Mark Manders and Roger Willems remain independent from institutions or commercial publishing houses and the books produced by Roma Publications are, for the most part, low-budget projects. Artistic freedom is essential to their work and enables them to realize each publication exactly as conceived by its author, without time constraints or concessions. Mark Manders, the creator of numerous installations, also conceives of the book as an object and as an exhibition space, to which he devotes himself with enthusiasm.

From this starting point, the move towards activity as a curator was a logical step. Also for the presentation at the Museum Weserburg, Manders and Willems where taking care for the display of their publishing programme! Roma Publication 179 by Arnoud Holleman appears on the occasion of the exhibition in the Research Centre for Artists’ Publications.

The Research Centre for Artists’ Publications was able to acquire the complete catalogue of Roma Publications (more than 150 publications) with the support of the Knecht-Drenth Fonds/Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.