handkerchiefs to dark chairs and drawn landscapes. In the poems we chose, we read about unsafe forests and find ourselves constantly on the move - from doorways to asphalt, and in search of who we are. The result is a remarkably atmospheric issue, designed by Valentina Stahnke of Werkplaats Typografie. Come and listen to the poets and artists!

Participants: Albert Hagenaars, Erik Lucassen, Henriëtte Tavenier, Ivana Soyer, Jaap Blonk, Jeanet Kingma, Sam Ellyn Theunissen, Lique Schoot, Mirjam Kuitenbrouwer, José Witteveen, Reggie Voigtländer, René van der Hoofd, Sandra Kruisbrink, Suzanne de Jong, and Marion Steur.

Zevenblad is an arts and poetry magazine published twice a year by Plaatsmaken. Each issue is celebrated with a festive launch featuring a programme full of poetry. Read more about all editions of Zevenblad here.

Presentation Zevenblad#10

For several years now, Plaatsmaken has been programming contemporary visual art in the display case situated in front of the Palace of Justice in Arnhem.

This initiative stems from the idea that unexpectedly encountering art can be insprirational in every day life.

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

On display from March 25th 2024: Yubin Lee

The display case will feature the work of South Korean artist Yubin Lee. Lee is a third-year BEAR student at ArtEZ and works across a wide range of media, including painting, sculpture, video, and performance art.

Many of Yubin Lee’s works make intriguing use of diverse materials, reflecting her artistic approach within her practice. Her highly distinctive drawing technique is rooted in a state of “unconsciousness,” initially inspired by meditation. It intricately weaves together countless small details that evoke a sense of nostalgia while simultaneously conveying an ominous atmosphere. Through her work, she initiates social critique and delves deeply into the “fundamental core” of ourselves.

By challenging dualism, hierarchy, racial constructs, gender, and anthropocentrism, she raises the question: what remains of the “self” when these constructs are ignored? Yubin argues that dissolving the self leads to enlightenment, awakening, and openness - the true keys to freedom.

All of these narratives are uniquely expressed through various materials such as hanji (traditional Korean paper), octopus ink, and rice paper, each possessing its own distinct texture.

This work by Yubin Lee is the first presentation of 2024 in the project De Uitspraak, on behalf of Plaatsmaken in collaboration with BEAR / ArtEZ.

De Uitspraak

Nu te zien: de resultaten van de vierde Ploegendienst, onderdeel van het programma H0ha. 

Ploegendienst 4 | Rizqita Naherta, Not Just a Collective & ROTS
Working period: September - December 2025
Winter Gather Together: 9, 12 and 13 December 2025
On show: January 5 - February 21 2026

Part of the H0Ha programme, curated by the Sunflower Soup collective for Plaatsmaken, Arnhem.

These are the results of the fourth work shift of the multi-year program H0Ha. In H0Ha, the workshops of Plaatsmaken are used to experiment with forms of protest and resistance, through images and language. Poets, visual artists, activists, and publishers are invited to collaborate at Plaatsmaken in so-called ‘Shifts’. H0Ha is curated by the Sunflower Soup collective.

Did you have a grandmother who knitted socks for you? Did she teach you how to do it? And do you have the patience for that time-consuming work?

Handicrafts, such as crocheting, knitting, and sewing, have traditionally been seen as work done by women. It is labor that is often performed at home or in small communities. The maker often remains unpaid and unnamed. This fits into a broader pattern in which women's work is made invisible. At the same time, this labor forms a basis for women to come together, organize, and emancipate themselves.

The Arnhem collective Not just a collective has transformed handicrafts into graphic work. It is precisely this translation that creates a new visibility that makes it possible to reflect on these aspects of handicrafts. Handicrafts are often seen as old-fashioned, but they also carry a history of subversion, resistance, and solidarity.

The artist Rizqita Naherta created an installation that refers to women's emancipation in Indonesia and the important role that the Gerwani movement played in it. This movement is an example of how different forms of emancipation and resistance come together and reinforce each other, because anti-imperialism and decolonization were central to Gerwani. The silkscreen prints feature texts from Gerwani's magazine Api Kartini, printed on images of kebayas (traditional Indonesian clothing for women).

