Simulacrum

12/12/2024

Introducing our limited edition MYSTERY PACKAGE—a hand-picked collection of four archival issues for €10.

Each bundle features a unique mix of iconic and rare archival pieces.

These limited edition issues are available for a limited time. You can find yours now via the link in bio.

26/11/2024

OPEN CALL: REPETITION / HERHALING

Repetition shapes our lives, history and art—sometimes it carries an oppressive charge, and sometimes it is transformative. As Deleuze argues, repetition is not mere replication but a force that produces new meaning and potential. Simulacrum Magazine invites writers and artists to explore this multifaceted theme for our upcoming issue, Repetition.

Submit your daring textual or visual interpretations by December 19th, 2024.

Find more information via the link in our bio.

- Dutch -

Repetitie geeft vorm aan ons leven, onze geschiedenis en onze kunst—soms heeft het een ondertoon van onderdrukking, en soms van transformatie. Zoals Deleuze stelt, is herhaling niet alleen hetzelfde als replicatie, het gaat ook om een productief fenomeen waarbij nieuwe betekenis en mogelijkheden tot stand worden gebracht. Simulacrum Magazine nodigt schrijvers en kunstenaars uit om dit veelzijdige thema te verkennen in ons nieuwe nummer, Repetitie.

Stuur je tekstuele of visuele interpretaties in vóór 19 december 2024.

Zie de link in onze bio voor meer informatie.

22/11/2024

TOUCH

What if we think through our fingertips and grant tangibility and physicality the attention they deserve? In TOUCH, our recent release, we investigate touch as a site of encounter that unsettles boundaries between body and object, self and other, the sacred and the profane.

This issue brings together reflections on the physical resonance of art and examines how touch operates as a medium of sacred exchange and tactile knowing. It considers the ways in which museum practices shape subjective experiences of tactility, questioning the persistent separation of body and object. Our contributors consider what it means to engage with art on a sensory level, to approach its materiality as a source of knowledge and meaning, and to have been brushed, held, or stroked.

TOUCH is now available in our webshop. Find us online or at the bookstores listed on our website.

19/11/2024

OPEN CALL #33.2 REPETITION / HERHALING

Whether we keep writing the same sentences in a book every day to manifest our happiness, or know exactly what the jingle of our favorite drugstore sounds like. Whether we encounter the same hateful nonsense in politics year after year, or whether we keep on having to emphasize the urgency of the climate crisis time after time. Repetition has an undeniable power that repeatedly goes unnoticed. We find it in our personal lives, and feel its influence on the world stage.

With this open call, Simulacrum Magazine invites writers and artists to contribute textually (essay, free text, poetry) or visually in relation to the theme of repetition. We are looking for daring, interdisciplinary perspectives that expose, investigate and unravel repetition in all its manifestations within art and society.

The deadline for this open call is December 19th, 2024.

For more information, see the link in our bio

- Dutch -

Of we nu dagelijks dezelfde zinnen in een boekje zetten om ons geluk te kunnen manifesteren, of we precies weten hoe de jingle van onze favoriete drogisterij klinkt. Of we nu jaar na jaar dezelfde haatvolle nonsens tegenkomen in de politiek, of we telkens de urgentie van de klimaatcrisis moeten benadrukken. Herhaling heeft een onmiskenbare kracht die herhaaldelijk onopgemerkt blijft. We vinden haar in ons persoonlijke leven, en voelen haar invloed op het wereldtoneel. 

Met deze open call nodigt Simulacrum Magazine schrijvers en kunstenaars uit om tekstueel (essay, vrije tekst, poëzie) of visueel bij te dragen in relatie tot het thema herhaling. We zijn op zoek naar gedurfde, interdisciplinaire perspectieven die herhaling blootleggen, onderzoeken en ontrafelen in al haar verschijningsvormen binnen kunst en de samenleving.

De deadline voor de open call is 19 december 2024.

Zie de link in onze bio voor meer informatie.

