WORM 25 – Press Release

July 2024 – For immediate release.

Rotterdam’s legendary venue WORM celebrates 25 years of making and promoting independent, underground culture. WORM’s September programme reflects the breadth, diversity and social goals of our activities. 

Dutch language version here.

The agenda is packed, but we have picked out a number of highlights:

Cinema Colombiano Festival returns on Saturday the 7th September. Expect a full day of underground films from Colombia and South and Central America –  including the long-lost PEPOS, about 80’s Bogotá youth culture. Also: music, food, a club night and – TBC- a block party with a real picó (!).

Programme highlights include: Disclosing Diaries (13/09); a multidisciplinary night combining the screening of Sarojini Lewis’ film, Disclosing Diaries and a performance by the Surinamese metal band Ravech. That same night, the Diaspora Dreams club invites visitors to celebrate Black culture and immerse themselves in music from the African, Latin and Caribbean diaspora. Walking Grass Agriculture (25/09 >>); Taiwanese collective Walking Grass Agriculture researches ecological environments, urban changes, and gender issues through a unique artistic lens. Don’t miss the results of their month-long residency. And on International Safe Abortion Day, VULVAVERSE (28/09), celebrates the voices and experiences of the queer, BIPOC, and trans communities within the realm of heavy music. Expect panels, parties and righteous noise. 

WORM  stakeholders, partners, and friends are invited to WORM 25: Come as you are! (27/09), during which the fallen angels and vampires from Teeth ‘n’ Wings organise a performative dinner, WORM’s Filmwerkplaats presents an installation of 365 degrees experimental analogue films, the Walking Grass Agriculture residency can be seen, and solo performers entertain throughout the whole building; when you least expect it. The event is all about transformation: so dress-up, or come as you are.

Keep an eye on our Agenda for the full listing. WORM25 ticket offers are specifically designed for those with low incomes, or feel marginalised.

Attention during WORM25 will be paid to: How WORM can irrigate and irritate the city of Rotterdam; amplifying the voices of marginal and migrant communities in this city (and NL); sex work; craftwork; alt-clubbing; communal eating; legacies around and of slavery; ecology and urban development; DIY and sustainable making; and repurposing materials, ideas, and humans for the future.

Constantly evolving and forever curious, WORM has always provided the alternative in Rotterdam’s nightlife. Once based in Rotterdam West, the organisation moved downtown to the Witte de Withstraat in 2011. 

Right now, WORM is one of the last places in the city centre that promotes forward-thinking, genre-defying, “glocal / plural / marginal” culture.

The future will see WORM change again! In 2025 we launch our new guise; Ultimate Playground.