PrintRoom

Join PrintRoom’s friendly Books Are Bridges Art Book Fest taking place at the clubhouse of Rotterdam’s community garden (SNV). For this occasion, PrintRoom will gather over 30 local and international publishers and artists. The day programme will be filled with outdoor book presentations, workshops for all ages, lively talks, and music. 

Books Are Bridges programme:

12:00 – 12:15 and 17:00 – 17:15 Total Body Workout, by Kexin Hao
13:00 – 16:00 Scroll for Today’s Weather, letterpress and block print workshop for all ages by Paul Gangloff, Chaeyoung Kim, and Czarina Calinawagan
14:00 – 17:00 Print-it, ARTZINES Adventures!, presentation and activation by Antoine Lefebvre and Ronan Deshaies (Objet Papier)
16:00 Dreams to Remember, bbok presentation by Matt Plezier with Moritz Grünke (we make it)

Food: Rowan’s Taxi-Falafel
Music by Ash K

Participating publishers:
Amy Suo Wu (NL), Antoine Levebvre / Artzines & Objet Papier (FR), Archive Everyday Panties & Not Just A Collective (NL), Bebebooks (BE), Bergen Art Book Fair / Pamflett (NO), Biblioteka (UK), Building fictions (NL), Common Imprint (DE/KR), Edition Taube (CH), Fucking Good Art (NL), Good Neighbour (NL), Half Letter Press & Public Collectors (US), Hum Drum Press (NL), Jap Sam (NL), Jesse Presse (NL), This was a project (NL), Lady Liberty Press (AT), Limestone Books (NL), Benjamin Li (NL), Maurice van Es (NL), MonoRhetorik (NL), Terry Bleu (NL), The Eriskay Connection (NL), The Nose (UK), Gloria Glitzer / we make it (DE), Rahel Zoller (UK), PrintRoom (NL), Reading Sideways Press (NL), Sarmad (NL), Soft Concern Hard Concern (NL), Short Pieces That Move (NL), The Everyday Press (UK), Unformed Informed (Publishing) (NL), 51 Personae (CN), and more! 

More information about the Books Are Bridges Publishing Summit:

The Books Are Bridges Art Book Fest is an annual event organised within the scope of the Books Are Bridges Publishing Summit. It was initiated as a small-scale gathering for and with artist publishers and experts in this field.

Through an in-depth exchange spread over three days, the programme includes presentations, workshops, shared meals, and more. By initiating this gathering, PrintRoom intends to contribute to the support system and network that encompasses publishing practices, initiatives, and spaces. Simply put, this meeting is an occasion to spend qualitative time together, connecting genuinely through showing, telling, making, eating, and conversing around a shared passion for artist publishing.

This year’s edition is dedicated to archives for artist publications. Together with kindred spirits
from different generations and cultural backgrounds, we take time to intimately explore our collections, discuss our vernacular archiving methods, and reflect on the questions often accompanying our archival practices: How may the archive remain faithful to the intention of a widespread publication while preserving its fragile content? How do we give access to our archives? How can we support archives that are endangered by political crisis or those operating under a fragile economy whose longevity is no longer guaranteed? Special guests in this programme are Mela Dávila Freire (DE/ES), Sam Kim /Common Imprint (DE/KR),  Hlib Velyhorskyi / Biblioteka Kyiv (UK/UA), Maike Aden (FR), Marc Fischer/ Public Collectors (US), Antoine Lefebvre / Artzines & Objet Papier /Generative Artzines (FR).

The Books are Bridges Summit was first initiated in 2022 by Karin de Jong of PrintRoom and Elenor Vonne Brown of The Nose (and previously X Marks the Bökship, UK). Each programme is developed in close collaboration with the participants. Previous editions were respectively focused on ‘collective practices and art book fairs’ (2022), ‘publishing platforms and networks of care’ (2023), and ‘spaces for artist publication’ (2024).

The title Books Are Bridges was inspired by the work of Claudia de la Torre (backbonebooks, Berlin). The flyer was designed by José Quintanar.

PrintRoom zoekt een zakelijk leider (x, v, m)

PrintRoom is een hotspot voor artist publishing in Rotterdam, met een presentatieruimte, een Reading Room, een archief, een shop en een Risowerkplaats voor het maken van publicaties. Vanuit het motto Do-it-Yourself-Together stimuleren we de productie en verspreiding van kunstenaarsboeken, zines en experimentele publicaties.