In the practice of artist and poet ROTS, “unravelling” is an important method that is used in both a concrete and metaphorical way: wool from old jumpers is reused for objects with other purposes. A seemingly familiar concept such as “man” is unravelled in order to question what masculinity actually consists of. ROTS created a man cave printed with images of Androgel, a hormone treatment. How should a man behave in his cave? You are welcome to find out for yourself by taking place in the soft interior of this cave, which can also be seen as a manwomb.

What does it mean to pass on handworking techniques in the modern world? Who taught you how to crochet, knit or work with textiles? Did the women you knew mostly do this for leisure, or was it the only work available?

In this textile work, five members of Not Just a Collective — Lu Lin, Femke Kersten, Alessandra Varisco, Doga Gönüllü and Heike Renée de Wit — started from the knowledge and techniques they had learned from their grandmothers. They shared their crochet and knitting skills with each other and with their neighbours at De Nieuwe Hommel community centre. By combining stories and memories from their grandmothers, they translated textile crafts into prints. Using printing techniques such as silkscreen and monoprint, these images were printed onto textiles which were then pieced together. This patchwork is on display in the middle of Plaatsmaken's space. You cannot miss it! The work reminds us of the labour, knowledge and stories of our grandmothers, and of the value of these aspects, which should not be forgotten.

Merawat Api dari Penyihir-Penyihir Militan Kami - Nurturing the Fire of Our Militant Witches

Through the assemblage of archives reactivated from Gerwani’s magazine Api Kartini, the excerpts from the magazine are presented on the many kebaya prints and the bamboo mats within the living room space, as revolutionary passages, poem, and list were recited through the phone and television by exiled relative.

The work holds a space of remembrance for the militant women’s mass organization. Along with the pedagogical activation, the work asks to nurture the memories of Indonesian women’s resistance, and their methods of understanding that are organizing with the masses that is prone to be forgotten in the present, as a result of the historical trauma under Suharto’s regime.

hello I'm a performative male
my mancave is a womb
Dear Virginia, I'm now squatting the room, owning the room, making the room. The that became the (on steroids).

My body on testosterone feels more and more like my own, literally better, stonger. Was it only hormonal dysfunction? Did i just not have enough?

I know the moon, even so far away, was too much for me.

Do I feel more masculine because I'm taking testo or am I masculine and therefore I take testo?

masculinity is transforming
masculinity is tender and often fragile
masculinity relies on stories we tell about how men come into being.
Am I becoming a man by performing the same act again and again and again? I'm never quite reaching, quite being but probably for the better.

Gender is image perpetually cited, repeated, and reproduced. (J. Butler)
this mancave/womb gives shelter to ideas of performative masculinity exposing what Butler calls the machinery of becoming.
Becoming by performing.

my manwomb - an ode to my muses: the matchamen, the soyboys, the softbois, the metromen, the dandies and the hipsters.

Now showing | Ploegendienst 4

Starting in January, we will open our doors every Saturday! You're welcome to visit our exhibition between 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM.

Now showing: the results from the fourth Ploegendienst. Read more about the program here.

Open on Saturdays

To support our organisation, we are looking for an accurate and independent Bookkeeping & Administration Officer (0.4 FTE).

Are you financially and administratively skilled, detail-oriented, and enthusiastic about working in a creative environment? We would love to hear from you.

You will be responsible for the organisation’s day-to-day financial and administrative operations. Your tasks will include:

Processing incoming and outgoing invoices

Maintaining the (digital) bookkeeping system

Managing and updating administrative records

Supporting financial processes and reporting

Ensuring accurate and well-organised administration

You have experience with bookkeeping and administrative work

You are accurate, independent, and well organised

You are able to maintain an overview and set priorities effectively

You feel at home in an organisation dedicated to contemporary visual arts

You are resilient and confident in your work

A 0.4 FTE position on a one-year contract

An inspiring workplace and supportive colleagues

The opportunity to work independently and contribute ideas for improving administrative processes

A competitive salary and attractive employment conditions, based on your experience and in accordance with the job classification and salary framework of De Zaak Nu for presentation institutions

Please send your motivation letter and CV to vacature@plaatsmaken.nl before 30 June. We look forward to receiving your application.

Job opening!

A wonderful group of volunteers is already part of Plaatsmaken, and we’d love to expand it. We’re looking for enthusiastic, communicative individuals who are available to staff our exhibition space about once a month on Saturdays (12:00 PM – 5:00 PM). You’ll be welcoming visitors, sharing information about Plaatsmaken, and providing context about the exhibitions and projects we organize. We also often need help during openings and workshops.

