New workshops are planned for April and May.

Have you always wanted to learn how to screen print or etch? Or do you want to brush up on your technique? You can still register for the following workshops:

Thursday 10 April: Evening workshop Monoprint
Friday 25 April: Beginners workshop screen printing
Saturday 3 May: Workshop Pinhole Photography
Friday 16 May: Workshop Toyobo
Friday 16 May: Workshop bookbinding
Sunday 18 May: Workshop etching

Read more about the workshops and how to register here.

Workshops April & May

Route maps are available free of charge at Plaatsmaken.

Art route Schuytgraaf has been completed.

Across the Arnhem district, four permanent public artworks have been realized. Stichting Plaatsmaken was commissioned by the Municipality of Arnhem to develop this route and enlisted Arnhem-based curator Fleur Junier to shape its content.  

The four artworks reflect the identity of the neighborhood: its landscape character, historical background, and the evolving identity of the community and its residents. Each piece has been created specifically for its location. A diverse group of artists was selected, varying in age, background, and gender. All of them have a unique, distinctive approach, a strong connection to the region, and have actively engaged with the neighborhood and its people. The route is further enriched by a Poetry Route, displayed on several utility boxes in Schuytgraaf.  

The goal of Art Route Schuytgraaf is to enhance the quality of public space, improve livability, and foster a sense of recognition and connection. The artworks serve as meeting points, landmarks, and invitations for dialogue or contemplation.  

Alderman Cathelijne Bouwkamp is pleased with the initiative:  

"Public art is of great importance to Arnhem. Art has the power to surprise and inspire, and I expect this route to do just that. It is wonderful to see residents involved in the project. The fact that commissions are primarily given to regional artists also strengthens our visual arts sector."  

Art Route Schuytgraaf is for everyone—local residents, visitors from the region, or tourists exploring Arnhem. The route can be experienced on foot or by bike, and each artwork can also be enjoyed individually. A QR code at each piece provides digital information about the work and its artist. The route also has its own Instagram page—don’t forget to tag us in your favorite artwork! #kunstrouteschuytgraaf #stichtingplaatsmaken  

Plaatsmaken drew on its extensive experience to create this route. In 2019, during Biënnale Gelderland in downtown Arnhem, the foundation demonstrated its ability to curate a compelling art route featuring Gelderland-based artists for a broad audience.  

"For Plaatsmaken, it is essential to serve as a platform for artists and to bring art to the people. This project strongly embodies both elements," says Inge Pollet, Artistic Director of Plaatsmaken.  

Many parties participated in the realization of the art route: the feedback group consisting of experts and residents, the project team of the Municipality of Arnhem. The artists involved and the many executive producers, but also the primary schools involved and their students and teachers, education professionals, district coordinators and landscape architects.

Art Route Schuytgraaf was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Municipality of Arnhem, the Mondriaan Fund, and BPD Cultuurfonds.

Steel, Polyurethane, polyurea with NCS blue coating paint

Next to the railway, between the river Rijn and Arnhem Zuid station, an eight-meter-high sculpture rises. An abstract, irregular tube that extends in all directions, like a three-dimensional doodle. The deep Persian blue contrasts sharply with the green and brown that dominate the surrounding environment. This ‘doodle’, a quick, partly unconscious gesture, a starting point for an action, idea, or concept, contrasts with the planned, orderly layout and design of the neighborhood. The location next to the railway was chosen deliberately. The artwork serves as a striking landmark visible from the train. From the train window, the piece may read two-dimensionally, like a framed abstract drawing or signature.

In the expressive work of Arash Fakhim (1987, Tehran), materiality, the looseness and speed of the gesture, and the play between flatness and spatiality are central. A recurring theme in Fakhim’s practice is the desire to clash with the imposed rules of the medium. Instead of opting for a more traditional material like metal or stone for a public artwork, he chooses polyurethane, the raw material of spray foam, which he coats with a waterproof layer. A metal frame provides form and stability. He shapes the form and surface of the 60-meter-long tube by hand to emphasize expressiveness and looseness.

Fakhim was invited to respond to the landscape of the neighborhood with his work. The artist is fascinated by the neat, linear layout of our landscape, in contrast to, for example, his home country, Iran. He has intensively researched how his work behaves in the boundless public space. Fakhim has sought abstraction and timelessness without sacrificing spontaneity and boldness.

Arash Fakhim, born in Iran, lives and works in Arnhem. In 2016, he graduated from BEAR (fine art) at ArtEZ, Arnhem. His work is included in Collectie De Groen, the collection of Akzo Nobel Art Foundation, and museum De Fundatie.

Find more information here about the completion of 'A Doodle' by Arash Fakhim.