PrintRoom werkt lokaal en internationaal en organiseert tentoonstellingen, lezingen, workshops, boekpresentaties, performances en een publisher in Residence programma. Daarnaast nemen we deel aan internationale Art Book Fairs en events. Jaarlijks hoogtepunt is de Books Are Bridges* Summit met aansluitend de BAB Art Book Fest. Met het Books Are Bridges programma zet PrintRoom publishing in als een breed toegankelijk, alledaags medium dat diverse groepen makers en publieken met elkaar verbindt.  

Wie zoeken wij?

PrintRoom is op zoek naar een betrokken en daadkrachtige zakelijk leider die samen met de artistiek directeur vorm geeft aan het beleid en de verdere professionalisering van de organisatie. Je werkt zelfstandig en nauw samen met het team en het bestuur.

Wat ga je doen?

• je houdt grip op de zakelijke kant van de organisatie: (deel)begrotingen, jaarrekeningen, subsidieaanvragen en -verantwoordingen
• Je houdt je bezig met de bestuurlijke kant van de organisatie. Zoals: het voldoen aan governance-gerelateerde eisen en culturele codes.
• je legt zakelijk verantwoording af aan het bestuur en bereidt samen met de artistiek directeur de bestuursvergaderingen voor
• je stelt overeenkomsten op met onder andere werknemers, vrijwilligers en met deelnemers
• je ziet kansen en benut mogelijkheden op het gebied van acquisitie en verkoop en levert een bijdrage aan het ontwikkelen van het marketing- en publiciteitsbeleid 
• je hebt de opdracht om PrintRoom dit jaar te laten voldoen aan de eisen behorend bij het opheffen van het handhavingsmoratorium op de wet DBA

Wat vragen wij van jou?

• aantoonbare ervaring op financieel, administratief en organisatorisch vlak
• bekendheid met subsidieaanvragen, fondsenwerving en financiële verantwoording
• ervaring met het opstellen en bewaken van begrotingen, en het lezen van jaarrekeningen en balansen
• flexibel en communicatief vaardig
• sterke affiniteit met de missie en activiteiten van PrintRoom
• kennis van de (Rotterdamse) culturele sector

Wat bieden we jou?

Een aanstelling op zzp-basis in een klein, betrokken team met een informele sfeer. De werkdagen/uren gaan in overleg met de artistiek directeur. De ingeschatte werkbelasting is gemiddeld ongeveer 6 – 8 uur per week, 45 weken per jaar met piek- en dalmomenten. Het honorarium is afhankelijk van kennis en ervaring. We volgen hierin de richtlijnen van De Zaak Nu. In deze functie werk je samen met een creatief team met een internationaal netwerk waarin diversiteit vanzelfsprekend en welkom is. Er is ruimte voor eigen initiatief en je kunt meebouwen aan een dynamische organisatie die zich voortdurend ontwikkelt.

Heb je zin om met ons aan de slag te gaan? Stuur je cv en korte motivatie naar de artistiek directeur Karin de Jong: info@printroom.org. Deze vacature staat open tot we een geschikte kandidaat hebben gevonden.

*Books Are Bridges is de titel van een project van Claudia de la Torre, Publisher in Residence in 2022.

We’re excited to present the Risograph and book specialists we make it from Berlin for an exhibition of their Herbarium Riso and to celebrate two new books that they published in close collaboration with the artists. Join us for the opening with talks and a deep listening session!

Refreshments will be served.

The next day we’ll get together in the new Riso space for the Radical sticker publishing workshop, more information below.

Friday 9th May: Herbarium Riso and book presentations
Doors open at 18:00
The programme starts at 18:30 and finishes at 20:00.

 – Presentation: Archive to survive — DIY archiving of stencil-printed matters Herbarium Riso exhibition, opening with Moritz Grünke (Gloria Glitzer & we make it, Berlin)

– Launch: Stick(er) it to the Man, A Radical Form of Publishing and the (re)claiming of public space, by Matt Plezier

– Launch: Beneath The Surface: Deep Listening, Buried Narratives, and Embodied Resistance, by Luïza Luz, published by Archive Books & we make it, Berlin

Herbarium Riso
Herbarium Riso is a public archive and research project on risography and stencil printed matters like (artists’) publications, records, zines, ephemera or color charts based in Berlin.

»The Herbarium Riso confronts us with the roots of the self-publishing. The urge for self-enactment, visibility, accessibility and democratization of art and information. But also the low and no budgets, and the need for accessible machines and processes. And how limitations (e. g. space) leads to the consequence to use the stencil printer as the choice of reproduction.

