Some books are born in publishing houses.
Mine was conceived in an art academy that promised freedom and then backed out when I used it. It was a dead miscarriage.
In 2008, while I was studying at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, I was invited by the Graphic Design Department to create and publish an art book for Veenman Publishers as part of their series of student publications. I asked Sina Khani to join me as copywriter.
It felt generous.
It felt bold.
It felt like someone had handed us matches and assured us the building was fireproof.
We were given pure artistic freedom.
“Unbridled freedom of speech.“
Those were the words.
I took them seriously.
For six months we worked our Middle Eastern asses off inside a beautiful creative mayhem, pushing ideas as far as they wanted to go. No safety rails. No polite compromise. Just the work.
On the final day, the tone shifted. The manuscript was suddenly considered too bold for the times. Too much. Too direct, humorous, and respectless.
Freedom, it turned out, had fine print.
Our teachers Linda van Deursen and Will Holder decided the project would not move forward. Just like that, it was cancelled.
I learned something useful that day. Institutions funded to support experimentation often love the word radical, as long as it behaves.
Seventeen years later, we have returned to the original manuscript. We did not soften it. We did not update it to suit the mood of 2025. We only added this short introduction, a new cover, and a colophon.
The book now exists exactly as I intended back then.
Welcome to FART SCHOOL
I will present the book at HET SCHADUWBAL on March 13, hosted by The Unsafe House. It feels appropriate to relaunch a cancelled book in a space that does not panic when unsafe ideas breathe too loudly.
Seventeen years later, we have returned to the original manuscript. Now that we have reached the age our teachers were back then, we decided to put ourselves on the back cover. It felt appropriate. After all, if they were looking for guidance back then, maybe it is time the book looked back at us.
The book will be for sale at a modest price, just enough to cover our production costs.
Tunç Topçuoğlu
Amsterdam 2026