Arnhem Stadsatelier is a collaboration between four Arnhem-based cultural organizations: Theater a/d Rijn, Plaatsmaken, ArtEZ University of the Arts, and The HUB. The goal of this partnership is to make the Arnhem art scene more diverse and accessible, for both artists and the public. New ways of collaborating between art, the public, and society are central to this project.

In the Arnhems Stadsatelier project, working periods are organized in which artists are given the space to conduct artistic research at various locations in Arnhem and share this with the city. There is one long-term trajectory, the city residency. This year it is visual artist Frank Koolen. He has been selected to carry out research connected to the city of Arnhem. In addition, six short residencies are organized, in which emerging artists are given room to experiment, gain experience, further develop their skills, and share their work with the public. They receive support from the collaborating organizations.

At Plaatsmaken, artists are given space to experiment in graphic workshops and the exhibition space. Theater aan de Rijn provides a stage and helps reach an appropriate audience. ArtEZ offers support through the online platform APRIA, guidance with research questions, and connections with programs and students. The Hub connects students, autodidacts, and alumni, and helps residents take their first steps into the professional cultural field.

The city resident of 2026 is artist, teacher, workshop leader, and organizer Frank Koolen. He creates installations, videos, performances, drawings, and sculptures. Frank enjoys making work for and with others and likes to share the joy he himself experiences in art. He believes that art does not have to be anything in particular, but that it can be a beautiful starting point for social change or a different kind of awareness. His main driving force is his enthusiasm for the creative process as an engine for an open and empathetic perspective. Important ingredients for Frank include the use of humor, disruption, and improvisation. In FIASCO TOTAAL, Frank Koolen’s research project, the creative process as a driving force for play, dialogue, and new discoveries takes center stage. It is a dynamic, experimental, and playful exploration of the methods and effects of collectivity, “working together,” and collaboration, in which the process and the shared experience are central. In 2025, Frank Koolen began his city residency at art space OMSTAND in Arnhem.

Throughout the year, six emerging artists are given space to experiment at Plaatsmaken and Theater aan de Rijn. Updates on public activities can be found on the partners’ websites. The outcomes of the research will be presented at various locations across the city. At the end of 2025, several presentations and workshops by Koolen took place at Omstand.

Arnhems Stadsatelier is made possible by the Municipality of Arnhem.

In 2024, social theatre maker Abhishek Thapar was the city's resident artist. His research focused on invisible kitchen workers in the hospitality industry. His project, Lacuna Kitchen, focused on bringing together theatre, gastronomy, community building, and social activism. In addition, emerging theatre makers Ro Smit, Mel Kikkert, Levi Overvest, and Charlotte Gillain developed their practice at Plaatsmaken and Theater a/d Rijn. Their work focused on social themes. The results of their residencies were presented in exhibitions, performances, and workshops.

Read more about the previous edition here.

Arnhems Stadsatelier 2026

On Friday, February 27, we will open the exhibition Amice (Collega) by Klaas Gubbels.

Since its founding, Plaatsmaken has maintained a warm friendship with Klaas Gubbels. He has taken part in many projects, and to this day his large woodcuts are still printed in-house with us. We are therefore very pleased to announce a special exhibition, presented as an interruption to our ongoing artistic program.

In 1956, Klaas took a photograph of the graves of Theo and Vincent van Gogh. Now, 70 years later, he had a silkscreen print made - at Plaatsmaken - from this image, as the image deeply moved him. For two weeks, we will present only this new silkscreen print.

The exhibition will be opened on Friday, February 27 at 4:00 PM by Willem van Gogh.

Opening | February 27 at 4:00 PM
On view | February 27 through March 14


Previously, we made a documentary about Klaas Gubbels as part of the Oogmerk series, our long-running collection of film portraits of artists from Gelderland. You can watch it here.
You can find more works by Klaas Gubbels in our webshop.

