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Review

Borders As Living Forces

Through the Prism of Borders invites the reader to reflect on the complexity of borderlands and how they might be reimagined. The artwork is showcased in a traveling exhibition which opened this weekend in Bolzano, Italy.

Jorie Horsthuis | 19 Nov 2025

  • Europe
  • Books
  • Art

Review

Growing Up in Twin Cities

In Border Documents, writer and photographer Arturo Soto narrates the youth of his father on the border of the United States and Mexico. Despite all the challenges, his life was very colourful.

Jorie Horsthuis | 27 Oct 2025

  • Americas
  • Books
  • Family

De Facto recommends

Globalicious

Get lost in a lovely in Around the world in 200 Globes, a new publication of Luster by Willem Jan Neutelings. This book is a world in itself, with each highlighted globe telling its own story, whether it’s about trends, materials, political borders and scientific frontiers in the 20th century. A must for our readership.

Suzanne Hendriks | 24 May 2025

  • Books
  • Maps
  • Design
  • History
  • Politics

Past event

De Facto’s First Off the Map in The Hague

With music from Ukrainian born Alex Tugushin about borders that turn into battlefields and professor Henk van Houtum about why we should change our maps and atlases. Of course also with graphic designer Floor Koomen with a talk about Cabinda, a quiz by Suzanne Hendriks and moderation by Jorie Horsthuis.

Suzanne Hendriks | 18 Mar 2025

  • Europe
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Stamps
  • Music
  • Books

Review

Phantom Islands

In Isle of Seven Cities, visual artist and filmmaker Stéphanie Roland explores geographical fictions: islands which have been mentioned on maps, but never existed in reality.

Jorie Horsthuis | 17 Dec 2024

  • Books
  • Art
  • Photography

Review

Free the Map

Map attack! In Free the Map, a new publication by Henk van Houtum, traditional maps are challenged and new cartographic stories and representations are discussed and encouraged. A must for our readership.

Suzanne Hendriks | 12 Mar 2024

  • Maps
  • Books
  • Design
  • Politics
  • History

Past event

Equatorial Republic

On June 24, 2023, bookstore Evenaar in Amsterdam declared the independence of the Equatorial Republic. De Facto was one of the guests and introduced the audience to the exciting world of micronations.

De Facto | 20 Jun 2023

  • Books

De Facto recommends Kurdistan

In the Shadow of History

American photographer Susan Meiselas created an extensive visual archive in collaboration with the Kurdish community. A retrospective of her work is now on show in FOMU, Antwerp.

De Facto | 28 Mar 2023

  • Middle East
  • Photography
  • Art
  • Books

Review

Fortuitous Lines

Borders create paradoxes: when you cross them, everything changes but much stays the same. In Borderlands, Dutch journalist Milo van Bokkum describes this paradox and the way locals deal with the complexities caused by these often arbitrarily drawn lines.

Jorie Horsthuis | 20 Mar 2022

  • Europe
  • Asia
  • Africa
  • Books
  • Politics
  • History
  • Maps

Review

Fighters on Flip Flops

Photographer Philippe Dudouit is one of the few foreigners who continues to travel to the Sahelo-Sahara region. His remarkable work The Dynamics of Dust gives an exceptional insight into the shifting alliances in this vast area that is often neglected in world politics.

Jorie Horsthuis | 4 Feb 2021

  • Africa
  • Photography
  • Books
  • Politics
  • Music

Review

Blood and Honey

In Blood and Honey: Encounters at the Borders of the Balkans, Dutch journalist Irene van der Linde and documentary photographer Nicole Segers set out to document the borders of the Balkans. The picture they show is rather grim.

Jorie Horsthuis | 13 Jan 2021

  • Balkans
  • Photography
  • Politics
  • Art
  • History
  • Books

Review

Blood and Circuses

While football may strive to be apolitical and unite people, it has become highly politicised. In Blood and Circuses, Robert O’Connor delves into the collective memory and experiences of football by people who are living in contested territories like Transnistria and Kosovo.

Ramesh Ganohariti | 30 Nov 2020

  • Europe
  • Balkans
  • Caucasus
  • Books
  • Sports
  • Politics

Review

Engagement without Recognition

Isolation or interaction? In The Politics of International Interaction with De Facto States the authors explore the conundrum for politicians and policy makers: how to deal with de facto states in the international arena?

Jorie Horsthuis | 25 May 2020

  • Books
  • Politics
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