For us, the Herbarium Riso is a political act that is linked to a clear mission. The collection manifests the intention to bring together aesthetic, artistic and political publications, but also to give vulnerable positions a place of presence and endurance.« — Gloria Glitzer

Herbarium Riso will be on show until 7 June 2025

This is the first presentation of the series “Vernacular Archives” on “archives of artist publishing” at PrintRoom, in the frame of the Books Are Bridges Publishing Summit. This year’s edition will transport its audience through various archives focusing on artist publications. Together with kindred spirits, we want to intimately explore our collections, discuss our vernacular archiving methods, and reflect on the questions often accompanying our archival practices.

Stick(er) it to the man
A Radical Form of Publishing and the (re)claiming of public space
Stickers in the urban landscape engage with public spaces in a direct manner. Public space is integral to people’s ability to express and claim the right to the city, “not merely a right of access to what already exists, but a right to change it after our heart’s desire” (David Harvey, 2003). Stickers are ideal for this task, they are cheap to make, they stick to any surface and are hard to clean. Many protest stickers are attempts to persuade, to bring attention to urgent themes, or are a form of territorial space-claiming. Whatever the goal, stickers participate in public debates, transforming the public space into a bulletin board.


Beneath the Surface
In a world where noise and silence perpetuate cycles of oppression and ecological destruction, Beneath the Surface invites us to pause, listen deeply, and use our voices to reclaim buried stories. This composition presents a radical approach to knowledge production, emphasizing embodied resistance as a crucial means of emancipation. Luïza Luz guides us in a deep listening session.

Saturday 10th May
14:00 – 17:00

Radical sticker publishing workshop by Moritz Grünke and Matt Plezier

To introduce the workshop Matt Plezier will present his Sticker Manifesto and he and Moritz Grünke will showcase their collections. After this presentation Matt and Moritz will introduce simple tools for easily creating and reproducing stickers. Together with the participants they will then use the RISO machine to print people’s own designs. At the end, everyone will receive a handful of stickers to take home.

Costs: 40 euro or pay what you can
To sign up for the workshop, please send an email to: printroomnl@gmail.com
PrintRoom
Van Speykstraat, 121*
Rotterdam
@printroom_rtm

*New address! Located around the corner from the old space.

flyer by Dongyoung Lee

Wednesday 16th April
16.00 – 18.00

Life with Fifi
Fifi, a Pomeranian-Chihuahua mix, came into the lives of Angelica and Kris a few years ago. Taking care of a puppy is taking responsibility for building their world and letting the small animal transform yours. As her human caretakers, we created Fifi’s world with toys, cuddles, rules, snacks, and walks in the park. In return, she transformed our world by bringing our community together and reminding us of the importance of caring for one another. In this book, we narrate a day in the life of Fifi, from the moment she wakes up to when she falls asleep at night. Along the way, we share how we connect with her, how we see her understanding her surroundings and what she has taught us about companionship.

Published by _BÖKS,
Edition of 350

Authors: Kris Dittel, Angelica Falkeling
Copy-editor: Clem Edwards
Design: Amy Suo Wu
Photography: Lili Huston-Hertreich

(english version below)

10:00 – 16:00 (A perfect day) workshop: kom en maak, schrijf, teken & druk
een blad over het alledaagse

17:00-19:00 Freinet Techniques – Boekpresentatie door Paul Gangloff (in het Engels)

PrintRoom
Van Speykstraat 121, Rotterdam
-> nieuwe locatie! <-

10:00 – 16:00 (A perfect day)

De dagbladen hebben het over alles behalve het dagelijkse. Georges Perec, Nader tot wat, 1973

Deze workshop nodigt je uit om woorden te vinden om te beschrijven wat je elke dag doet. Je drukt met een Freinet pers die speciaal voor kinderen ontwikkeld is. Het resultaat is een geïllustreerde krant gedrukt in een kleine oplage. De workshop is bedoeld voor kinderen die kunnen lezen en voor volwassenen.
Er is plaats voor 10 tot 12 deelnemers. Schrijf je in via email: info@printroom.org, of kom even langs bij PrintRoom voor 5 april.