Klaas Gubbels | Amice (Collega)

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

Image: Mel Kikkert photographed by Lisa Kraaijeveld 

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

On Saturday, February 21, we will close the Ploegendienst 5 exhibition with a teach-in by Rizqita Naherta and Nabila Ernada.

During this closing teach-in (out), Rizqita Naherta will activate their installation 'Merawat Api dari Penyihir-Penyihir Militan Kami – Nurturing the Fire of Our Militant Witches' for the second time. Rizqita created this installation during their working period at Plaatsmaken, as part of the H0ha program. The exhibition is on view until Saturday, February 21.

For this second pedagogical activation Rizqita has invited Nabila Ernada to discuss her newest publication “Out of Sight”, in which she examines the interconnection between state-control media and gender surveillance with reproductive autonomy in Indonesia, as she traces back archives from colonial governance to Suharto’s New Order regime and today’s digital infrastructure. 

“Through feminist and hidden networks, the work reveals how resistance endures through invisibility, misdirection, and coded care.”

You can book a spot through the sign up button on this page.

When | Saturday, Februari 21st from 14:30 - 16:30h
Location | Plaatsmaken
Access | Free

Nabila Ernada (She/Her) is a design researcher and media artist based in Rotterdam. Her work looks at the crossover between surveillance and resistance, examining how media and technological systems help shape visibility, legality, and the body–with a strong focus on Indonesian histories and Dutch colonial past. She works with text, film, and installation, using a feminist perspective to reflect on sound, archives, and bureaucratic systems. Nabila has studied Media Studies and Social Design at Universitas Indonesia and Design Academy Eindhoven.

Rizqita Naherta is a cultural worker, organiser, and archivist-researcher working collaboratively to nurture archival knowledge of Indonesian queer-marginalized communities and women’s resistance movements that are prone to be forgotten, misapprehended, and lost. Their practice manifests in the assemblage of various living archives built from old scattered media and the stories told in the everyday. Giving homage to their elders that came before them, and recirculating their spirit in the contemporary to counter historical amnesia.

Teach-in: 'Nurturing the fire of our militant witches'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Abonnement op Zevenblad (jaarlijks 2 exemplaren):
- €27,50 (incl. verzending) per jaar

Zevenblad

Asian Movie Night is coming back to Plaatsmaken with a puppeteering workshop and a short Asian horror film programme.

SHAPES OF FEAR
B-Movie Oddities and Experimental Asian Horror 

Shapes of Fear brings together Asian B-movies, cult oddities, and experimental horror that explore the strange shapes of fear. The program features two Japanese double bills alongside a selection of Asian horror shorts from East and Southeast Asia. From Malay folklore and the Pontianak to cyberpunk body-horror, these films twist genre conventions as bodies mutate, the everyday turns uncanny, and terror slips into laughter.

Rooted in the unruly spirit of the B-movie, these works embrace chaos, camp, and visible seams, revealing cinema as an act of creative rebellion. Horror is at its most compelling when it reveals its own construction. 

Prior to the film program, there will be a puppeteering workshop. This accessible workshop offers an introduction to shadow puppetry and animation. You will bring your own creation to life through simple stop-motion animation exercises.

You can choose to attend both the workshop and the film program, or only the film program.

18:00 – 19:30 | Puppeteering workshop
19:30 – 20:00 | Break with soup
20:00 – 20:05 | Film introduction
20:05 – 21:00 | Shapes of Fear: B-Movie Oddities and Experimental Asian Horror

Tickets via this link . After you sign up, you will receive a payment link.

Ms. Pontianak
Alina Wong | 2021 | 22’ | Malaysia | Malay/English w/ English subtitles 

Ms. Pontianak is a mockumentary-style portrait of a Malaysian actress famous for playing the “pontianak”, a vengeful ghost from Malay folklore. As she questions the triviality of her career the film explores how women and folklore intersect in Southeast Asian horror cinema blending humor and critical reflection.

