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Welcome to the History section of WORM’s website!

You can browse through the content WORM has published since we moved to the Boomgaardsstraat in 2012.  Articles are grouped chronologically in separate ribbons, from latest to oldest. Many posts in the ribbons lead to sub-articles. In this way you can click through many  WORMholes in our history.

We have a featured section too, which we will update regularly.

And… click on the X top right, and you’re back where you started: like Alice on the other side of the mirror.

We hope the patient researcher can get a feel for “how we were” during these years, and see how we adapted socially and culturally.

We made ribbons for the story of our current building and things we made, as separate threads: these are stories in their own right.

 

Featured
Curatorial picks from WORM's archive!

Offbeat constructivism – WORM on the WdW

Colour digital image of the outlines of WORM's building, envisioned as a digital maquette on a black background. Pink arrows point towards the building. The digital image is portrayed on a laptop screen.

How WORM and Melly Shape and Are Shaped by Their Street - Part 3 WORM's wanderings →

A History of WORM in 25 Objects

A girl wearing clack, Gothic leisurewear pulls at a hand towel dispenser, attached to a tiled wall in a toilet

Listen to the fascinating Radio WORM series about the many diverse objects in our building! →

#WUNDERBAR Part One – Birthing Pains

Colour photograph of the original #Wunderbar at WORM in 2014, showing the wooden bar area and old heavy wood seating.

We asked WORM's former Creative Director Hajo van Doorn about the history of #Wunderbar →

#WUNDERBAR Part Two – A Holiday Feeling in the City

Colour photograph of the original #Wunderbar at WORM in 2014, showing the wooden bar area and old heavy wood seating. And the famed television!

We asked WORM's former Creative Director Hajo van Doorn about the history of #Wunderbar. Part two! →

#WUNDERBAR Part Three – The Wunderbar Set

A woman walks through an elaborate cut-out wooden gate, that has the text Wundebar running along its top.

We asked WORM's former Creative Director Hajo van Doorn about the history of #Wunderbar. Part three! →

2023-2024
WORM as The Open City

Sounding Here

sounding here

published on 26-02-2025
A stage for fresh collaborations and upcoming artists →

Klangendum 2024

Photograph of WORM's Sound Studios with various elements - synths and other equipment - given a fuchsia pink and blue filter.

published on 27-10-2025
What happened in our sound studios in 2024? →

WORM 25

published on 27-01-2025
An overview of all news, features and activities marking our 25th anniversary →

Artgang

published on 25-09-2023
Weekly artistic get-together for youngsters →

Fem Fest 2024 presents Feminist Frequencies

Strong coloured poster of WORM Fem Fest 2024, text - Feminist Frequencies 8-10 Mar 2024. With various icons associated with sound and music making.

published on 7-02-2024
The 2024 edition of WORM's annual International Women’s Day festival - around the 8th of March. →

REWIRE x Radio WORM

published on 6-03-2024
RADIO WORM at REWIRE Festival in Den Haag, 2023 and 2024 →

KAZEMAT | WORM x ACHTERBAN

Colourful poster for KAZEMAT festival July 2023. The word kazemat is top centre and layered in three different colours; blue, red, orange creating a psychedelic effect.

published on 21-09-2023
Multidisciplinary festival held 12-30 July, 2023 →

WORM x AMARTE Residency

published on 21-09-2023
Residency for interdisciplinary makers 2023 and 2024 →

COCO & THE FRIQUE

published on 16-08-2023
And underground music television show made in WORM →

ELECTRIC UMBRELLA

published on 30-08-2023
WORM's experimental improv music series! →

2021-2022
WORM as The Open City

The Goldfish Bleeding in a Sea of Sharks – Wrestling Club

Photograph of a fight in Luche Libre style, where one performer-fighter, in mid-air is about to fall on another, prone on the ground. Part of the Thais di Marco project Goldfish Swimming in a Sea of Sharks.

Official Project Page →

Eerbetoon aan Willem Pijper – 30 October 2022

Eerbetoon aan Rotterdamse modernist Willem Pijper najaar 2022. Evenementen in WORM en andere plekken. →

Venues From The Future

The round, scarlet logo for Venues from the Future on a white background.

published on 2-03-2022
EU funded project, The Pop Venue as an Experimental Community Space: 2022. →

WunderPlatz x SKILLS

An oblong image - psychedelic and colourful collage for the WunderplatZ and SKILLS project. WundeplatZ is spelled Wunderplazt on the image, and there is a & sign instead of the X, both probably by mistake. Underneath, the Wunderbar logo.