In the artwork ‘Time Keepers’ by Femke Herregraven (1982, Nijmegen), the future of Schuytgraaf, imagined and told by the children of Schuytgraaf, is buried as a time capsule in the hill next to ‘De Speelgaard’. The hill is cut through by two eight-meter-long walls, on which various ‘Time Keepers’ drawn by children are depicted in reverse relief. They guard the time capsule, which lies beneath the floor of the ‘hall’ and will be excavated in ten years.

Herregraven was commissioned to reflect on the young identity of the neighborhood. Both the residents and the buildings are very young, with the first houses built in 2004. Compared to other neighborhoods in the Netherlands, there are many families with young children. Herregraven asked the children of Schuytgraaf, whom she refers to as the ‘professional dreamers of the future,’ for their vision of the future of the neighborhood. Students from four elementary schools in Schuytgraaf went on a journey of exploration during five lessons. They went on a neighborhood safari with a biologist to fantasize about the future flora and fauna of their neighborhood, and embarked on a journey with a poet to think about language. The material from this research (drawings, clay works, videos, audio recordings, and photos) forms part of the time capsule, as well as the ‘Time Keepers’ radio play, based on their stories.

The form of the artwork, two walls cutting through a hill, is inspired by ‘Land Art’. A movement that responds to landscape features and interventions made in the landscape to create a new experience of the place. The straight, rigid walls contrast with the natural surroundings. The warm terracotta color of the concrete walls stands out against the greenery, further highlighting the hill in the otherwise flat landscape.

Visual artist Herregraven is interested in power systems and the connection between financial markets, international law, geopolitics, ethics, and climate change. In her work, she translates these abstract, complex notions into poetic, playful, sensory works. Femke Herregraven is an alumna of the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam (2017-2018). In 2019, she was nominated for the Prix de Rome. She was also Creator Doctus (practice-oriented PhD) at the Sandberg Institute (2020-2023).

The artwork by Femke Herregraven is still in production and is expected in 2025.

De van oorsprong Japanse kunstenaar Keiko Sato (1957, Iwaki-City, Japan) is gevraagd om te reflecteren op de rijke geschiedenis van de wijk. Archeologische vondsten tonen aan dat Schuytgraaf zevenduizend jaar geleden al was bewoond. De Midden- en Late IJzertijd, de Romeinse tijd en de vroege Middeleeuwen hebben hun sporen achtergelaten in het gebied, evenals de Tweede Wereldoorlog. De fascinatie van Sato, dochter van een kamikazepiloot, voor deze oorlog komt in ‘Echo’s from the past’ samen met het gegeven van achtergelaten sporen, dat een rode draad vormt in haar werk.

Het koepelvormige object is een ‘schuilplaats’ en refereert aan bunkers uit de Tweede Wereld Oorlog. De twee helften van het bouwwerk vormen een gebroken ei, dat staat voor verwoesting, maar tegelijkertijd symboliseren ze een nieuw begin. Binnenin is een vloerinstallatie te zien, gemaakt met metalen archeologische vondsten uit het gebied. Deze zijn stevig verankerd in beton; ons verleden kunnen we immers niet meer veranderen. De opening tussen de twee ‘eierschalen’ biedt zicht op de lucht, en laat licht binnen. Zo is de schuilplaats ook een plek voor hoop en vrijheid.

De locatie van het werk, aan de voet van een heuvel in de ecologische zone, een soort niemandsland in het midden van de wijk, vormt een essentieel onderdeel van de beleving van het werk. Toen Sato hier voor het eerst op deze open, onbeschutte plek stond, moest ze denken aan de historisch beladen situatie uit 1944, waar geallieerde parachutisten tijdens operatie Market Garden gedropt werden, en in de hinderlaag van de Duitsers terecht kwamen. De openheid van deze plek benadrukte voor haar de kwetsbaarheid van de soldaten.

De in Nijmegen woonachtige Keiko Sato werkte oorspronkelijk als verloskundige in Fukushima. Van 1989-93 studeerde ze aan Goldsmith’s College en Londen en van 1993-95 aan de Jan van Eyck academie in Maastricht. Haar werk is te zien in binnen- en buitenland. In haar werk, vaak bestaand uit vloerinstallaties gemaakt met alledaagse of vergankelijke materialen, staan tegenstellingen als destructie en creatie, maar ook het snijpunt tussen persoonlijke -en wereldgeschiedenis centraal.

Vind hier meer informatie over de oplevering van het werk 'Echo from the past' van Keiko Sato.