And in return..
A volunteer allowance is available, and we also offer to use the studio facilities for free. On top of that you can participate in workshops for a reduced fee.

Plaatsmaken is a growing art platform where experimentation and togetherness are our core values. Our inclusive artistic program places a strong emphasis on our printmaking studios, as well as dialogue and depth. We have a close-knit team and regularly organize activities. Would you like to become a Plaatsmaker too? Send us a message!

Volunteers wanted!

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 be inspirational in every day life.

On display in the showcase from May 22th:  Lotus van Zoggel

Lotus Parel van Zoggel combines disciplines such as ceramics and painting in her work. Her style is characterized by an expressionistic and playful approach, often with a touch of irony. She draws inspiration from her everyday life and explores themes such as family, memories, and human connection.

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.

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

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

Time Out, Tune In: View your body as an archival site: which intergenerational stories are nested there?

On Saturday the 25th of April, Nyata Collective will host a Batik workshop where we will look into textiles as an archive, a silent witness of daily life. What intergenerational knowledge is embedded in our bodies, held by what we wear? How can we bring invisible voices to life?

During the workshop you will translate your stories into shapes and transfer them onto fabric, creating Batik prints that will slowly appear by dying. While waiting for the results we will make embroideries and slow stitches; transmissions of knowledge in textiles. What do you want to archive for the future? What has been passed down from generations? 
We hope to create an exchange among all participants and, in doing so, bring together a collection of stories. After the workshop, you can bring your dyed clothing piece home with you and keep the thoughts and stories from the workshop alive by creating new memories each time you wear it.

Everyone is welcome to join! The workshop is free. Please sign up at lenn@plaatsmaken.nl so we can prepare accordingly. Bring a piece of white or light colored cotton clothing that you wish to dye. We will send you details on how to easily pre-treat it at home for the workshop.

TOTI batik workshop
Date | Saturday April 25
Time| 13:00 - 15:30u
Access | free, sign up via lenn@plaatsmaken.nl
Bring your own cotton piece of clothing (white or light colored) to dye!

This activity is part of the Time Out / Tune In program that 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.

Nyata Collective consists of Asha Victoria and Amber Zara van den Pangaard, Arnhem and Rotterdam-based multi-disciplinary artists, exploring ways to address social topics through collaborative and hands-on textile processes. 

Nyata is an Indonesian word for ‘real’ or ‘tangible’ based on facts. With their practice they aim to broaden this definition into a term for merging the invisible and visible into a tangible experience. As a collective, they dive into different modes of harvesting knowledge by making space for what has been archived in the body: heritage, memories, dreams, daily experiences. They believe that through human and non-human encounters, we can gather personal stories, turning them into interwoven threads of knowledge and skills to move towards a dynamic and circular system centered on community building and reciprocity.

TOTI Spring workshop | batik

Calling all stropdasmannetjes, strapjocks & tie survivors:
STRIPSTROPSTRAPTIESTROPHIC CLOSING EVENT

On Saturday, May 23, we will officially close Ploegendienst 5. During this finissage, you are welcome to visit the presentation by Jivan van der Ende, Merel Nijhuis, and the Queer Collective Workers' Union one last time. Meanwhile, you can screen print on ties with a Mai Tie cocktail in your hand.

Date | Saturday, May 23 / 14:00 - 17:00
Bring a stropdas!

stroptease stripties silkscreen catwalk cut-your-ties celebration outlet

Bring your tie.
Lose your tie.
Print your tie.
Cut your tie.

We will print & cut our ties,
you can buy QCWU shirts,
While sipping on an exclusive Mai Tie cocktail

Together we close off Ploegendienst 5 in stijl 

Come and let it out, cut your ties & have a drink.
No strings attached - behalve misschien aan je stropdas.

Finissage Ploegendienst 5

We have some new workshops planned for the upcoming months.

Always wanted to learn how to screen print? Or would you like to learn how to work in a Darkroom for developing analogue photography? You can sign up for the following workshops:

Friday June 5 | Workshop toyobo etching
Saturday June 6 | Workshop Screen printing

You can read more about the workshops (and how to sign up) here.

New workshops

This year, we’re back again at Festival Hoogte80! We’ll be doing lots of screen printing, along with an extensive additional program.

This year we’ve put together a varied and diverse lineup. There are all kinds of activities to do, listen to, or even sit on.