published on 27-01-2021
WORM celebrated the #Wunderbar and Foyer spaces in 2021 with WunderPlatz X SKILLS →

O. 2021 and 2022 Editions

Logo of O. festival. A coloured letter O with a full stop on a white background.

published on 14-04-2022
O. A FESTIVAL FOR OPERA. MUSIC. THEATRE. Introducing 2022's edition and a video look back at 2021 →

KOLLECTION KITSCH

Banner image for Kollection Kitsch shows in Wunderbar. An amorphous green shape and a purple shape hug each other. A yellow heart floats underneath.

published on 16-08-2023
Learn more about #Wunderbar's mini gallery →

Fem Fest 2022

Square banner image for FEM FEST 2022. Purple lettering on a black background. Indeterminate red, grey, sand and purple image in the centre.

published on 8-02-2022
WORM's annual Feminist Festival in Rotterdam 4 - 8 March 2022 →

Period. a collective research residency

Oblong image in pink. The project's title, Period runs left to right in a playful,

published on 6-10-2021
Black People Challenging Menstrual Pain as a Collective | View the programme →

Klangendum

published on 11-03-2025
An introduction to Klangendum radio - Lukas Simonis and Henk Bakker →

2020-2021
COVID-19...

Look Back: My Pandemic Year

Image for the My Pandemic Year get together. Title: Free Online Screening on pink and white. Black framed and an indeterminate image - of a couch in white and cream- centred

published on 7-04-2021
My Pandemic Year - 55 international filmmakers commemorate one year of lockdown. →

IMACO (The Imaginary Art Collective) 2020

published on 27-01-2021
IMACO (The Imaginary Art Collective) UBIK 2020, artists explored what objects mean, and when it’s time to let go. →

(Not The) Supermarket Art Fair 2020

published on 11-01-2021
WORM at (Not The) Supermarket Art Fair 2020, Stockholm →

Feature: Looking back and forward – WORM in 2020-21

Digital image of WORM's heartie logo in red, bathed in greenish yellow light, with various doglike animals surrounding, and looking at it. Image records the activities of WORM during Covid 2020.

An essay from WORM PR Head, Richard Foster, accompanying WORM's 2021 publication, WORM in Beweging. →

Lookback: Afterstory ‘Illuminated Darkness’ 2020

Black and white photograph of a person standing in front of a large screen talking into a microphone, looking out to the viewer's left. The image is darkened with just white text on a darkened screen fully visible

WORM news archive - Author Lily Clarisa's book release; ‘Illuminated Darkness’ at WORM July 2020 →

KLAUW – Community Care is Activism

published on 9-12-2020
Looking back at the first KLAUW Magazine release →

FEM FEST 2021

Oblong image for FEM FEST 2021, a pink design with photoghraphic cut outsshowign various thematic aspects of the festival. Logos added at the bottom with

published on 15-04-2021
How did WORM and KONTRA pulled off FEM FEST in the midst of the pandemic of the century? →

The Story of O. 2021

Logo of O. festival. A coloured letter O with a full stop on a white background.

published on 13-04-2021
WORM asked O. (a festival for Opera. Music. Theatre, August 2021) how to plan an event that may not yet happen? →

Filmwerkplaats Project: Photographic Garden

Colour photograph taken from above of a saucepan on a hob. The pan is full of flowers and plants.

Photographic Garden: Filmwerkplaats researches photochemical processes that do not unduly burden the environment. →

WORM Heropening: WORM Reopens June 2021

A colour image of WORM's heart logo, in pink, with white highlights, on a plain black background.

News 02-06-2021: WORM reopens - Corona Entrance Certificates for non seated concerts and club nights →

2017-2020
WORM as The Avantgardistic State

News: 17-6-2020 Vers Beton on the Queer Scene and Nightlife in Rotterdam

A colour cartoon drawing of people of all colours sliding on a rainbow flag.

WORM news archive - Vers Beton on the Queer Scene and Nightlife in Rotterdam June 2020 →

News: 22-12-2020 KONTRA LABS#1: The Residency

Portrait image in a drawn style using pastel colours advertising the Kontra Labs 2020.