A clumsy, somewhat 'grumpy' water nymph seems to have just emerged from beneath the water's surface. Her head is covered with water plants, the glossy surface still appearing wet from the water. The young artist Larissa Esvelt (1998, Wageningen) was commissioned to respond to the landscape and specifically the ubiquitous water in the neighborhood. The two-meter-high ceramic water nymph is located in the canoe pond: one of the defining areas of the neighborhood, notably long and wide. From here, you can see from the center of the neighborhood all the way to the Veluwe Massif.

Esvelt was inspired by historical, classical fountains and water artworks. But above all, by what exists beneath the water: the water plants, mussels, fish, and the wealth of color shades of the ever-changing water surface. For Larissa, the figure is a manifestation of the mysterious, the hidden, and the wonderful that lies beneath the surface of not only the water but also the neighborhood as a whole. The high-gloss glaze in shades of green, blue, and brown has been carefully chosen and directly refers to the color shades of the water. The leaves on her head hang heavily over the body and are playfully stylized. The plants also grow in reality on the bottom of the pond. Beneath the figure is a shell, a swan mussel, a species found in Schuytgraaf.

Ceramics can be made extra durable through a special recipe, fired at high temperatures, and by adding materials such as flax, making it highly suitable for public spaces. The work is baked in separate parts and assembled using mortar. The structure and form of the sculpture make it extremely strong and stable.

Esvelt often works with materials and techniques traditionally considered feminine, such as textiles and ceramics. She gives a twist to familiar motifs in art, such as the female body. This is often central to her work, depicted in exaggerated, absurd poses. Her work is, on one hand, appealing due to its rich, humorous, and imaginative character, but on the other hand, it has an uncomfortable quality. She tries to create space and empathy for the 'strange.'

Larissa Esvelt lives and works in Arnhem and The Hague. She obtained her bachelor's degree in Fine Arts at BEAR ArtEZ, Arnhem, in 2020. Starting in 2024, she is pursuing a Master's in Artistic Research at the KABK in The Hague.

Find more information here about the completion of the work 'De Nimf' by Larissa Esvelt.

Steel, aluminum, cast glass, LED lighting, and solar panel  

The observation point Take Off by Rob Voerman (1966, Deventer) resembles a spaceship. It gives the impression that it has just landed but may take off again at any moment. Many residents of Schuytgraaf have also 'landed' in the neighborhood from elsewhere and must find their place or may leave in the future. The tower stands on a hill in an open area in the middle of Schuytgraaf. To the north, you can see the Veluwe Massif. The south side offers a view of Park Lingezegen. The east and west provide a panoramic view of the neighborhood. The observation point has two entrances or exits, giving it an open and inviting character. It is also a striking landmark, visible from many places in Schuytgraaf. The red light flashing from the 'antenna' in the evening serves as a beacon.  

Voerman was commissioned to deepen the landscape character of the neighborhood. Schuytgraaf, divided into 27 districts, is exceptionally green for a Vinex development. The area was designed to highlight the original Betuwe landscape, resulting in long green zones with meadows, orchards, and ecological corridors between the neighborhoods. With the observation point, the artist aims to emphasize the open, natural character of the location. Voerman personally (with assistance) built the structure, made of aluminum and cast glass components. With the handmade character of the tower, featuring thick welds and irregular shapes, he provides a surprising counterbalance to the neat architecture that characterizes the neighborhood.  

This is the first time that a permanent work by the Arnhem-based artist, who is active worldwide, has been placed in his own city. His work primarily consists of architectural objects reminiscent of basic, primitive structures such as huts or shelters, but also incorporating futuristic, utopian elements. Space travel is a recurring theme in his work, along with industrial architecture and Brutalism, where the function of a building strongly determines its form. By combining order, structure, and balance with chaos, transience, and deconstruction, he provides commentary on the over-organized society of modern times.  

Rob Voerman lives and works in Arnhem. He studied sculpture at CABK Constantijn Huygens in Kampen from 1990 to 1996. Voerman exhibits his work worldwide, and his pieces are included in collections such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.  

Find more information here about the completion of Take Off by Rob Voerman.

Kunstroute Schuytgraaf is a project by the Stichting Productiehuis Plaatsmaken, which was developed at the request of the Municipality of Arnhem.

Kunstroute Schuytgraaf was created by generous contributions from the Municipality of Arnhem, the Mondriaan Fund and the BPD Culture Fund.

