I. about
rile* is a bookshop and project space for publication and performance. rile* is into poetry, theory, choreography, artist writing and various other text based experiments. rile* organizes performances, meetings, launches, readings... rile* is the base word for silence in Láadan, a feminist constructed language developed by Suzette Haden Elgin in 1982. The language was included in her science fiction Native Tongue series. Láadan contains a number of words that are used to make unambiguous statements that include how one feels about what one is saying. According to Elgin, this is designed to counter language's limitations to those who are forced to respond I know I said that, but I meant this.
V. shop
Our bookshop is open on Wednesday and Thursday from 11h to 17h, and from Friday to Sunday from 11h to 18.30h.
62 Rue Commerçants
1000 Brussels - BE
VI. switch theme
VII. info
If you are interested to stock with us, get in touch, we are open for conversation and new friendships.
Hosted by Chloe Chignell & Sven Dehens
contact : rile.space@gmail.com
Supported by VGC
-Site by Sven Dehens
Upcoming Projects
Sat 06 February until Fri 30 April 2021
overnight changes (public program 2021)
Ok, so, the world won't change overnight as we pass from December 31 to January 1. But something will have ended, and something else will be beginning. And were taking that an opportunity. We've been learning alot about community throughout 2020; all of us have had to invest in different ways of working, experiment with various technologies for connection, and relate with an ever changing set of conditions, not to mention a future that has told us that planning like we used to just ain't possible.
moreWed 13 January until Wed 12 May 2021 12h00-13h30
rile* is excited to announce a series of monthly reading groups in 2021. Now more than ever we find it necessary to carve out spaces for exhange, and for being and thinking together. Many of us have found reading a vital companion throughout 2020's tumultous turns, a life line perhaps, into worlds different from the ones we find ourselves stuck in. Starting in January 2021, the last Wednesday of each month we invite you to join us at rile* to read together.
moreRecent Projects
Wed 13 January until Wed 12 May 2021 12h00-13h30
rile* is excited to announce a series of monthly reading groups in 2021. Now more than ever we find it necessary to carve out spaces for exhange, and for being and thinking together. Many of us have found reading a vital companion throughout 2020's tumultous turns, a life line perhaps, into worlds different from the ones we find ourselves stuck in. Starting in January 2021, the last Wednesday of each month we invite you to join us at rile* to read together.
moreSat 12 December until Sun 13 December 2020 (14:00)
Slow Launch: Time is an Arrow, Error
Welcome for a slow, two-day launch of Time is an Arrow, Error, by Katja Mater. Katja will be joined by Elisabeth Klement on Saturday, designer of the self-published edition. Welcome!
Thu 19 November 2020 12h00-13h30
Join us for a close reading in collaboration with Passaporta of Claudia Rankine's The White Card. Together with Pelumi Adejumo we delve into the work of Claudia Rankine through her recently published play The White Card. This short play was written as a way to address whiteness in conversations about race through a brilliantly crafted conversation around a dinner table. Through its characters we are given the opportunity to reflect on the positions we take in conversations on anti-racism and the limits of empathy and sentimentality. Posing the question: can (American) society progress when whiteness remains invisible?
moreThu 22 October 2020 12:00
On the 22nd of October we will dive into the radical diary writing of activist and writer Lou Sullivan. Sullivan’s writing in We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan chronicles his life as a gay trans man and was awarded the Lambda Literary Award for Best Transgender Non-fiction in 2020 and a finalist for the Publishing Triangle Award. Brussels activist Robin Brettar will select fragments from Sullivan’s work and guide us through the text. In collaboration with Passa Porta, international house of literature.
moreSat 03 October 2020 12h00-20h00
We are very excited to announce that we are moving our shop and project this October to ARGOS! We welcome you to our new space now open 5 days a week. With a much larger and more accessible space we're looking to make it possible to spend time differently, with the books, the program, and one another. Welcome!
morePast Projects
Fri 28 August 2020 (14:00 CEST)
rile* is thrilled to present a conversation with Vava Dudu, Alberto García del Castillo and Geo Wyeth, hosted by Marnie Slater. The conversation centers around the publication of the first anthology of poetry by fashion designer, musician, painter, and Paris icon Vava Dudu. Vava’s poems are culled from language she prints and publishes on garments, as well as song lyrics from her electro-punk band La Chatte.