SCREEN PRINTING (THU – SUN 14:00 – 17:00)

Plaatsmaken x Sunflower Soup
Just like last year, visitors can have textiles printed with two designs by Sunflower Soup. You can bring your own textile, or buy a nice shirt or tote bag from us.

Hoogte80 merchandise
You can also come and screen print a cheerful Hoogte80 dot onto textile yourself (for free). Each day features a different color, so you can collect all the colored dots from each day of the festival!

You can bring your own textile, or purchase a (organic cotton) t-shirt on site.

“One of Those Days”
Artist Frank Koolen presents One of Those Days (dream station), an interactive artwork. This oversized rag doll is intended as a meeting place and seating cushion where stories can be shared. At the same time, the work invites you to lie down, close your eyes, and wait for the stories in your own mind.

Children’s workshop: making pillowcases
On May 14 and 17, Frank Koolen will be present in person and will host a workshop for children at three different times. Through a performative introduction about the creative value of dreams, children are invited to reflect on a recent dream, which they will then turn into a drawing on a pillowcase.
Each workshop has space for 10 children, and once dry, the pillowcases can be taken home.

Pillowcase workshop | Thursday May 14 and Sunday May 17
Times | 12:30, 14:00 & 15:30
Cost | €5

Plaatsmaken POP-UP Poetry Stage
On May 15 and 16, the Pop-Up Poetry Stage will take place at the pop. Various poets will perform their work, and everyone is invited to join and listen. DJ Snobbie will also be present for musical entertainment. The Pop-Up Poetry program:

May 15:
14:30: Dorien de Wit
14:40: Ivana Soyer
14:50: Marije Langelaar

May 16:
14:30: Terra van Dorst
14:40: Sebastiaan Mets
14:50: Vicky Francken

DJ Snobbie
May 15: 13:30–14:30 and 16:00–17:00
May 16: 16:00–17:00

BILLBOARD
At the highest point of Arnhem, we’ve built a large billboard for Hoogte80 that functions as an interactive daily newspaper. It features highlights, statements, information, and announcements. Throughout the festival, visitors can add their own texts, drawings, messages, and stamps to the board.


We hope to see you at Hoogte80!
Access is free, you can find more info about the festival here.

Plaatsmaken on Hoogte80

CIRCUS FIASCO is the swirling arena where a large group of makers from various media and disciplines show what performance can be and what it can set in motion.

A festive and surprising evening-long event that serves as a source of inspiration for casual visitors, makers, thinkers, and participants. CIRCUS FIASCO explores the essence of performance in a multifaceted way: a consciously executed action. And in doing so, it poses the question: What can that action be, mean, and cause?

Confirmed acts:C.V. De Gierboys, Harry Merry, Broken Toaster Records, Skate Bush, Unemployed Airhostesses and many more!

Tickets | Student €7,50 / Regular €10,-

CIRCUS FIASCO is part of Arnhems Stadsatelier, a collaboration between four Arnhem cultural organizations: Theater aan de Rijn, Plaatsmaken, ArtEZ University of the Arts and The HUB. The goal of this collaboration is to make the Arnhem art world more diverse and accessible, for both artists and the public. New ways of collaborating between art, the public, and society are central to this.


Arnhems Stadsatelier is made possible by the Municipality of Arnhem.

CIRCUS FIASCO

Plaatsmaken is closed during Ascension day and the weekend that follows and during Pentecost. 

Due to our activities at the  Hoogte80 Festival, Plaatsmaken will be closed at Klarendalseweg from May 14 to May 17.

On May 18, we will be open again as usual from 09:00 to 17:00.

We are also closed on May 25 due to Pentecost.

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.

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.

With thanks to the Mondriaanfonds and the Municipality of Arnhem.

Now showing | Ploegendienst 3

Now showing: the results of Ploegendienst 5, part of the H0ha programme.

Ploegendienst 5 | Jivan van der Ende, Merel Nijhuis and Queer Collective Workers’ Union
Work period: January – March 2026
Spring Gather Together: March 21, 2026
On show: March 21 – May 23, 2026

Part of the H0ha program, curated by the collective Sunflower Soup. In this multi-year program, the workshops of Plaatsmaken are used to experiment with forms of protest and resistance through image and language. Poets, visual artists, activists, and publishers are invited to collaborate at Plaatsmaken in so-called 'Ploegendiensten' (work shifts). 