Team Plaatsmaken:
Inge Pollet (artistic director), Fleur Junier (curator), Fleur Lamers (project leader), Berna Lohman (project employee), Derk Müller (project employee), Leonne Verweij (project employee), Menno Wieringa (poetry route), Maurice van Brummelen (video)

Team municipality of Arnhem: Diede Beumer, Gerben Uffing, Berry Saalmink, Caroline Kobus, Tamara Bod, Sandra van Winden, Jillis Verbeek

Artist: Arash Fakhim, Larissa Esvelt, Femke Herregraven, Rob Voerman, Keiko Sato

Poets: Maarten Buser, Marije Langelaar, Francis Nagy, Roos Marijn Peperkamp, Tim Lenders, Marieke Polderdijk, Willem van Zadelhoff

Sounding board group: Marij Nielen, Rob Groot Zevert, Julius Thissen, Sylvia Groosman, Abe Veenstra, Onno Heijsman

Producers: Fons Snelders, Job Saltzherr, Struktuur 68, Zuliani Kunst en Terrazzo, Dutch Coating Company, Isopur Installatie, Nina Waanders en Natasja Wagendorp, De Groot Reklame.

With thanks to: Municipality of Arnhem, the Mondriaan Fund, BPD Cultuur Fonds, participating schools: De Salamander, Confetti, Het Jongleren en de Schatgraaf. Riel Berenbroek, Doeko Pinxt, Niels Engel, Werkplaats Typografie, Andre Damen en Maria Davids (De Vierkrant)

Art route Schuytgraaf

The works are for sale. The full proceeds go to charity.

DAYS is a series of linocut prints with an edition of 470. This number represents the days from October 7, 2023, until the ceasefire earlier this year. It is symbolic, as the immense suffering and destruction that existed before still persist. Depicted are children's hands forming a peace sign – a simple, universal gesture that speaks without explanation. The paper sometimes has holes, missing ink, traces of what is no longer there. The hands hang as both a presence and an absence. They are countless, yet each one is unique.  

The works have been donated to Art Collective For Peace, and the proceeds go to the Hope Foundation, a foundation dedicated to the development of children in conflict areas, with a focus on children with trauma and disabilities. Hope uses art and play to achieve this.  

The work of Willemijn Theisens (1982) is a blend of activism and contemplation. At times, it is harsh and painful; at others, quiet and fragile. By working with materials such as menstrual blood, pearls, cow’s milk, bones, silver, and embroidery, the work speaks directly from the materiality of reality. It revolves around femininity, vulnerability, beauty, and sorrow, while also addressing the continuous powerlessness in the face of human and animal suffering. 

DAYS linoprints

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 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?

Follow our socials or our website for updates and times.

Finissage The Living Print

Twice a year Plaatsmaken publishes the magazine Zevenblad with poetry and visual art contributions. Poetry and images can now be submitted for the eighth edition of Zevenblad.

There is no theme, the editors select a coherent whole from the submissions after an Open Call. Werkplaats Typografie takes care of the design. The new issue of Zevenblad will be published in June in an edition of 100 copies. The deadline for submissions is April 14. Send your work to uitgeverij@plaatsmaken.nl.

With a new subscription you will now receive two previous issues of your choice (if available) of Zevenblad as a welcome gift. An annual subscription (for two issues) costs €26 including shipping. You can order via the webshop or by sending an email to info@plaatsmaken.nl.

Zevenblad #8

On Saturday March 8th, a new workshop is planned: traditional etching.

In this workshop you will learn all the basic knowledge about traditional etching techniques: dry needle, etching with copper sulphate and aquatint. You will learn to create lines and grey areas and print them on paper. The end result is a 100% handmade print and at the end of the workshop you will go home with your own processed metal plate and a number of hand-printed prints. After this workshop you will also be able to work independently in the etching workshop.

-Costs: € 175.00 (incl. materials and VAT)

The workshop is given by Mirka Farabegoli. More information about the workshop and the registration form can be found here.

Workshop Etching

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

On display in the showcase from February 17: Sam Zanardo  

Sam Zanardo is an interdisciplinary artist and a facilitator of inclusivity. Their work explores the body as a site of relationships, where affection, the everyday sacred, and contemporary technology intersect.  

This collection of works is part of Sam’s ongoing research into folklore, rituals, and magic in Southern Italy. Inspired by the visual representations of Catholic sanctity and female martyrdom—where women's bodies were often examined or dissected as proof of their holiness—Sam studies the shifting meanings attributed to the body. Their work engages with themes such as voyeurism, dissection, and the spectacle of suffering, reflecting on systemic violence, gender, and identity.  

Sam often places these historical references alongside family archives and self-portraits, weaving together multiple narratives that embody the contradictions of pain, pleasure, and transformation, inherent to the human experience.  

This installation also serves as a reminder—a requiem—for Giulia Cecchettin, who was murdered on November 11, 2023. Her death is one of countless cases of femicide, a systemic and deeply rooted form of gender-based violence that remains largely unacknowledged.  