Asian Girls
Hyun Lee | 2018 | 6’ | Australia | No spoken language

Asian Girls follows Chan, a Chinese factory worker who lives alone. Every night, she suffers from horrific nightmares involving the Japanese office worker who lives in the apartment next door. Apart from mumbled greetings in the hallway they keep to themselves yet every night they appear in one another's nightmares.

Part Forever
Alan Ou Chung-An | 2021 | 13’ | Taiwan | Chinese w/ English subtitles

Part Forever is an atmospheric horror set during a funeral vigil. What begins as a traditional mourning ceremony becomes increasingly unsettling as dark family secrets surface under the candlelit calm. The film transforms a familiar cultural ritual into a site of fear and an emotional exploration of grief, memory and the unsettling truths families attempt to bury.

Deborah Devyn Chuang | 2024 | 22’ | Taiwan | Chinese w/ English subtitle

Strawberry Shortcake centers on 16 year old Lolo whose relationship with her mother becomes a surreal and unsettling Freudian loop. What begins as a seemingly ordinary family moment grows increasingly disturbing as fantasy and reality bleed into each other with a strawberry cake at the center of a dreamlike spiral. The film explores the boundaries between childhood innocence and murky subconscious desires in this transgressive short.

Trigger warning: This film contains sexual and incestuous themes. Viewer discretion is advised.

The workshop offers an accessible introduction to shadow puppetry and animation. Participants will bring their creations to life through simple stop-motion animation exercises. Participants imagine a creature and collectively draw it onto paper. We examine how the puppets move, how different joints create different movements and are made for different characters. The drawings are translated into separate puppet components and assembled into fully functioning shadow puppets with which a short stop-motion video will be created.

Ghazale Moqanaki is a multidisciplinary artist living in the Hague, the Netherlands. She grew up among sounds, objects, and spaces translated through myths and stories, later creating her own stories about objects to feel closer to them. Objects then became her puppets, her music and her thoughts. Ghazale obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Classical Iranian music performance from University of Tehran and graduated in Artistic Research (MFA) at Royal Academy of Art, the Hague, Netherlands. She has shown her work in the Netherlands and Ireland. Alongside, she has performed in art venues like Kunstinstituut Melly, Studio150 in Amsterdam, and the Oerol festival in Terschelling.

Marieke Peeters is a visual artist and curator based in The Hague, the Netherlands. She creates immersive installations, sculptures, and films that combine material research with performance. Her recent work has focused on the obake yashiki, the Japanese haunted house attraction exploring how fear can become a catalyst for connection and reflection. 

Asian Movie Night (AMN) is a diasporic film platform in the Netherlands. It was founded in direct response to the structural lack of Asian representation in the Dutch cultural sector. AMN brings radically different stories and aesthetics to a wide audience, in collaboration with various cultural institutions. With an interdisciplinary approach that brings together film, visual art, design, and conversations, AMN challenges the notion of "Asianness" by breaking down national boundaries and fixed identities.

Asian Movie Night

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!

The annual event Uitnacht Arnhem takes place on Friday, January 30th. We have a fantastic program again this year. City resident Frank Koolen will present Klei Café 'Just Friends' at Plaatsmaken.

During the two weeks around the Uitnacht, artworks from our depot will also be on display in various shops in Klarendal.

Get to know Frank Koolen's work during Uitnacht Arnhem (Cultural Night Arnhem). Between 16:00-20:00, you can come to create, participate, and exchange ideas!

In 2026, artist, teacher, workshop leader, and organizer Frank Koolen will be a city resident in Arnhem. He creates installations, videos, performances, drawings, and sculptures.

During Uitnacht, you can discover his project FIASCO TOTAAL at Plaatsmaken. Frank enjoys creating work for and with others and wants to share the joy he experiences in art with others. He believes that art in itself shouldn't be anything, but that it can serve as a beautiful starting point for social change or a different consciousness. His main motivation is his enthusiasm for the creative process as a catalyst for an open and empathetic perspective. Key ingredients for Frank are the use of humor, disruption, and improvisation.