WORM news archive - KONTRA LABS#1: Info on The Residency December 2020 →

Klangendum

published on 11-03-2025
An introduction to Klangendum radio - Lukas Simonis and Henk Bakker →

The WORM Pirate Bay Zine Club

A landscape image, showing a collage of faces, fabrics and scripts. Zine Club is superimposed over the top in pink thick spray paint effect. Commemorating The WORM Pirate bay Zine Club started in earnest in 2017 and ran until 2019

The WORM Pirate bay Zine Club started in earnest in 2017 and ran until 2019 →

WORM: The Avantgardistic State 2017-2018

Colour collage made by UK artist Graeme Hopper for WORM. The image shows photographs of a stone quoit, a cassette , dancing figures a veiled person with an elaborate headdress, a flower acting as a sun in the sky and Moses holding two stereos. The image has the WORM logo superimposed in the top left in white and Avantgardistische Staat centred, in light green. This image was the standard image for the Avantgardistische Staat communications 2017 onwards.

published on 9-02-2021
→

Interview: 24-4-2018 Hedvig Koertz & Philippa Driest: “Viewpoints”

Photograph of a building on a concrete sloping plane, lit from within in an otherwise bare landscape. There is an outline of a tree on the right and a building on the left of the structure. The space is otherwise in darkness. Image taken from the show, Hedvig Koertz & Philippa Driest:

WORM news archive - Hedvig Koertz & Philippa Driest: 'Viewpoints' 2018 →

WORM at Liverpool Sound City 2018

published on 11-01-2021
WORM at Liverpool Sound City 2018 →

WORM Residency Hull City of Culture 2017

published on 11-01-2021
WORM Residency Humber Street gallery Hull City of Culture June 2017 →

2013-2016
WORM as The Vrolijke Verlies

Eurofuturism 2015-2016

published on 8-02-2021
Eurofuturism - WORM's manifesto 2015-16 →

RE MI 2015-2016

published on 9-02-2021
RE MI: a 2-year European cooperation project run by Mire (Nantes, FR), WORM Filmwerkplaats (Rotterdam) and LaborBerlin (... →

Afrofuturism Now! Festival 2015

Colour image of a collage in a psychedelic style of a Black woman sitting cross legged and wearing black clothing and a red cap. Image commemorating WORM's Afrofuturism Now! Festival November 2015.

An overview of WORM's Afrofuturism Now! Festival in October 2015. →

Feature: A Paper Monument for the Paperless 2016

Colour photograph of a black and white poster glued to a dark grey graffitied wall, showing a drawing or a lino or woodcut of a bearded man's face. Image documents Paper Monument for the Paperless at WORM, 2016.

Feature: A Paper Monument for the Paperless / The Tree - WORM S/ash Gallery December 2016 →

Het Kanon van Rotterdam – 2015

A landscape promotional image using a number of photographs of Rotterdam landmarks and a photograph of a field gun (filtered in blue) being fired by old WORM employee, Mike van Gaasbeek. Old WORM director Hajo van Doorn stands to the right, in a suit, with his fingers in his ears. A paragraph of white text is superimposed in the centre of eth image. The title is Het Kanon Van Rotterdam. Underneath the text are two magenta buttons that ask the viewer to vote in Dutch.

Het Kanon van Rotterdam - WORM →

WORM Parallelle Universiteit (WPU) 2013-16

Logo of WORM Parallel University, a black circle with two diagonal stripes running top left to bottom right within the circle's circumference. WPU title above, some Esperanto below:

WORM Parallelle Universiteit (WPU) 2013-16 was een niet-geaccrediteerde, open participatie, experimentele communauty col... →

Essay: Anti-Media Ephemera on Speculative Arts

An orange book cover with an outline of a sun visible (in contrast to the other orange tones) in the top left hand corner. In the bottom right hand corner the representation of a white notepad bears the title, Anti-Media and subtitle underneath, Ephemera on Speculative Arts. The author's name, Florian Cramer, is displayed underneath in white type on a narrow black background.

WORM Pirate Bay Archive Pick - Kendal Benyon - an essay in response to Anti-Media Ephemera on Speculative Arts by Floria... →

RADIO VOICEMAIL 2012-2017

A poster in portrait format with the names of various artists participating in the Radio Voicemail project, 2015.

Floris Visser + WORM make radio on your voicemail. Project 2012-2017 →

Soundwalks Rotterdam 2014

published on 11-01-2021
Three walks created by six artists with WORM as a starting point. →

FILM: -ALT-ESC FROM ROTTERDAM

Square photograph showing two people - the band FKN BSTRDS - lying on their backs wearing scanty orange clothes A still from the WORM film, ALT-ESC FROM ROTTERDAM

WORM’s korte-lange film met Joep van Lieshout ea →

1997-2012
Rochussenstraat, Delftshaven and Boomgaardstraat

WORM 23

A colour digital drawing of WORM's heart logo reconfigured as balloons. The text WORM 23 can be seen on some balloons

published on 4-02-2021
In 2019, WORM celebrated its 23rd birthday.  →

WORM 23: Daily Chaos #6 WORM Zonder Pand

A colour photograph of the exterior of WORM's first building on Rochussenstraat in Rotterdam. A brick building from the nineteenth-century with a large window.