In collaboration with the BEAR (Fine Art) department of ArtEZ, (former) students are given the opportunity to submit proposals for the showcase. This benefits both parties: young artists gain experience in exhibiting, while Plaatsmaken ensures the programming of emerging talent directly from the academy.

De Uitspraak

Next to the railway, between the river Rijn and Arnhem Zuid station, an eight-meter-high sculpture rises. An abstract, irregular tube that extends in all directions, like a three-dimensional doodle. The deep Persian blue contrasts sharply with the green and brown that dominate the surrounding environment. This ‘doodle’, a swift, partly unconscious gesture, a starting point for an action, idea, or concept, contrasts with the planned, orderly layout and design of the neighborhood. The location next to the railway was deliberately chosen. The artwork serves as a striking landmark visible from the train. From the train window, the piece may read two-dimensionally, like a framed abstract drawing or signature.

More information: follow us on Instagram @Kunstroute_schuytgraaf

'A Doodle'

Four years ago, we began filming Mounira Al Solh. She often works in our studios, and we regularly support her productions. With our camera, we followed her creative process and the collaborations she engaged in for her projects.

We visited her studio and had extensive conversations with her. But new and exciting developments kept unfolding, so we continued filming. We traveled with her to Cardiff, where she was nominated for the Artis Mundi Prize. Maurice even flew to Beirut with Mounira, capturing stunning footage of a city that had not yet been devastated. We spoke again in her new studio in Velp.  

After six months of editing at our space, she presented her film at the Lebanese Pavilion of the Venice Biennale—a perfect high point to conclude our filming.  

Step into the dynamic world of Lebanese artist Mounira Al Solh. This Oogmerk XL offers a unique insight into an artistic practice that has rapidly gained international recognition. And Plaatsmaken was there!

Oogmerk XL

The beginning of our new policy period (2025-2028) coincides with the start of four-year support from the Kunstpodium Basis program by the Mondriaan Fund. Over the next four years, we will focus on artistic and substantive development, sustainability, collectivity, and connection.

In 2025, we will launch an experimental program proposed by the artist collective Sunflower Soup and Lenn Cox. This program offers ample space for artists to develop their own work while also becoming part of a growing community that explores questions of authorship and creation, collectivity, and the relevance of art and editions. For our small-scale educational projects, we collaborate with Hospitalityclub. In our workshops, we are fully committed to making processes more sustainable and embracing experimentation.  

Our facilities will be utilized, questioned, and innovated throughout the 2025-2028 program. Small yet inspiring sparks from the activist 1980s—the era in which Plaatsmaken was founded—are being reignited in the present.  

The policy plan can be read here. (dutch only) 

New policy plan

Arnhems Stadsatelier is a brand-new collaboration between four cultural organizations in Arnhem: Theater a/d Rijn, Plaatsmaken, ArtEZ, and The Hub. Five artists are given the space and opportunity to conduct artistic research in various locations across Arnhem in the coming months and share their work with the city's residents, students, and each other. The program encourages unique collaborations between people and organizations in Arnhem and breaks artistic boundaries through cross-disciplinary and innovative research.

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

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

Arnhems Stadsatelier is made possible with support from the municipality of Arnhem.  

Sharing Experiences, Methods, and Research  

Creating art across different domains requires diverse approaches. A key principle of Arnhems Stadsatelier is to share the research, experiences, and methods that precede the final works. In addition to public events, the research will be documented through various (online) publications, videos, photo reports, and interviews with the artists, conducted by curator, art journalist, lecturer, and moderator Lieneke Hulshof. Post-show discussions will be organized with audiences and participants.  

Abhishek Thapar will involve ArtEZ students in his research on social-artistic work and his documentary-style approach to storytelling. The Hub will develop programs centered around sharing artistic research.  

The four partner organizations believe in giving a new generation of makers the space to experiment with new forms of art across various disciplines. With this initiative, they highlight Arnhem as a city where makers can continue to develop their craft, even after completing a creative or artistic education. The artistic research at Arnhems Stadsatelier delves into audience engagement, reaching those who do not naturally encounter art, and fostering cross-disciplinary work.  

The pilot edition of Arnhems Stadsatelier runs from September 2024 to February 2025. Create in Arnhem!  

Want to participate in a project? Sign up via fleur@residentiesarnhem.nl  

Follow the latest updates on Instagram: @arnhems_stadsatelier

The Indian-Dutch theater maker and storyteller Abhishek Thapar creates visually striking and intimate performances that blur the line between documentary and fiction. He intertwines personal narratives with major global themes.  

Now settling in Arnhem for his latest project, Lacuna Kitchen, Thapar will premiere this work at Theater a/d Rijn in April 2025. It is neither an ordinary restaurant, a traditional theater production, nor a typical community project, but rather a fusion—where the kitchen becomes a stage for transformation.  