17:00-19:00 Freinettechnieken
Boek presentatie (in het Engels)

Sinds Élise en Célestin Freinet in 1924 lettertypes en een drukpers in hun klaslokaal brachten, zijn er duizenden klassenkranten geschreven, gezet en gedrukt door kinderen die leerden lezen en schrijven met de ‘Freinet-technieken’. Het maken van deze krantjes gaf vorm aan een visuele taal die een emancipatorische visie op onderwijs verspreidde via een internationaal netwerk van scholen. Het boek Freinettechnieken verzamelt reproducties van deze kranten met hun vertalingen. Ze gaan vergezeld van essays van grafisch ontwerper César Roger, kunstenaar Marie Preston en samensteller Paul Gangloff.

Paul Gangloff werkt als grafisch ontwerper en doceert aan de Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. Hij heeft boeken gemaakt over onderwerpen als punkzines (Punk: Periodical Collection, 2012), de toekomst van het boek (Our Form of Book, 2016) en het lettristische concept van hypergrafie (Rules of Hypergraphy, 2014).

Freinet Techniques (Rollo Press, 2024) is een van de Most Beautiful Swiss Books van 2024. Het is mede mogelijk gemaakt door het Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie NL en het Centre national des arts plastiques.

10:00 – 16:00 (A perfect day) Workshop: come make, write, illustrate & print a paper about the daily

17:00-19:00 Freinet Techniques – Book presentation by Paul Gangloff

PrintRoom
Van Speykstraat 121, Rotterdam
-> new location! <-

The daily newspapers talk of everything except the daily. Georges Perec, Approach of What?, 1973

This workshop invites you to find words to describe what you do every day. You will print using a Freinet letterpress developed especially for children. The outcome will be an illustrated paper in a small edition. The workshop is meant for children who can read as well as for adults. There is room for 10 to 12 participants.
Sign up by email info@printroom.org or pass by PrintRoom shortly before April 5th.

17:00-19:00 Freinet Techniques Book presentation

Since Élise and Célestin Freinet brought type and a printing press into their classroom in 1924, thousands of school magazines were written, typeset and printed by children learning to read and write with the ‘Freinet techniques.’ Making these magazines gave form 

to a visual language spreading an emancipatory vision on education through an international network of schools. The book Freinet Techniques assembles reproductions from these school magazines with their translations. They are accompanied by essays by

graphic designer César Roger, artist Marie Preston and editor Paul Gangloff.

Paul Gangloff works as graphic designer and teaches at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. He has made books on subjects such as punkzines (Punk: Periodical Collection, 2012), the future of the book (Our Form of Book, 2016) and the Lettrist concept of hypergraphy (Rules of Hypergraphy, 2014).

Photo: Guus Kaandorp

Design Academy Eindhoven X PrintRoom

Join us on Friday 21 March at 17.00 for the launch of a collective publication by first year students of MA Critical Inquiry Lab, Design Academy Eindhoven. The publication ‘To hold the world under our tongue’ brings together critical texts that examine infrastructures in an expansive way and is guided by theory tutor Danae Io. The publication features contributions by Justin Ackerschott, Adam Białek, Jason-Albert Degleris,Emilia Doohan, Gary Duvernay, Elena Grippo, Emma Itria, Elizabeth Kruse, Léontine Maniak, Bianca Maria Negrini, Juliët Nijland, Sasha Ricci Rovatti and Gittit Shwartz.

Design flyer: Cengiz Menguç

PrintRoom makes space among the bookshelves for artist Grazia Gallo, who will install a pop-up hair salon centered around the simple yet intimate act of haircutting and the conversations that grow during the process. 

In the mean time, you can use our drawing and writing tools to visualise, describe and design your favourite hairstyle. You can work with postcard templates designed by artist and illustrator Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva. 

Self-acclaimed Stencil King Erwin Blok will complete this vibrant set-up by guiding us into the analogue stencil-printing technique using his old-school Gestetner machines, a type of stencil duplicator or mimeograph. 

With your contributions we’ll print a collective La Grazieria zine! 

This event will be an opportunity to connect through storytelling, creativity, and play. Our zine will capture the voices and experiences of the night.

You can expect a fresh haircut, a draw-write-and stencil-print session and a lively conversation with someone you have yet to meet! 

More information:

Grazia Gallo is a visual artist, hairdresser, and researcher. Her practice revolves around themes of home in relation to migration, nostalgia, working-class identity, and social housing architecture. Through environments created with found objects, textiles, ceramics, and other materials, she invites viewers to step into spaces where her personal memories serve as portals to reimagine and build new worlds.

