THE CASE OF THE SUITCASE
Research and publication by Burta Qollective
2025/2026
writing, east-europe, diaspora, packaging
The Case of the Suitcase (2025) is a playful experimental zine created by two friends who love eating & feeding, and who have somewhat expert knowledge in the packing of cross-continental suitcases, Ryanair backpacks, and leaky foods sent from East Asia/Eastern Europe.
This 48-page, Riso-printed collection of investigative iMessage chats, queer/feminist food smuggling memories, low-tech recycling of containers containing things they were not built to contain, and the never-ending tug-of-war between a mother who wants to send too much food and the minimalist adult child who is tired of telling her to stop sending so much stuff. Lots of cute illustrations.
Three-colour riso printed by humans.
Available at KIOSK Rotterdam, Nowhere Bookstore (The Hague), Riso & Friends (Rijeka). PDF version coming Spring 2026.
Edition of 200. Complementary A4 fold-out poster. Languages: Doodles, English, Croatian, Korean, Romanian
Created by Burta Qollective (Ioana Lupașcu & Jiye Seong-Yu). Published by Riso & Friends, Rijeka, Croatia.
This 48-page, Riso-printed collection of investigative iMessage chats, queer/feminist food smuggling memories, low-tech recycling of containers containing things they were not built to contain, and the never-ending tug-of-war between a mother who wants to send too much food and the minimalist adult child who is tired of telling her to stop sending so much stuff. Lots of cute illustrations.
Three-colour riso printed by humans.
Available at KIOSK Rotterdam, Nowhere Bookstore (The Hague), Riso & Friends (Rijeka). PDF version coming Spring 2026.
Edition of 200. Complementary A4 fold-out poster. Languages: Doodles, English, Croatian, Korean, Romanian
Created by Burta Qollective (Ioana Lupașcu & Jiye Seong-Yu). Published by Riso & Friends, Rijeka, Croatia.
Scans of publication. Design of image by Ana from Riso and Friends & Jiye and Ioana reading from the zine at Date with a Book, Kunstbar Den Haag, 2026
CORRUPT
A three-part experimental writing workshop on rurality and post-socialist belonging.
2025
writing, rural, east europe, post-socialism, workshop
The workshop invites people with connections or interest in rural places to explore the quiet, often unspoken forms of intimacy, solidarity, and refusal that shape post-socialist rural life.
Over three sessions, we moved from theory to text to making: theoretical and social prompts drawn from Eastern European and queer feminist thinking inform the writing exercises; we developed those texts through editing and feedback; and finally, we made a small collective publication (zine).
The title CORRUPT is borrowed from Veda Popovici’s essay “Solidarity in Illegality: How the Corrupt East Is Already a Queer East”, which uses notions of corruption to describe the informal, affective, and often invisible solidarities that sustain life beyond state or capitalist logics.
Workshops hosted at WET & Kiosk Rotterdam and organised by
Research made possible by a financial contribution from CBK Rotterdam.
Over three sessions, we moved from theory to text to making: theoretical and social prompts drawn from Eastern European and queer feminist thinking inform the writing exercises; we developed those texts through editing and feedback; and finally, we made a small collective publication (zine).
The title CORRUPT is borrowed from Veda Popovici’s essay “Solidarity in Illegality: How the Corrupt East Is Already a Queer East”, which uses notions of corruption to describe the informal, affective, and often invisible solidarities that sustain life beyond state or capitalist logics.
Workshops hosted at WET & Kiosk Rotterdam and organised by
Rural Relation Writing Club
Research made possible by a financial contribution from CBK Rotterdam.
What stories take root in rural relations—and how might writing help us trace them?
A slow-growing series of writing workshops exploring rural life, memory, and imagination. Each session centres on a theme—kinship, grief, or harvest—and invites participants to write from personal experience, collective rituals, and everyday observations.
Gatherings follow a simple rhythm: we eat together, write through a series of gentle prompts, and share what we choose to. The space is informal, welcoming, and open to anyone curious about rural storytelling in all its forms and languages, no writing experience needed.
Initiated and organised in collaboration with Myvillages & Seasonal Neighbours, the group grows from the belief that rural stories deserve time, attention, and collective care.
The title is borrowed from Seasonal Matters: Rural Relations, the book is published by Seasonal Neighbours. It emphasises the social and emotional ties that shape rural life.
You can reach me at writing.rural.relations@gmail.com
A slow-growing series of writing workshops exploring rural life, memory, and imagination. Each session centres on a theme—kinship, grief, or harvest—and invites participants to write from personal experience, collective rituals, and everyday observations.
Gatherings follow a simple rhythm: we eat together, write through a series of gentle prompts, and share what we choose to. The space is informal, welcoming, and open to anyone curious about rural storytelling in all its forms and languages, no writing experience needed.
Initiated and organised in collaboration with Myvillages & Seasonal Neighbours, the group grows from the belief that rural stories deserve time, attention, and collective care.
The title is borrowed from Seasonal Matters: Rural Relations, the book is published by Seasonal Neighbours. It emphasises the social and emotional ties that shape rural life.
You can reach me at writing.rural.relations@gmail.com
FOOD IS POLITICAL
WRITING GROUP
2025 - ongoing
Food is Political is a collective writing practice initiated by five Rotterdam-based cultural workers — Ioana Lupașcu, Olfa Arfaoui, Knar Ohanjanyan, Oishika Basak, and Tuba Kılıç — who wanted to build community around shared food, cooking, and the politics behind both.
Since March 2025, the group has met monthly, fluctuating between 5 and 14 people, always around a meal at someone's home. Each session is built around a theme, a table, and a series of writing exercises.
The gatherings centre on community, process, and shared authorship, with an evolving focus on building towards a collective publication. The group is currently in its second season.
Since March 2025, the group has met monthly, fluctuating between 5 and 14 people, always around a meal at someone's home. Each session is built around a theme, a table, and a series of writing exercises.
The gatherings centre on community, process, and shared authorship, with an evolving focus on building towards a collective publication. The group is currently in its second season.
Ceci Gheghi Writing Group
February ‘25
Rotterdam-based writing group for diasporic voices from Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Through themed sessions, we explore memory, place, and language shaped by migration, the diasporic experience, and cultural hybridity. Each session departs from a sensory or spatial theme—flavours, interiors, non-stop shops—to prompt reflection and creative experimentation. Rooted in collective storytelling, we create a space where personal histories, overlooked rituals, and untranslatable emotions become the fabric of new narratives.
*The name comes from Romanian phonetics—"ce, ci, ghe, ghi"—sounds that mark difference, mistranslation, and the small linguistic frictions that shape identity. Like these sounds, our writing exists in the in-between: between languages, homelands, and selves.
writing, rural, east europe, post-socialism, workshop
*The name comes from Romanian phonetics—"ce, ci, ghe, ghi"—sounds that mark difference, mistranslation, and the small linguistic frictions that shape identity. Like these sounds, our writing exists in the in-between: between languages, homelands, and selves.
writing, rural, east europe, post-socialism, workshop