Lacuna Kitchen creates a space where the stories of others—particularly those of kitchen workers with a migration background—are brought to light. Through shared experiences of food and storytelling, Abhishek Thapar aims to build cultural and emotional bridges, fostering deep understanding and healing.  

During the research phase, audiences will have the opportunity to join Kitchen Telling Events, where these stories come to life.  

Learn more about Abhishek Thapar’s project here.

Graduated in 2023 (BEAR ArtEZ), Ro Smit invites the audience to participate in workshops that culminate in a collective exhibition, focusing on memories and their loss. He explores how objects gain meaning through memories and conducts research on screen printing techniques at Plaatsmaken.  

Learn more about Ro Smit’s project here.

Graduated in 2023 (BEAR ArtEZ), Levi Overvest ventures into Klarendal, gathering topics through a democratic voting process that reflect the concerns of young residents in Arnhem. These themes serve as inspiration for new work, which he will create at Plaatsmaken. Levi is researching screen printing on ceramics. The resulting artworks will be exhibited in public spaces in Klarendal and at Plaatsmaken.  

Learn more about Levi Overvest’s project here.

Graduated in 2023 (Creative Writing ArtEZ), Mel Kikkert is fascinated by the internet and its inhabitants, exploring interpretations of this world. They push the boundaries between the virtual and the physical realms. Topics such as role-playing and the distance between fantasy and reality are central to their work. At Theater a/d Rijn, Mel is investigating theater as a medium and creating new work through words, images, and digital tools.

Graduated in 2021 (Mime Training AHK), Charlotte Gillain works from the body and seeks to make the way our brain stores memories tangible. Together with designer Zak Lennard, they explore the physical experience of remembering and visualize this inner world through digital design.

Arnhems Stadsatelier

Plaatsmaken is closed to visitors on Friday, March 7. On Monday, March 10, the doors of our exhibition will be open again.

In the meantime, read here about our new program that has started.

Plaatsmaken closed on March 7

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gather Together

What does it mean to (re)visit archives of queer, Black, feminist groups in the Netherlands. How can publishing archival texts and materials spark solidarity between generations?

Saturday 22 March Action Research Walk with Archival Textures, Tabea Nixdorff and Anne Krul. During this tour, we will revive a few historical sites in Arnhem North - such as an unofficial women's house and newsroom in one - while hearing stories about Umoja Zwarte Vrouwenkrant and interweaving new narratives.

At 14:00 we will gather at Plaatsmaken with tea and coffee, around 15:30 we will be back at Plaatsmaken and there will be snacks. The walk takes about 45 minutes and is wheelchair accessible. There are limited places available, please register via lenn@plaatsmaken.nl

*Communication language is spoken Dutch, if you prefer English please mention this when you register.


Over Umoja Zwarte Vrouwenkrant
Umoja Zwarte Vrouwenkrant was a revolutionary magazine “by and for black women,” published between 1985 and 1986 by the foundation ‘Zwarte Vrouwen & Racisme’ Arnhem. “The intersectional solidarity that the magazine Umoja demanded and practiced in the 1980s remains a model for us all.” The book Republishing: Umoja Zwarte Vrouwenkrant (Archival Textures, 2024) gives the magazine the historic recognition it deserves and highlights the systematic marginalization of Black* women’s work of resisting and organizing. (*‘Black’ was introduced by the Arnhem Foundation as a political term, with the aim of bringing together all women labeled as ‘the Other’ in the Netherlands.) The magazine still reads alarmingly urgent anno 2025, and its republication is an invitation for more research into it and the initiatives it highlights. In addition, it is an important reminder for intersectional feminists today to never be silent.

Archival Textures is a publication series that seeks knowledges that are continuously obscured by normative perspectives on our bodies, desires, forms of cohabitation and expression. Archival Textures works with local community archives, personal collections, and conversations to find writings of the past that can inform our current vocabularies of resistance and solidarity. 

Tabea Nixdorff (1986) is an artist, typographer and researcher currently based in Arnhem. Her artistic practice involves (self)publishing, sound and language based performances, collaborative learning and social gatherings. Often working with/in archives, or libraries, Tabea’s works delve into micro-histories while touching upon broader themes such as omissions and distortions in historical narratives, embodied knowledges, queer belonging and a feminist poetics of error. In 2023, Tabea founded the publication series Archival Textures.