Images
(1) Hanne Darboven, 2 Blätter: Bogenfolgen, 1970.
(2) M.C. Escher, Tesselation, 1958.
(3) Eva Hesse. Repetition Nineteen III. 1968
(4) On Kawara, studio photo 1966. Courtesy One Million Years Foundation
(5) Bruce Naumann, Bouncing in the Corner No. 1, 1968

18/11/2024

DRUK x Simulacrum @ Paradiso

Join us on Nov 24, 12:00–16:00, for the DRUK annual book fair in the main hall of Paradiso.

Support small and independent publishers, and check out talks on turning hate into love, manifesto-making, and the Amsterdam post-punk scene.

Find more info at the link in our bio!

08/11/2024

Unlock a year of Simulacrum Magazine delivered to your doorstep!
Are you a student? Then you can enjoy our student discount.
Subscribe now via the link in bio.

07/10/2024

WHAT’S THE USE & TOUCH EVENT LINEUP (2/2)

On October 13th, Simulacrum Magazine is celebrating the launch of our two latest issues, “WHAT’S THE USE?” and “TOUCH” at . Meet the artists and writers presenting at our event:

(1) Lisa Premke - “Traffic Orchestra”
Lisa is a Berlin-based artist who studied Architecture and Fine Arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and earned a Master’s degree in Sound for the Moving Image from the Glasgow School of Art. Her work explores collective systems embedded in objects and materials, giving them an independent voice and narrative.

Our writers:

(2) Ellen-Rose Wallace is an Irish visual artist working primarily with lens-based media. Developing from an early fascination with folklore and oral tradition, her practice is concerned with how we conceptualise time, history, and narrative. She is currently pursuing her MFA at the Piet Zwart Institute of Fine Art, Rotterdam. She will be reading “a nest of white curls” from Touch.

(3) Liesl Braat is a writer and a philosophy student at the University of Amsterdam. She is interested in the phenomenology of race, empathy, and film philosophy. She will be reading “You, Us, and I in a Museum; The Use of Suffering in Art” from What’s The Use?

06/10/2024

CALL FOR PAPERS: LIES - LEUGENS

“How can lies be used to subvert deceitful institutions? What do lies accomplish in art? Does language itself lack the capacity for truth? Do we believe our own lies?”

We invite writers and artists to submit scholarly articles, freeform essays, creative writing, and visual art that engages with the theme of lies.

The deadline for submissions is October 22, 2024.

Please see the link in our bio for the full call for papers.

~

“Hoe kunnen leugens worden ingezet om instituten te ondermijnen? Wat bereiken leugens in de kunst? Ontbreekt onze taal zelf aan het vermogen om eerlijk te zijn? Geloven we in onze eigen leugens?”

We nodigen schrijvers en kunstenaars uit om wetenschappelijke artikelen, vrije essays, creatieve teksten en beeldende kunst in te zenden die zich bezighouden met het thema leugens.

De deadline voor inzendingen is 22 oktober 2024.

Zie de link in onze bio voor de volledige oproep.

27/09/2024

WHAT’S THE USE & TOUCH EVENT ARTISTS

On October 13th, Simulacrum Magazine is celebrating the launch of our two latest issues, “WHAT’S THE USE?” and “TOUCH” at . Join us and meet the artists presenting at our event:

1. Anna Rogneby - “The Corner of a Circle”
Anna Rogneby is a photographer based between Norway and The Netherlands. Her practice centers around observation, bringing mundane and seemingly unnoticed objects to the forefront. By contextualizing these observations within societal structures and inner mindsets, her work takes on a trivially existential quality.

2. Alvaro Ugarte - “Curing the Institution”
Alvaro Ugarte is a visual artist based between Mexico City and Amsterdam. His research-driven practice explores cognitive processes and human behavior. Through installations, actions, sounds, and experiences, Ugarte’s work evokes reactions and fosters interaction, transforming exhibition spaces into environments that activate visitors’ minds, encouraging them to explore and engage with the work.

