Whatever the Weather - Book

Whatever the Weather is on its way! The production of the book in its print run of 432 copies required €50.000 of funding. This money has become available thanks to 119 pre-orders, a succesful crowdfunfing campain, and the investment of proceeds roamed sfrom NEW HORIZONS.

You can now anticipate the book release which will take place on Saturday 19 November 2022 at Kunstzaal de Bron. Until that day, you can order the book here..


Whatever the Weather book, closed


Order your copy of Whatever the Weather


How the book is coming about

The wish to dedicate a project to the art of encounter came to me in the late summer of 2017. It gained its form during the remainder of that year, by means of the vision 144 encounters I initiated and experienced throughout the year 2018. The first one took place on 2 January of that year, the last one on 30 December.

Throughout 2020 and 2021, I investigated - together with designer Sybren Kuiper and book binder Wytze Fopma hoe we could transform the invitation to a meaningful encounter into a form that people could experience. How to make something that as clearly a book. And an autonomous object at the same time. One that invites you to meet somebody in an experience that is as close to real-life as possible on a collection of printed paper.

This research led us to to a form of book in which every portrait can be viewed individually (versus several portraits at once). In real size (versus larger or smaller). And standing up right (versus lying flat), so that a viewer can adopt the eye level of the person in the photograph. But with it still becoming recognisable as a book.

During this research journey towards the right form, I invited many people to view the book and preorder it. The first preorders allowed me to pay for the press-press image lithography, and for the design. These steps were followed by the production of an official prototype of the book.


Whatever the Weather as a book / open

Exhibition in Kunstzaal De Bron

The prototype was part of the exhibition Whatever the Weather in Kunstzaal De Bron in October and November of 2020. The exhibition showed how the book releases even more loving attention that it almost demands from whoever is prepared to surrender to it. During the exhibition, the book was surrounded by the abundance in space and time represented by the North Sea horizons that resulted from my previous project NEW HORIZONS. Pre-orders of the book and sales of NEW HORIZONS together enabled me to buy the paper I needed for the complete print run of the book.

In 2021, nothing much seemed to happen, although I did carefully start concentrating on the wish to release the book on my 43rd birthday, on Saturday 19 November.


Financing the production

The cost of printing and binding the book did represent a considerable barrier. This barrier was overcome thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign. We now have ample time to complete the book between now and 19 November.

How the crowdfunding campaign unfolded, in money vs. time


Producing the book

Whatever the Weather was print on 28 April 2022, at printing studio Zwaanlenoir in Wormerveer. The book's source material was then transported to bindery Fopmawier in Leeuwarden.

Impression of Whatever the Weather being printed. Click image to view video.


During the summer of 2022, this is where we cut all the 70,000 pages and put them in the right order. This was hard work and a joyful experience. I wrote a travel report about it (in Dutch), which you can read here.


First steps in the binding process at Fopmawier in Leeuwarden


I am currently preparing the book launch, which is taking place on Saturday 19 November 2022, from 9 AM until 5 PM at Kunstzaal De Bron in The Hague. You are welcome to join, and to sign up here.

View the book LIVE

Order your copy

View portraits


Whatever the Weather being viewed


Technical specifications

Print run: 432 copies
Size: 145 pageds, printed single-sided
Page format: 24.2 x 35 x 6.7cm
Paper: Lessebo Design Smooth 300gr/m2
Binding: By hand, hard cover, pages glued individually
Weight: 4,000gr

Project partners

Image processing: Sipke Visser, Frisian.co.uk
Lithography: Sebastiaan Hanekroot, Colour & Books
Design: Sybren Kuiper, SYB Design
Paper: Guido Vermeer, IGEPA Nederland BV
Print: Stefano van der Knaap, ZwaanLenoir
Binding and finishing Wytze Fopma, Fopma Wier


Wytze Fopma (left) en Sybren Kuiper (right) in Kunstzaal de Bron


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