Anne Krul (1958) is an Afropean visual artist, poet, archivist and activist. She was a member of Strange Fruit, an organisation for young queer people from different cultural backgrounds. (1989-2002). They worked together to challenge their marginalization, within both their ethnic communities and the Dutch gay scene. They used creative discourse, activism, art and poetry to implement change: breaking silences, empowering each other, exploring co-creation. As an artist, Anne Krul has participated in the exhibitions Diasporic Self – Black Togetherness as Lingua Franca (Framer Framed, 2019), and the exhibitions Proud Aliens (2021), Hybrid Garden (2023) and Metamorphosis Manifesting (2024), as part of the artist community Open Atelier at Framer Framed, Amsterdam.


Image: Cover of Umoja Zwarte Vrouwenkrant, jg 1, nr. 1, 1985, published by Stichting ‘Zwarte Vrouwen & Racisme’ Arnhem. Source: Persoonlijk Archief Ans Sarianamual

Republishing: Umoja Zwarte Vrouwenkrant

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.

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

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

Jaban Razdar
Jaban Razdar is in the Holy Land, supporting the indigenous population in their fight against ethnic cleansing, alongside other activists. In between, he picks up his pen to write about the Palestinian he is in love with.

Adil/Notshitprint
Print shop for social justice. Notshitprint is a non-commercial print shop for activists and grassroots projects.

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

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

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

Abhishek Thapar (Stadsatelier Arnhem)
The Indian-Dutch theater maker and storyteller Abhishek Thapar creates visual and intimate performances at the boundary between documentary and fiction. His performance will be presented at Plaatsmaken as part of the collaborative project Stadsatelier Arnhem.

Hospitality Club
For our small-scale educational projects, we collaborate with the Hospitality Club, which consists of Mirka Farabegoli and Krista Burger. We involve local primary schools, youth, children, ArtEZ students, MBO students, and neighborhood residents.

Program 2025-2028 start

HR_3-2 animatie Insta_mounira-al-solh-asha-karami.mp4

Asha Karami and Mounira al Solh present their work in the context of Half Rhyme.

Collectivity and social practice lay at the heart of this exhibition series. How can publishing be used to bring people together to agenda political issues and perhaps even initiate change?

“Inspired by the ancient history of the Mediterranean, especially from the perspective of the Lebanese coasts, I drew and printed patterns on green textiles, arranged in large triangles, where we can see ancient goddesses, foresters, Phoenician boats, animals and forests. They revive ancient history between the Bronze and Iron Ages in Lebanon and the region. A time just before the Romans took control of the region. Among the green textiles, which act as curtains in this exhibition, we find printed and hand-drawn works of small size. Their starting point are the inevitable wars for power dating back to those ancient times. Strangely, these representations are reminiscent of today, as we face wars such as those in Gaza and in the region. These “illustrations” are also inspired by a series of works by Lebanese artist Are el Rayyess about the civil war in Lebanon, which were banned at the time. They do not follow Western rules of perspective, but juxtapose elements and fill each drawing, in the same way Eastern miniatures are usually drawn. I worked with women in Lebanon to fill and embroider the textiles, after the patterns were drawn and printed at Place Making. The drawings are based on watercolours and incorporate different printing techniques as well as written notes, typical of my work on paper, in which text and incorporate various printing techniques as well as written notes, typical of my work on paper, in which text and image are both important elements.”

The Half Rhyme series consists of four periods of work and exhibitions with a focus on the commons. Commons, or commons, are shared natural resources such as water, air and land, as well as information resources such as texts, images and programming language. They are accessible to all members of a society. Above all, commons can be seen as a social practice where a resource is not managed by a state or a market, but by a community of users or in this case: artists.

Artists and writers work for three months in Plaatsmaken's graphic studios. As they create editions, there is the possibility of sharing the prints in a collective archive. This is how new commons are created. During their residency at Plaatsmaken, participating artists can use the editions from the archive as starting points for new work. Continuing where another has ended. Work by all participants will be shown in a concluding group exhibition and a publication.

Under the Green was on sight till August 16, 2024

With thanks to Gemeente Arnhem, the Mondriaan Funds and Lira Fonds

Under the Green

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Half Rhyme #3 by Dean Bowen and Bert Scholten

In Memoirs of the Blind: The Self-portrait and Other Ruins, a book about blindness and drawing, writer Derrida at one point wonders whether drawing and writing are not always blind acts. When you put the pen down on paper, the spot between the tip of the pen and the paper is always invisible to the person holding the pen. Only when you move the pen does a trace of visibility appear. It is a poetic way of describing that every medium has a blind spot, it makes things visible and obscures them at the same time, because it is simply not possible to show everything.

Dean Bowen and Bert Scholten both started from the question of whether it is possible to strip a given of its symbolism and thus, in a way, emphasize the blind spot it carries within itself.

