In Dutch, druk means busy, pressured and overloaded, but it also means print. DRUK.WERK playfully hovers between werkdruk (workload) and drukwerk (printed matter), where producing things and feeling pressured become hard to tell apart. The tool at hand is the stamp, that humble office instrument that says “received,” “approved,” “paid” over and over again. HERMANY applies it to walls, posters, T-shirts and printed matter, where it serves as image, logo, residue and paperwork all at once. Stamp it often enough and it stops being a signature and starts to look like a ledger. Who pays for visibility? What does it cost to keep a practice going? 

DRUK.WERK is the latest chapter of HERMANY, the shape-shifting platform Marlie Mul started in 2018. HERMANY presents work by various artists, performers, writers and entertainers, in a range of media, without a fixed location, schedule or format. So far, it has taken the form of a reading, a concert, a fashion event, a group show, a solo show and, in 2024, a fully functioning basement bistro. The show at NW brings together large-scale stamp works, printed T-shirts and seven posters from the HERMANY archive.  

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HERMANY presents: DRUK.WERK is initiated by Marlie Mul.
In collaboration with the Frans Masereel Centrum.
With the support of the Dutch Embassy. 

BIOGRAPHY

HERMANY is a host structure. It is a project of presentations of works, by various artists, performers, writers, entertainers, and in various media, without a specific location, regularity or format. So far HERMANY has been a reading, a concert, a fashion event, a group show or a solo show, or a fully functioning basement bistro, amongst others.