In FIASCO TOTAAL, Frank Koolen's research, the creative process is central as a driving force for play, conversation, and new discoveries. It is a dynamic, experimental, and playful investigation into the ways and effects of collectivity, collaboration, and cooperation, in which the process and shared experience are key. The research findings will be presented at various locations, including Plaatsmaken and Omstand. The project consists of several components: STUDIO FIASCO, CIRCUS FIASCO, and FIASCO TOTAL.

The Arnhem City Atelier is a collaboration between Plaatsmaken, Theater aan de Rijn, ArtEZ, and The Hub. Frank Koolen began his residency at OMSTAND at the end of 2025. The project is made possible by the Municipality of Arnhem.

In addition, Het Modekwartier (Fashion Quater), in collaboration with Plaatsmaken, is presenting an art route through the Klarendal neighborhood during Uitnacht Arnhem. For two weeks, you can admire gems from the Plaatsmaken archive at various locations throughout the neighborhood. Be surprised by both the artworks and the businesses in Klarendal. The editions are made by various artists, all created in Plaatsmaken's workshops. The works can be seen from January 23rd to February 6th at participating locations in the neighborhood.

You can also see the results of the work of Ploegendienst 4 during the Uitnacht at Plaatsmaken.

Uitnacht Arnhem

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:

Sunday Feb 22 | Workshop Darkroom (analog photography & film developing)
Saturday March 28 | Workshop Screen printing
Sunday April 12 | Workshop pinhole photography
Saturday June 6 | Workshop Screen printing

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

New workshops!

For Windmill de Kroon in Klarendal, Hospitalityclub, in collaboration with Plaatsmaken, realized a large-scale art project in which they designed new sail cloths for the mill. On Saturday February 7th, these cloths will be presented during the 'Warme Winterroute' (Warm Winter Route).

The project was carried out in close collaboration with children from various primary schools in Arnhem and with the mill’s volunteers. During a series of workshops, participants worked on patterns, drawings, and visual elements that together formed the basis for the designs on the sails. Using printing techniques, stencils, and textile experiments, these images were translated onto large cloths, which were then mounted on the mill’s sails.

The cloths for Molen de Kroon are not only a visual artwork, but also emphasize the importance of shared ownership and mutual connection within Arnhem. The sails create a vivid contrast between past and present. They are infused with symbols and patterns that not only reflect the history of the neighborhood, but also the contemporary influences of its residents—from the bat that uses the area as its habitat to children’s drawings inspired by popular memes. The designs are a tribute to the way the current generation interprets and transforms the world around them. This artwork offers a place where old traditions meet new imaginations, and where the mill forms a bridge between past and present, between the voices of then and now.

Presentation | Saturday, 7 February, between 11:00 and 16:00, during the Warme Winterroute in Klarendal
Location | Molen de Kroon (next to Plaatsmaken)

Hospitalityclub is an artist collective and an ongoing project, born out of the need to collaborate and to share, arising from both joy and despair about our shared living environment.

The collective was founded by Krista Burger, Mirka Farabegoli, and Kenneth Letsoin and has been working for more than ten years, in changing constellations, on collaborative projects.

Hospitalityclub creates work in the public realm, where autonomous artistic practice and collective making processes come together. The projects emerge from a shared sense of urgency and engagement with the living environment, and explore how art, born from togetherness, can help cross societal boundaries and create space for shared stories and experiences. At the core of the working method is an egalitarian collaboration with a wide range of participants: visitors, students, local residents, and volunteers. Professional expertise is not the guiding principle; instead, the value of the work arises from the unique insights each participant brings. Through this open approach, the boundaries between maker and viewer become blurred, and collective ownership of the final result emerges.

The works range from printed matter and flags to installations and murals, often made using (reused) materials found on site. Hospitalityclub operates at the intersection of socially engaged practices and contemporary visual art, without separating the two. The work can be presented both in public space and within the context of the art world.