moreThu 30 July until Mon 17 August 2020
We are looking for people interested in helping with the bookshop and our events. In the fall we will be expanding the opening hours of our bookshop, and be more accessible, taking into consideration the current health and safety measures. If you are interested or if you have any further questions please email us at rile.space@gmail.com before the 17th of August.
moreMon 15 June until Fri 19 June 2020
rile* opens an online reading room for The School for Temporary Liveness Vol. 2, a week-long program around new formats for knowledge-exchange within performance and dance presented by the University of the Arts MFA in Dance, Philadelphia. Contributions to the reading room by Lauren Bakst, Morgan Bassichis, Niall Jones, Wilmer Wilson VI, Tina Campt, Simone White, Arkadi Zaides, Rebecca Schneider, among many others.
moreSun 26 April 2020 (23:00 CEST)
Broadcast of 'Neighbor/ Treatment'
Last month Rachel Levitsky came by rile*. We ended up recording a reading from the new reprint of her poetry collection Neighbor (2020, 2009 - Ugly Duckling Press). In the meantime, things have changed. The second part of the show is a remote recording by Adrian Bridget around his self-published novel Treatment (2019). The novel consists of around 40 Treatments as chapters. Here's a few of them. Disclaimer: some parts near the end of the show have visual descriptions of gore. Music clips by O Yuki Conjugate, hosted by Sven Dehens for rile* and MPR.
moreSun 15 March until Mon 15 June 2020
Due to COVID-19 rile* is temporarily closed until further notice. However, we are still continuing our work remotely and are available for online orders. To make an order online you can now use our new online shop! If you want any assistance or recommendations or simply want to talk books, poetry, writing with us don't hesitate to get in touch via email, facebook or instagram— we'd be delighted!
moreFri 06 March 2020 (20:00)
Launch_ ce que laurence rassel nous fait faire
Welcome for the launch of 'ce que laurence rassel nous fait faire' a new publication by Agathe Boulanger, Signe Frederiksen and Jules Lagrange about and with Laurence Rassel, published by Paraguay Press. join us for a presentation and conversation with the three authors, the publisher and Laurence Rassel. x
moreSat 22 February 2020 (20h00)
Launch__Montez Press Interjection Calendar 005
We are celebrating the launch of Montez Press fifth edition of The Interjection Calendar with an evening of readings and performances from, Rene Matić, Bella Milroy, sabrina soyer, Lisa Robertson and Claudia Pagès.
moreFri 07 February until Sun 09 February 2020
rile* takes part in MOVEABLE TYPES, a curated book event by Frances Horn. Moveable Types highlights the importance of printed matter and publishing for contemporary art. At Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, the fair presents 18 publishers that especially have a close relation to poetry and performance.
moreSat 01 February until Sun 29 March 2020
rile* has been invited to participate in the next exhibition 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 / 1000 Bruxelles at Argos Arts, during which we will take over the bookshop at Argos with a new selection of publications and editions. Argos, the exhibition and our selection of books over there are open from Wed to Sun from 11-18h at the Rue du Chantier 13, just around the corner of Jeanne Dieleman's bio-fictional address. Our space and shop at the Rue Paul Devaux 3 is open from Fri-Sun from 12-18h. x
moreFri 31 January 2020 (15h00)
Reading at Random or Turning The Page (or Singing Out of Doors)
A communal reading plotted by and with (in random order): Virginia Woolf, Brenda R. Silver, Daniel Tiffany, rile*, Maria DiBattista, Clarissa Dalloway, Robin Hood, Paula Almiron, William Caxton, Ursula Le Guin, Hugh Latimer, the departed and forthcoming Anons, Lancelot and Morgan le Fay, Stefan Govaart, Shakespeare and the Elizabethans, Clara Amaral, Anne Carson, Lady Anne Bacon, Luciani Giovanni, Eleonora Federici, Emily Kopley, the witches of North Berwick, Samuel Delany, Fredrik Floen, Eothen Stearn, Robert Glück, Christiane Blattmann, Macbeth, Orlando, ...
moreTue 28 January until Fri 31 January 2020
rile* bookshop will be at Beursschouwburg from 17:30 everyday during Batard 2020. On Thursday at 17:00 we will join Engagement Arts for a conversation around self-organization and publishing in the foyer of Beurs. Welcome! More info on www.batard.be.