Erwin Blok collects Gestetner stencil machines, restores them and works with them extensively. With great pleasure he experiments with the possibilities of the beautiful devices. Blok gives workshops all over the world to artists, graphic designers and other interested parties

Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva works between fine art and illustration. She works both as an editorial, commercial illustrator for publishing houses around the world, and as an independent artist for galleries and museums. PrintRoom published several artist publications with Masha in the past years.

PrintRoom’s programme is kindly supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL and the City of Rotterdam. This project was made possible by CBK Rotterdam.

Join us for the launch of Leesmap #2!

Saturday 1 February from 16:00 – 19:00

An afternoon of talks and presentations by artists and publishers.
~ We’ll welcome you with drinks, a spicy soup and a Leesmap special edition quince pie by one of our collaborators ~ 
We look forward to celebrating with you!

We’re bringing together long-time and new publishing friends in a unique collective publication project: Leesmap. This playful and experimental publication gathers a variety of artist (maga)zines and will be distributed to a wide range of unexpected places: from hairdressers’ or dentists’ waiting room to art spaces, laundromats, libraries, and maybe even your own living room!

More information

Leesmap is inspired by the traditional Dutch ‘leesmap’—a folder with mainstream magazines, popular in the ‘70s and ‘80s. ‘Leesmap’ was (and still is) a way for people to access tabloids or erotica that one would hesitate to buy in a shop. Traditionally, the magazines would be delivered in an anonymous cover and held in a nondescript folder, which would then travel from household to household. By revisiting this concept, PrintRoom’s Leesmap explores an alternative model for the distribution of artist publishing.

Leesmap #2 features a wide array of (maga)zines, each exploring a different take on popular periodicals: a women’s zine, a children’s zine, a well-being zine, a parenthood zine, a DIY zine, a pastime zine, and even a yellow pages zine!

Contributing artists and publishers include:
Moosje M. Goosen & Ian Whittlesea | Loraine Furter & Moustapha Mouss Guissé | Kexin Hao, Kimberley Cosmilla, Sandy Christ & Sophie Douala | Jan Steinbach | Martín La Roche, Catarina Real & DongYoung Lee | Miek Zwamborn, Rutger Emmelkamp, Seth Crook, Bronwen Jones, Agathe Gabrielle Delaite & Nicole Martens | The Anarchist Citizenship & Kinsi Abdulleh | Hugo Rocci & José Quintanar.

The program is kindly supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL and the City of Rotterdam. Leesmap was made possible by The Cultuurfonds and Pictoright Fonds.

PrintRoom takes a break until 12 January. In the mean time, we’re finishing the next Leesmap AND we are preparing a new location for the Riso Lab and the Reading Room & shop. Stay tuned!!

On 14 December from 11.00 – 20.00 PrintRoom joins ‘Breaking even! Art Book Fair’ at the Rijksakademie.

For one day, the building will be filled with booths from more than 40 alumni, residents and special guests, showing and selling self-made publications, prints, posters, records, cassettes, and unexpected publication formats. The day includes a full programme of talks, performances, workshops and sound-based presentations. ⁣

Participants: Ali Eslami, Archie Hyde, Avril Corroon, Benjamin Li, Bram Faber, Chathuri Nissansala, Chad Cordeiro, Cole Verhoeven, Dark Editions by Danielle van Ark, DIABP (Dutch Independent Art Book Publishers), Dirk Kome, Evi Vingerling, Erik Tlaseca / crater invertido, Errant Journal ft. Roots to Fruits, Framer Framed, Fransisca Angela (Terang), Hackers & Designers, Hannah Rose Whittle, Het Generiek (Bert Scholten & Michiel Klein), it is part of an ensemble, Jeremiah Day, Josje Peters, Kagul, Lili Huston-Herterich, Learning Palestine, lisa barnard, Marijn van Kreij, Marika Asatiani, Marjo Postma, Meeting in the blue fold, Miklos Gaál, Nestor Siré, Oorbeek, PrintRoom, Raymond Cuijpers, Reading Sideways Press, Reading Vigil for Palestine, Reyhan Lál, Rijksakademie Social Practice, Ro Buur, Rooms of Now books (Maurice van Es), Self Publishers United, Set Margins’, Serge Onnen, Silke Silkeborg, Silvia Gatti, Sookoon Ang and Vincent Olinet, Taylor Le Melle, Terang (Fransisca Angela), Ton Martens, Ursula Meltzer, Ute Janssen, Varia, Weaving Realities (Aldo Esparza Ramos), Zeynep Kayan and more.