Knust

The artist initiative KNUST was founded in 1983 by Jan Dirk de Wilde in the former squat building De Westland in Nijmegen/Netherlands and is still active today. It emerged from the crack and punk movement and made a name for itself worldwide with striking, completely original stencil art. Between 1983 and 1987 KNUST operated from the colourfully painted squat De Westland and then moved to its current location: Extrapool. Under this name, a stage and production house developed in the field of art, music and print, with a central role for stencil workshop cosiness. In those days the printing was done with analogue stencilmachines of Roneo and Gestetner. Stencilprinting was an easy way of making selfpublished books and zines and a cheap alternative for copyprinting. This quickly led to a growing demand for Knust’s printed matter. Over the years, Knust has developed in stencilprinting, Riso (and Ricoh) and has inspired and helped other makers and starting workshops in working with this printing technique.