Pink House (Pink House Press & Pink House Studio) is an artist initiative founded by Ersi Varveri and Gijs Waterschoot, based on the island of Syros, Greece.
The initiative began in 2017 at The Pink House, an artist-run space in Antwerp. In 2020, the duo relocated to Syros to care for and work alongside painter and poet Kostas Varveris, Ersi’s father. There, they established a studio space next to his, starting with the renovation of an old roof, which they transformed into a light wooden structure with a living roof, a surface that allows wild plants to grow. The space functions as a working studio throughout the year and opens to the public three to four times annually for exhibitions, gatherings, and events.
Alongside their studio activities, they run Pink House Press, an experimental publishing practice producing zines, magazines, and posters, as well as the annual fig marmalade made from the figs of their garden and other goods they collect or forage locally.
Pink House Studio (Syros)
On the island the initiative is engaged in making an artistic multi-purpose space that is located on a hillside on the outskirts of Ermoupolis. The space aims primarily to serve as a reference point for the local community, supporting various cultural activities (exhibitions, screenings, seminars, etc.). and secondly to create a place suitable to host artists in residency.
The studio, after keeping its activity quiet for a while, hosting studio visits and closed meetings, opened its doors to the public in 2024. The same year started operating as a non-profit organisation (pink house studio), while the press continues to be one of the main activities of the organisation.
Pink House Studio is now launching a residency program that explores the intersections of art, ecology and local knowledge.
Pink House Press
is an independent publisher with roots in Antwerp and a current base on Syros Island, Greece.
The press produces a wide range of printed matter, including zines, books, posters, marmalades and other editions connected to foraging, weaving together publishing, landscape, and everyday rituals of making.
‘The press was founded in Antwerp in 2017 in the artist-run place the Pink House, as a self-publishing and zine making lab. It started after acquiring our own photocopy machine that served as ‘the oven’ of the house where we ‘baked’ zines on a daily basis. Since then publishing was placed into the center of our activities and programming, transforming printing into a process-based and collective practice.
On the island we no longer have our dear photocopier, finding other ways to continue publishing; producing our editions with a pot on the fire, making jams from the fruit that grows in our garden and other edible publications from plants and herbs we collect.’
>Pink House press underlines the importance and urgency of printed matter as a possible medium and vehicle to generate space, and to create dialogues that touches upon topics such as the development of public discourse through artistic practices, and the publication as a portable-hospitable artist-run space. Manifesting that publications are low budget and democratic artworks which everyone can buy or exchange.
>Originating from the Pink House, the press grew out of an artistic necessity: to host more voices within the projects we organised at the House and to create a platform that extends beyond its physical space. Our publications serve as mobile, inclusive spaces that promote dialogue and collaboration.
Pink House (Antwerp)
was an artist space, a hub, a house.. an old house with three floors and its facade painted in pink, located in Antwerp north.
For two decades -approx. since 2000- it has enabled and hosted many happenings across different art forms with a constantly changing group of inhabitants, originating and contributing to the local scene.
‘In 2017 we moved there to live and continue the activities in the space and to suggest our own model.’
The place combined living space, shared studios, residency-guest room and a ground floor common space, open to the public 3 or 4 times a year, hosting various activities including the press.
In 2020, the Pink House closed its doors permanently, and a year later, it was demolished. Yet, its legacy endures beyond its physical presence. For many, the Pink House was more than just a building it symbolized resilience, community, and artistic experimentation.
Pink House, Antwerp 2017-2020