Poet Dean Bowen started with the idea of ​​using language as a physical material to work with and in this way to push the meaning of the words, the stanzas and perhaps an entire poem more into the background. He wanted to see letters as geometric shapes instead of carriers of meaning. In this process, Bowen became aware of the fact that language has a masking function. It inevitably leaves things out of consideration and, like any other medium, is unable to reproduce the fullness of reality.

This led to a large work on black fabric that literally blinds part of the space. It provides a glimpse into the world behind a poem, the notepad. The unfiltered ideas that may not all have ended up in the poem are criss-crossed across the canvas.

It corresponds with the other work that is presented. This poem is constantly in motion, because it consists of several pages that can be slid over each other. By placing the stanzas of several poems over each other, under and above each other, a different text is created each time. A poem that is constantly in the making. Through an inventive process of text editing, there is a meaning between the stanzas for a while, only to disappear again a moment later. What remains are raw forms of language that point out the blind spots in our communication in order to seek more connection.

Bert Scholten, musician and artist, used a similar process in his search for two ravens. Initially, he was intrigued by the layered sound of the raven's voice. This does not only consist of the familiar croaking, but also, for example, of the reproduction of sounds of human voices. This search took him to a place outside Amsterdam. Two ravens are said to have nestled somewhere in a high-voltage mast near a power station, an undefined area between the city and the outside world.

While filming and thinking out loud, he wanted to get to know these ravens better. Perhaps he could look beyond the cultural stigmas that the raven carries with it: a symbol for evil, anger and unreliability. Is it possible to represent the ravens in a way that is stripped of this dominant symbolism? Is it possible to see the ravens as ravens?

Instead of drawing the bird itself, Scholten began to record the raven's flight patterns. He superimposed these different versions of patterns to see which new images emerged from them. Between the searching lines, he wrote short sentences and questions that could be seen as a letter to the two birds.

In the exhibition, the artists relate to their medium, their subject and the place and context in which they work in a new way. This multitude of perspectives all come together in the exhibition Ontdoen. 

It was created in the context of the exhibition series Half Rhyme, where collectivity and social practice are central. How can publishing be used to bring people together and thus put political or social issues on the agenda and perhaps even initiate change? It builds on the series Altered Breath and also consists of work periods and exhibitions with a focus on the commons. Commons are shared natural resources such as water, air and land, but also information sources such as texts, images and programming language. They are accessible to all members of a society. But above all, commons can be defined as a social practice in which a resource is not managed by a state or a market, but by a community of users or in this case: artists.

Artists and writers work for three months in the graphic studios of Plaatsmaken. Because they make editions, there is the possibility to share the prints in a collective archive. In this way, new commons are created. During their residency at Plaatsmaken, the participating artists can use the editions from the archive as a starting point for new work. Continuing where another has left off

This exhibition was on sight till May 31, 2024

With thanks to Gemeente Arnhem, the Mondriaan Fund and Lira Fonds

Ontdoen

Screen Recording 2024-05-23 at 13.59.25.mp4

Plaatsmaken is located in the middle of a neighbourhood where a world can be discovered and collected: Klarendal. You could easily make a classic herbarium of it: a collection of dried plants with name, location, date and collector.

It would show a small part of the neighbourhood that is often overlooked. Literal and figurative wallflowers: cheerful appearances in dry, stony surroundings. At the same time, it would cast a glance at the collector and his or her interests. After all, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.

Artists are collectors par excellence: of materials, ideas and stories. Four artists have been invited for the Herbarium exhibition who are interested in the different layers of an environment. For one, this is expressed in the more tangible: in the ground beneath our feet and the greenery with which residents share their domain. For the other, it is more in the spiritual: in the stories in the neighbourhood, the memories and dreams that lie there and in the gods that are worshipped there. The artists have recently gone into the neighbourhood and have taken elements with them to the Plaatsmaken workshops. Tablecloths were blueprinted, stone houses were built in the darkroom, gods were drawn and fabrics were filled with fragments of stories. Here, physical crafts and layers from the neighbourhood found each other in new work.

The result is just like the neighbourhood: multi-coloured, lively, polyphonic, with colourful appearances and here and there a quiet corner and clearly enough space to sit down and watch who and what passes by. Local residents may recognise familiar details from their neighbourhood or discover something special. In turn, people who know Plaatsmaken may walk through their own neighbourhood in a slightly different way. Because that is ultimately what an herbarium is: that piece from the viewer's perspective. An eye for a specific thing that you may have previously passed by. So that the familiar becomes new again, and the new is finally known.

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Workshops April & May

New workshops are planned for April and May.

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Workshops April & May

New workshops are planned for April and May.

Aanmelden Workshops April & May