Alongside their autonomous practice, Krista Burger and Mirka Farabegoli develop educational projects in which artistic research and knowledge transfer come together in a natural way. This cross-pollination forms an important foundation of Hospitalityclub: learning through making, in and with one’s own living environment, with attention to equality, collectivity, and shared ownership.

Arnhem Draait Door | Windmill de Kroon

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.Onderdeel van het programma H0Ha, gecureerd door collectief Sunflower Soup voor Plaatsmaken, Arnhem.

Now showing | Ploegendienst 4

Plaatsmaken is closed for the holidays between December 17 and January 5.

During our Christmas holiday, we will be closing our doors. We are preparing for a new year full of experimentation, art, activism, and other wonderful projects! We look forward to welcoming you back on Monday, January 5.

TIP
To visit during the holiday: STUDIO FIASCO at OMSTAND

On view from December 13, 2025 through January 11, 2026.
Open to the public every Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM.

Plaatsmaken is closed

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

In collaboration with the BEAR (Fine Art) department at ArtEZ, 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 in the showcase from January 9th: People on the Street, by Chenxin Feng

De Uitspraak

Plaatsmaken supports the cultural boycott of Israel.
Dutch and Belgian artists and institutions have united in a collective boycott of Israel, as they no longer wish to stand by in the face of these atrocities.

They speak out for the freedom of Palestine and against the genocide that is being ignored by so many governments. The signatories will no longer participate in art projects funded by the Israeli government (or complicit institutions), nor will they enter into new collaborations with such parties.
They also refuse to take part in initiatives that treat Israeli and Palestinian perspectives as "equal" without addressing the history of oppression and injustice. Exempt from the boycott are organizations that are not complicit in violations of international law and that have unequivocally spoken out against the genocide, the occupation (legally declared illegal), and apartheid.

The boycott is explicitly not directed at individuals or their backgrounds—this includes Jewish people or Israelis as such—but at the complicity of Israeli institutions and companies in human rights violations against Palestinians.

Join the boycott: cultureleboycotisrael.nu

Cultural Boycott Israël

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

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

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

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

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

https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1yf4nRjbTtg8XLxEY3vXX0ALpQAznVyo&ehbc=2E312F

Photo credits: Harmen Liemburg / Django van Ardenne

Utility boxes designed by Harmen Liemburg

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

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

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

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

Watch the film from which the images come here.

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

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

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

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

Zevenblad #9

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

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

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

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

Program Autumn Gather Together (all events are free)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

With thanks to the Mondriaanfonds and the Municipality of Arnhem.

Autumn Gather Together

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

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

Ploegendienst 2 | Periphery Center & Girls Like Us
Working period: April/May/June 2025
Summer Gather Together: 21 - 29 June 2025
Open to visit: 30 June - 5 September 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*bell hooks, “Marginality as site of resistance”

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

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

Now showing | Ploegendienst 2

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

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

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

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

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

Periphery Center is an emerging collective for artistic practice and shared study. Here, we center the margin as the main site for the production of a counter hegemonic discourse that is not just found in words but in habits of being and in the way one lives.* Here, we meet to inspire one another and co-create the reality we dream of through bookmaking, (graphic) design, publishing, curating, art and writing. Periphery Center is based in Rotterdam and consists of Leana Boven, Pelumi Adejumo, Yusser Al Obaidi, Jeanine van Berkel en Yessica Deira.

This workshop is part of the Herfstsamenscholing.

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Teach-in: 'Nurturing the fire of our militant witches'

On Saturday, February 21, we will close the Ploegendienst 5 exhibition with a teach-in by Rizqita Naherta and Nabila Ernada.

Back

Teach-in: 'Nurturing the fire of our militant witches'

On Saturday, February 21, we will close the Ploegendienst 5 exhibition with a teach-in by Rizqita Naherta and Nabila Ernada.

Aanmelden Teach-in: 'Nurturing the fire of our militant witches'