Its (Im)possible Formation: The Book is an assemblage of interpretations of what an archive is or could become and what it means to amass and assemble a publishing practice. With contributions by Leonie Harkes, S*an D. Henry-Smith, Jesse Muller, Sal Randolph, Natasha Rijkhoff, Formal Settings, Romy Day Winkel and Mia You.
If you walk into the book shop, through the large open gallery space and past the kitchen, through the unsettling mirrored door frame, into the Riso-workshop, past the ink- drums, drying racks and narrow wooden staircase, you will see two doors. On them is written ‘staff only’. Go through those doors and there is the warehouse of Onomatopee; high and full, with racks and racks full of books.
This publication started with a warehouse full of books, which turned into an exhibition, and then turned back into printed matter.
Anything can be an archive. Its definition is mutable and open for interpretation and hard to define, as it is used in various ways depending on context. One definition is: a collection of documents created or gathered by one person or institution and selected for long-term preservation as evidence of their activities.