About Ploegendienst 5
Artists Merel Nijhuis, Jivan van der Ende and the Queer Collective Workers’ Union, address the visible and invisible aspects of labour, and the emotional and physical pain it comes with.

Within H0ha, questions around labour are recurring. When we chose the word Ploegendienst (‘work shift’), we were attracted to its proletarian or even socialist connotation. Of course there is a romantic side to this choice, but it also helped us to think about the way in which the different kinds of labour were compensated. In the first year of Hoha, all participants received the same hourly rate, but this turned out to be difficult to handle, because what precisely is labour? When does activist or artistic labour stop and start? And maybe, the difficulty is even more fundamental. Because etymologically, the word labour has the following background:

‘c. 1300, "a task, a project" (such as the labors of Hercules); later "exertion of the body; trouble, difficulty, hardship" (late 14c.), from Old French labor "toil, work, exertion, task; tribulation, suffering" (12c., Modern French labeur), from Latin labor "toil, exertion; hardship, pain, fatigue; a work, a product of labor," a word of uncertain origin.’

That brings us to the hardships that seem to be inseparable from facing uneasy truths, which in turn seem to be inseparable from doing activism. It might be justified to say that the labour of Ploegendienst 5 consists both of printmaking and dealing with pain.

Thanks to the Mondriaan Fund and the Municipality of Arnhem.

Merel Nijhuis
During the Shift at Plaatsmaken, Merel created zines combining text, cyanotype, and screen printing. The work revolves around her experience of (crip) time, what it means to be “healthy” in our current political climate, well-being, joy, and contradictions. Each zine is slightly different, making them as unique as the embodied experience of the moment in which they were produced: some were made during periods of intense headaches or while experiencing recurring tingling sensations in her fingertips, while others were created while enjoying the first spring sun.

Merel Nijhuis is a crip-queer writer, artist, and editor. They write experimental poetry and are inspired by critical theory, processes of cripping and queering, unreliable memory, and embodied experiences. Their work has been published in literary journals such as nY and Hard//hoofd.

Jivan van der Ende
During the Shift, Jivan van der Ende surrenders to her fascination with reflective workwear. She explores the drama and camp of reflective inks to see what happens when pots find lids, when there is light in the darkroom, and when everything is laid bare.

Jivan van der Ende is a visual artist who analyzes and deconstructs symbols of power structures and social constructs. Her eclectic method is based on endless collecting, documenting, tearing apart, and reusing.

An essential part of her practice is cross-gender research into clothing. During the Shift, the artist’s project was gradually taken over and ultimately completely hijacked by her fetish for reflective workwear.

Queer Collective Workers’ Union
presents its founding letter on a billboard, based on a contradiction: a collective that demands its members “work alone.” Their counter-archive is an online publishing tool using a “Seed Packet” template. During their gathering, the billboard becomes the center of the space, the archive is projected, and an information table offers “Seed Packet” posters and union merchandise. Members of the union lead conversations and connect their specific conflict to broader struggles. The event marks their public launch. The infrastructure for collective authorship is under construction.

Now showing | Ploegendienst 5

In 2025 we started a multi-year experiment in which two parallel programs intersect and reinforce each other: H0ha and Time Out / Tune In.

We are letting go of the traditional idea of an exhibition with a fixed beginning and end. Instead, we organize rotating shifts of artists, writers, and collectives. Each season culminates in a ‘Samenscholingsweek’ (Gathering Week), where activities come together in a vibrant mix of artistic and social experimentation. We collaborate on this program with curator Lenn Cox and the art collective Sunflower Soup, with the Samenscholing taking place at the end of each season.

For a multi-year program at Plaatsmaken, Sunflower Soup presents H0ha. H0ha is a spicy soup of wordplay and visual invention that we will keep simmering for multiple years. It is a platform for developing new ways for people to make their voices heard, making use of the space and resources Plaatsmaken provides. Posters, protest (Ho!), poetry and pleasure (Ha!).  

We begin with handmade protest signs bearing inventive slogans and move through spoken word, dreamy poets, local residents, DIY makers, graphic hardliners, and printers against oppression toward new combinations of all these elements, produced in rotating shifts. The results can be presented at Plaatsmaken, but also far beyond: on the streets, from coat pockets and backpacks, in libraries, and community spaces.  

People who, for various reasons, find themselves at the margins of the art world—those who independently create magazines, imagine visions for change and resistance to oppression, find ways to laugh despite hardship, and have developed their own words and language—are given a central place within H0ha.