3. Joris Vos - “Imprints”
Joris Vos is a former professional ballet and contemporary dancer who has transitioned into the tech world. At AvoidCode, he integrates coding into his artistic practice, creating interactive digital art. His work explores the intersection of movement and technology, pushing the boundaries of creative expression through software and digital media.

4. Jonghwan Jeong - “BEYOND UTOPIA”
Jonghwan Jeong uses the body to convey ideas, exploring ways to transcend the human condition through actions, which he views as the most fundamental way to affect environments. His work examines power through subjects like time, fate, and systems, focusing on the beauty found in struggle.

5. Mike Moonen, LosDQ - “Shoe Boiling”
Mike Moonen enjoys subverting common sense. With a focus on what is wrong, improper, messy, and irregular, he questions what value brings quality and what quality brings value. He is also a member of LosDQ, an artwork in band form that has been active for over 30 years, with an ever-changing composition of members.

26/09/2024

OPEN CALL: LIES

“What happens when we choose to see the world in terms of treachery, trickery and deceit? Perhaps we would discover that epic myths and theoretical abstractions are the lies we need in order to navigate chaos––or as the writer and poet Joan Didion would like to say it: “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” In between stories, art, and lies, what fertile ground for thought do we find?”

We are seeking interdisciplinary submissions—scholarly articles, essays, creative writing, and image-based art—that delve into the artistic, political, and poetic aspects of lying.

Whether personal or collective, repressive or subversive: which lies infuriate you, and which do you embrace? We want to hear from authors and artists who want to explore the boundaries of this concept.

For more information, see the link in our bio.

- Dutch -

“Wat gebeurt er als we ervoor kiezen de wereld te zien met aandacht voor verraad, bedrog en misleiding? Misschien ontdekken we dat epische mythen en theoretische abstracties de leugens zijn die we nodig hebben om chaos te navigeren––of zoals de schrijver en dichter Joan Didion het graag zou zeggen: “We vertellen onszelf verhalen om te kunnen leven.” Tussen verhalen, kunst en leugens in, wat voor vruchtbare grond vinden we voor ideeën?“

We zijn op zoek naar interdisciplinaire bijdragen—wetenschappelijke artikelen, essays, creatieve teksten en beeldende kunst—die ingaan op de artistieke, politieke en poëtische aspecten van liegen.

Of het nu persoonlijk of collectief, repressief of subversief is: welke leugens maken je woedend, en welke omarm je? We willen horen van auteurs en kunstenaars die de grenzen van dit concept willen verkennen.

Zie de link in onze bio voor meer informatie.

- Images -

(1) Cindy Sherman. Untitled Film Still #3. 1977. Gelatin silver print. Museum of Modern Art, New York.

(2) René Magritte, The Treachery of Images, 1929.

(3) The Framer Framed exhibition collage of Kant, Descartes, Trump, and Putin.

23/09/2024

HOLY MOTORS: FILM SCREENING

Join us on October 3rd at 21:00 for a special film screening organized by Filmtheater De Uitkijk and Simulacrum Magazine to celebrate the launch of our latest two issues, Touch and What’s The Use?

We will be screening Holy Motors (2012), a surrealist fantasy drama directed by French filmmaker Leos Carax, starring Denis Lavant and Édith Scob. The film follows Mr. Oscar, a man who seemingly works as an actor. On the way, he transforms into different characters and performs various roles across Paris, though no cameras or audiences are ever seen.

Tickets are available via the De Uitkijk website and the link in our bio.

We hope to see you there!

19/09/2024

WHAT’s THE USE & TOUCH EVENT

Join us for the launch of the two latest editions of Simulacrum Magazine at in Amsterdam, where we’ll explore how artists challenge conventional ideas of utility and touch through visual arts, performances, and readings.

Our artists will dive into questions like: How do we redefine the usefulness of everyday objects? How can unexpected uses breathe new life into spaces, ideas, and things? What if we think through our fingertips, giving the physicality of objects as much importance as their symbolic meaning? And when we handle an object—what does it do to us, and what do we do to it?

31/08/2024

INDIECON 2024

We are excited to let you all know that we will be participating in INDIECON 2024 in Hamburg. Come find us!