Sat 30 November 2019 (20:00)
Launch __ Real-Time Realist #2
Welcome for the launch of Real-Time Realist #2 at rile*. With readings by Lieven Lahaye and Jungmyung Lee. Published by J-LTF Press, “Real-Time Realist” is an experiment in the range of human affect through typography, visual art, and contemporary writing, based psychologist Robert Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions.
moreSun 17 November 2019 (16:00)
Launch __ Kathy Acker (1971-1975)
We welcome Claire Finch and Sébastien Jallaud for the launch of 'Kathy Acker (1971-1975)', a new publication of collected, mostly unpublished, early writings of Acker. The presentation will be followed by a conversation with Tessel Veneboer and a screening of [Untitled Tape 2] (1974) by Kathy Acker and Alan Sondheim.
moreSat 12 October 2019 (20:00)
Launch 'My Mother Laughs' + Another Gaze 3 with Daniella Shreir
Join us for the joint launch of 'My Mother Laughs' and the new edition of Another Gaze: A Feminist Film Journal, respectively translated and edited by Daniella Shreir.
moreSun 06 October 2019 (16:00)
Cyberpositive, a channeling __ Screening & Talk w Maggie Roberts
rile* welcomes Maggie Roberts for a screening and talk on the importance of fictioning. Maggie will discuss how fictioning, through speculation and sci-fi, has underpinned 0rphan Drift’s work since its inception in 1994.
moreSun 25 August 2019 (18:00)
Readings _ Rachel Levitsky and Nathalie Rozanes
rile* invites Rachel Levitsky (writer, editor and founder of Belladonna* Collaborative) and Nathalie Rozanes (writer, actor and performer) for an evening of readings and presentations. To mark the 20th anniversary of Belladonna* Collaborative, a feminist publishing collective based in New York, Rachel Levitsky will give a presentation on Anarcho-feminist institutional history through an essay she is currently writing on the history of Belladonna* Collaborative.
moreSat 24 August 2019 (19:30)
Book Launch _ Mette Edvardsen and Jeroen Peeters
Join us at rile* for the joint launch of Not Not Nothing by Mette Edvardsen and Something Some things Something else by Jeroen Peeters. Choreographer Mette Edvardsen and writer/dramaturg Jeroen Peeters will perform readings from their new books both published in February 2019 and present their publishing house Varamo Press.
moreSat 10 August 2019 (20:00)
next to all those organs you love
Next to all those organs you love is an evening bringing together artists and text workers who move between writing and performance.
moreThu 06 June 2019
Edition of No Private Problems by Eleanor Weber
No Private Problems by Eleanor Weber are 43 A3 poster-poems and 6 A4 profile texts (AP, AW, CV, JA, ML, SB) first printed (artist prints) for the exhibition at M.I/mi1glissé, Berlin, 24 February – 5 March 2016. Reprinted (1st edition) for rile*, Brussels, 6 June 2019.
moreSun 02 June 2019 (16:00)
Collective Launch: Koreografi, This Container and Engagement Arts
Koreografi (NO), This Container (SE/BE) and Engagement would like to invite you to a Collective Launch of our sister projects. Engagement will launch their first zine, This Container their 7th edition and Koreografi will present two publications. In gathering the three publication initiatives we open a conversation on feminist strategies for self-publication within dance practices. There will be readings from the publications and well as open conversation on the role of feminist self-publishing within dance.
moreWed 29 May 2019 (21:00)
Welcome to Salon Mercure, an open reading and txt salon, hosted by @lutlopl at rile*. Bring whatever you want to read or be read from. Come to listen and be listened to.
moreThu 09 May 2019 (20:00)
opening event with Angela Goh and Holly Childs
on May 9th rile* opens its doors, eyes and heart. we invite you to join us for the launch of our book shop and project space with a performance of Body Loss by Angela Goh and a reading of Hydrangea by Holly Childs. rile* comes from a joint interest in thinking of publishing as an expanded practice. it works as a project space and book shop for practices moving between performance, poetry, research, choreography and (independent) publishing. x
more