Artists Ersi Varveri
Publisher self-published
“After a few years abroad, I decided to return to the island and take some time to explore the place, to reconnect. I also wanted to work closer to my father. He is also an artist and has been working for the last 20 years in a studio he built himself on a hill on the outskirts of the city. Spending time with him, I learn how to maintain the land and trees on our land, I learn how he works, how he paints, how he builds! This process of caring for the trees could also be a metaphor for how I could care for him, as he gets older and can’t do much on his own… I see how to become a tree as a way to reach him, how to transfer his knowledge, ultimately how to learn, to grow in a place, on an island.”
„My partner Gijs Waterschoot and I moved to Greece last year February when we had to leave our home in Antwerp, an art space we were taking care of for three years (2017-2020), Pink House. During our stay in this house we created a series of zines as a way to share various activities in this house. All of our publications were made with a photocopying machine, under the name pink house press. Now that we are working in different conditions on the island, in a smaller place, in another country, closer to nature, we are taking some time to renegotiate the model we want to operate from now on. As we are currently – so to speak – suspended from our base, we see our publications as a space that doesn’t necessarily need a physical space to exist. how to become … will unfold this possibility of being a portable space in printed form.“
The first issues contain some more personal thoughts, in the future more ‘n’ people will participate, contribute, or take on more – propose what to become
how to become a tree by Ersi Varveri
edition of 200 / next: issue 01
**how to become an island out on April 2021**
Find it as a free press in the Library of the Royal Academy, Antwerp, and in more places, keep your eyes open to spot it! For special editions, please contact Ersi Varveri.
All editions will be archived here
how to become a tree is the pilot issue of a series of newspapers linked to the research project one space becoming another.