The WORM 23 story: - #6 Mike Van Gaasbeek recounts WORM's 'Homeless Years' →

FILM: “The Sound We See”

A black and white photograph, in landscape format, showing three young coloured boys standing on a parking lot in front of a tower block An image from the film: The Sound We See

WORM's most successful community film project - community films in workshops with first-time filmmakers →

Building
The history of 69-71 Boomgaardstraat

Interview: Fons Burger

Colour portrait photograph of a white man with grey white hair and a black top, the man is looking to the viewer's top left.

WORM interviews sustainability activist entrepreneur Fons Burger about WORM's ongoing sustainability projects. →

News: WORM and a Sustainable Future

A colour image of WORM's heart logo, in pink, with white highlights, on a plain black background.

WORM news archive: WORM updates its sustainability policy in 2021 →

WORM Building

Welcome to our building! The history of Boomgaardstraat 71. →

Night Vision – Thijs Kelder 2015

published on 11-01-2021
The work Night Vision, created by artist Thijs Kelder can be seen on WORM's Boomgaardsstraat wall →

#Wunderbar Terras 2016-19

published on 11-01-2021
#Wunderbar Terras and Performance Bar Toilets by Arno Coenen and Iris Roskam 2016 →

BOEK: DAS UMGEBUNGSLOKET

Cover of a book Das Umbegungsloket, a blue cover with white and gold marbled effect.

Een novella geschreven door Mike van Gaasbeek over de perikelen omtrent het opstarten van UBIK. →

Products
Things WORM has made!

BOEK: A VERY HARD COVER BOOK – DENNIS DE BEL

A pallet with rectangular flat white cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other and shrink wrapped. On the side of the boxes, facing the viewer, the text De Bel is shown in black. The title of the image is A Very Hard Cover Book

A very special sort of book - by artists Dennis de Bel →

BOEK: BLIJVEN HARKEN!

A book cover in black and grey showing a map of the Netherlands in grey. The words, The Society of the Spectacle is superimposed in white. Cover for Blijven Harken, a history of WORM up to 2007.

A history of WORM in Dutch. Published in 2007 →

BOEK: DAS UMGEBUNGSLOKET

Cover of a book Das Umbegungsloket, a blue cover with white and gold marbled effect.

Een novella geschreven door Mike van Gaasbeek over de perikelen omtrent het opstarten van UBIK. →

BOEK: DE TOEKOMST HERVONDEN

Cover for DE TOEKOMST HERVONDEN by Omar Munoz Cremers. Brown book cover with a 1960s black and white image of a woman wearing a mini skirt in a desert, two figures behind her in the distance.

Essays over de Vastgelopen Vooruitgang →

BOEK: R&D – A LOW END RICH MEDIA PUBLICATION

A landscape image of a pile of books and a book (on the left) propped up against some brown wrapping paper. Advertising for

A multimedia title from Dennis de Bel and Roel Roscam Abbing. →

LP: MACHINEFABRIEK – SOUNDPIECE – 15 /15

Cover for LP MACHINEFABRIEK - SOUNDPIECE - 15 /15 Abstract design in grey and pink with a yellow vinyl peeping out on the right of the image.

First instalment of three Soundpiece releases by WORM Records. →

LP: PIERRE BASTIEN – SOUNDPIECE – ENTOMOLOGY

Cover for LP: PIERRE BASTIEN – SOUNDPIECE – ENTOMOLOGY. Abstract design with a blue vinyl peeping out on the right of the image.

The third Soundpiece release by WORM Records. →

LP: DAISY BELL – SOUNDPIECE – PROVERBS OF HELL

Cover for LP: DAISY BELL - SOUNDPIECE - PROVERBS OF HELL Abstract design in grey and pink with a pink vinyl peeping out on the right of the image.

The second Soundpiece release by WORM Records. →

LP: HARK TOO!

Album cover of Hark Too, A Tribute to Wim T Schippers, released by WORM Records in 2013. A collage of diverse colourful imagery and shapes, including a tractor, that also help make up the album title.

WORMs eerste vinyl is een remake van ‘Hark!’ van Wim T. Schippers. →

TAPE: WORM HORSPIL – K7-6

An A5 tape cassette display card, decorated with cartoon animals and symbols and coloured white, with lettering. The card also mounts clear plastic tape holder. The tape is teal in colour and displays the text, Horspil.

WORM's radio plays on cassette - Martijn Comes + Martin Reints + Sylvie de Pauw, Bart Maris and the X Static Tics →

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