Sunflower Soup is a collective founded in 2021 with the aim of connecting art and activism. Its members, Derk Thijs and Simon Kentgens, are both trained as artists and have in recent years been active in climate, housing, and anti-racism protests. Sunflower Soup produces, among other things, exhibitions, drawings, zines, and soup.

The programmes Altered Breath (2022–23) and Half Rhyme (2024), curated by former Sunflower Soup member Ester Venema, served as key inspirations for H0ha. The collaboration between writers and artists proved highly successful, as did the longer duration of these programmes.

H0ha runs parallel to Lenn Cox's Time Out / Tune In programme. The two overlap and reinforce one another. 

Ploegendienst (shift) 1: January/February/March 2025
Participants: Sunflower Soup, Notshitprint & Zaban Razdar

The outcomes of the first shift were presented during the Spring Gather Together from 17–22 March 2025. Throughout April, May, and June, the presentation remained on view and was regularly reworked.

Click here to read more about the outcomes and the makers.

Ploegendienst (shift) 2: April / May / June 2025
Participants: Periphery Center & Girls Like Us

Shift 2 is part of the Time Out / Tune In programme, which runs parallel to H0ha.

Click here to read more about Time Out / Tune In.

Ploegendienst (shift) 3: July/August/September 2025
Participants: Moni Zwitserloot, Hussel Zhu & de Feministische Handwerkpartij

The outcomes of the third shift were presented during the Autumn Gather Together from 18–20 September 2025. Throughout September, October, and November, the presentation remained on view and was regularly reworked.

Ploegendienst (shift) 4: Oktober/November/December 2025
Participants: ROTS, Rizq & Not Just a Collective

The outcomes of the fourth shift were presented during the Winter Gather Together on 9, 12, and 13 December 2025. Throughout January and February 2026, the presentation remained on view and was regularly reworked.

Ploegendienst (shift) 5: January / February / March 2026
Participants: Jivan van der Ende, Merel Nijhuis & Queer Collective Workers’ Union

The outcomes of the fifth shift were presented during the Spring Gather Together on 21 March 2026. Throughout April and May 2026, the presentation remains on view and is regularly reworked.

H0ha

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 Time Out / Tune In programme emerged from the compost heap from which Plaatsmaken has grown, mixed with Lenn Cox’s nomadic practice and her ongoing research project Collective Wandering. This research explores self-organised socio-ecological communities and collectives - often with an (eco)feminist and queer core - and stems from a desire for greater collectivity in the working and living conditions of artists and cultural workers. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in and urgency for collectivity within the precarious cultural field.

The programme engages with the cyclical nature of time and calls for a slowing down. The value of time and slowness for artists and collectives is fundamental, yet constantly under pressure. At times, it seems almost impossible to slow down, given the demands of productivity required to survive in the precarious cultural field.

Time Out / Tune In places time at the centre as both a creator and currency. It embraces the cyclical rhythm of the seasons, creating space to move beyond the accelerated pace of clock time. Through seasonal working periods, this approach is given further room to unfold. Within intensive seasonal programmes, residents at Plaatsmaken are brought together with other makers. Time Out / Tune In centres the “household” of Plaatsmaken, examines it closely, and creates intersections with the “households” of other makers and organisations. Seemingly everyday activities become part of the working and making process: they are the conditions and rhythms that make art possible. During recurring moments, participants explore how to organise collectively, what can be learned from one another, and what is at stake. Making art is about setting things in motion and moves beyond established frameworks of what art is, can be, or should look like.

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 handbook Collective Wandering: Hanging Out with Our Everyday Ecology. Lenn explores solidaristic economies by immersing herself in self-organised learning-working-living environments, including those beyond the arts. She uses clothing as a method of correspondence to carry the exchanges and stories she gathers into conversation. Together with the Navigation Cards she has developed, which are used as a conversational tool in exchange with artists, makers, cultural workers, and educators.

Time Out / Tune In runs parallel to the programme H0ha by the art collective Sunflower Soup. The two overlap and reinforce one another.

Ploegendienst (shift) 2: April/May/June 2025
Participants: Periphery Center & Girls Like Us

The outcomes of the second shift were presented during the Summer Gather Together from 21 to 29 June 2025. Throughout July, August, and September, the presentation remained on view and was regularly reworked.

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Due to the heat, we are closed on June 26th and 27th.