O.K. Festival

Date
9 April 2010

Next week sees the Dutch town of Arnhem taken over with the first festival of independent magazines. The O.K Festival features an exhibition of leading Dutch and international independent magazines alongside a programme of workshops and debates.

Alex is heading out next week to be part of a discussion with Simon Esterson about “Surviving in Print” but before that we thought we’d ask curator Joost Van Der Steen a few more questions…

You’ve successfully published 3 volumes of your magazine, O.K. Periodicals so what made you want to curate a festival?

The magazines are a stage for upcoming creative talent we want to share the things/people we know and the things we like with everybody else. The festival has the same goal. By making a magazine we landed in a magazine world where we discovered thousands of magazines just like ours made because people thought it had a right to exist. We like the energy that is shown in these independent magazines and we didn’t want to keep it for ourselves but wanted to show the independent magazine world to other people. Show the magazines but also show the people who make them.

What can we expect to see during the 3 day event?

The Friday and Saturday we have lectures by famous magazine designers, editors and publishers. This programme runs from 11 in the morning till 5 in the evening. On Saturday evening we have a big party with great DJ’s, VJ’s and a presentation of our new magazine O.K. Periodivals #4 – Curiosities. And all three days we have an exhibition with more then 100 different magazines.

What magazines have you got that everyone will recognize?

Volume (a famous Dutch architecture magazine), Grafik and Graphic, It’s Nice That and Little White Lies, Nico, Sang Bleu, Slanted…

And what about a few that people might not be as familiar with?

O.K. Fred, Dorade, Stik (Dutch), Bruce/Lee, Dabireh, Nonstopnerds, Fun, HUH magazine, Journal Illustratif, The Double Negative Journal…

What would be your one recommendation for everyone to check out?

Cannon Magazine, a brilliant magazine great design great idea and set up all by one person (Phil Baber) made with stencil print.

O.K. Festical runs from the 16–18 April, 2010.
Villa Sonsbeek, Tellegenlaan 3, Arnhem, The Netherlands

Share Article

About the Author

Will Hudson

Will founded It’s Nice That in 2007 and is now director of the company. Once one of the main contributors to the site, he has stepped back from writing as the business has expanded to become The HudsonBec Group.

will@thehudsonbecgroup.com

It's Nice That Newsletters

Fancy a bit of It's Nice That in your inbox? Sign up to our newsletters and we'll keep you in the loop with everything good going on in the creative world.