INDIECON will take place from September 6 to 8, 2024 in the Gleishalle Oberhafen, Hamburg. For the eleventh time, over three days, the festival will bring together indie publishers from all over the world in Hamburg. Visitors can gain an insight into the international indie publishing scene, browse through new publications, and talk to the creators.

This Is Not About Form: Expansion of the „Indieverse” 
This year, printed, digital, and hybrid publishing projects come together under the motto “This Is Not About Form”. The aim is to learn from each other, share knowledge, and explore common interests.

09/08/2024

WHAT’S THE USE?
❔❕
the concept of ‘use’ intricately weaves itself into our relationship with the world around us. The utilisation of objects and activities provides us with a tangibility to the sense of their nature - it evokes our relation to things.

Following the words of Sara Ahmed, who says that to ‘inhabit a world, is to be inhabited by use,’ this issue of Simulacrum focuses on the multifaceted ways ‘use’ is intertwined with our perception of art and culture.

Thinking through ‘use,’ we investigate how certain socio-cultural relationships come to exist, and question the ways we perceive, relate, and contextualise.

The WHAT’S THE USE issue is available on our website and in book stores across Europe.

09/08/2024

WHAT’S THE USE?
32 - #2
❔❔❔
The concept of ‘use’ intricately weaves itself into our relationship with the world around us. The utilisation of objects and activities provides us with a tangibility to the sense of their nature - it evokes our relation to things.

Following the words of Sara Ahmed, who says that to ‘inhabit a world, is to be inhabited by use,’ this issue of Simulacrum focuses on the multifaceted ways ‘use’ is intertwined with our perception of art and culture.

Thinking through ‘use,’ we investigate how certain socio-cultural relationships come to exist, and question the ways we perceive, relate, and contextualise.

The WHAT’S THE USE issue is available for purchase on our website or in book stores across Europe.
❔❔❔

04/08/2024

09/06/2024

PHANTOMS

A phantom is an ethereal, otherworldly figure, existing on the fringes of our reality, always in the back of our minds. It is a shadow that lives in the corner of our eye and at the margins of language, ever-displaced. A palimpsest presence hinging on our imaginations, flickering in and out of existence, yet always haunting, (un)settling, and speaking to whomever dares to speak back and whomever tries to capture its name. Phantom, phantasm, spectre,ghost, all disjointing time and space, entangling here and there (and) now and then, past and future. Phantoms tend to linger and seep into the present, shaping our current lives and cultural landscapes. What is haunted, what are we haunted by, and can we haunt them back?

The PHANTOMS issue is available to buy via our website. Or find us in one of the bookstores on the last slide.

03/06/2024

SIMULACRUM X UITKIJK: SOLARIS (ANDREI TARKOVSKY)

Thursday 6 June 20:30 (English subtitles)

Because our last planned screening at De Uitkijk sadly couldn’t go through, we have picked a new date!
Join us on Thursday the 6th of June to explore the delusions that haunt us, during the celebration of Simulacrum’s second issue of this year on the theme of ‘Phantoms’! In this edition, authors search for the fantasies, false presences, and ghosts they have encountered or still hope to encounter. Questions addressed by this issue include, but are not limited to: how do memories and histories delegitimised by official information circuits circulate? How can art help us to create a “third way” to relate to heritages that have been hegemonically erased? What is the relevance of Hauntology, and terms such as phantom, phantasma, and spectre, for contemporary research in (and through) the arts?

In Tarkovsky’s masterpiece ‘Solaris’ (1972) we are taken to a place far above the earth where nothing is what it seems. A psychologist, Kris Kelvin, is sent to a space station near the planet Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the strange behaviour of the astronauts there. During his investigation, he is confronted with several unexplainable events, including the sudden appearance of his deceased wife. The planet turns out to contain some kind of cosmic intelligence, which mysteriously brings repressed memories and obsessions to life.

Before the film starts one of our editors will give a short introduction, the film starts at 8:30 PM. See you there!