Making Holes in the Water: A Limited-Edition Venetian Poetry-Photography Book Debuts During Biennale Arte 2026

Niels Knud-Ole Koschoreck and his artist alter ego Varian Viciss release a 100-copy hand-stitched edition with renowned Venetian publisher Damocle Edizioni - a quiet meditation resonating well with Koyo Kouoh's "In Minor Keys."

VENICE, ITALY - On the eve of the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Venice/London based renaissance man Niels Knud-Ole Koschoreck releases his first poetry book, making holes in the water (Venetian Poems), a hand-stitched limited edition published by Damocle Edizioni. With black-and-white photography by his artist alter ego Varian Viciss, the book launches during the opening week of the Biennale and is limited to 100 numbered, signed copies. There will be no second printing.
The book's preoccupations - bridges, tides, mirrors, prayer, the in-between, the serene joy on the other side of sorrow - echo with striking precision the curatorial vision of the late Koyo Kouoh for Biennale Arte 2026, In Minor Keys. The Biennale describes the exhibition as one in which "the minor keys, often associated with strangeness, melancholy and sorrow," give way to "joy, solace, hope, and transcendence," and where "poetry is the beating heart." Koschoreck's poems, written in Venice over months of contemplative wandering, hold a similar register - what he describes as "the depths masked by distracting surfaces."
"Venice taught me that arrival and departure are the same gesture," Koschoreck says. "My life is measured in bridges. The space from here to there - the in-between - is where life actually lives. I wanted to write from inside that space, not about it."
The book is published by Damocle Edizioni, the celebrated independent house founded in 2009 by Pierpaolo Pregnolato in Venice's San Polo district. Damocle is recognised for handmade, movable-type artist books and bilingual editions of internationally acclaimed writers, including Ai Weiwei, Yang Lian, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Allen Ginsberg. Each copy is hand-printed and hand-stitched in Venice - a continuation of the city's typographic tradition that, by the close of the 15th century, accounted for roughly one-third of all books printed in the world.
The photographs are by Varian Viciss, Koschoreck's artistic alter ego for fine-art black-and-white work. The images do not illustrate the poems but "echo them from another dimension" - a bridge in mist, mirrors mirroring mirrors, an angel against an empty sky, a single swimmer in the lagoon at dawn.
Pre-orders are open at nielskoschoreck.com/venetianpoems, with four tiers: the book alone; book plus an audio recital read by the author; book, audio, and a video conversation about the poems' origins; and a fourth tier including a signed Instax print by Varian Viciss in a sub-edition of twelve.
The book will be officially presented during the opening days of Biennale Arte 2026 - a moment when, in Koschoreck's words, "the city is unusually alive, and at the same time strangely even more fleeting."

Niels Koschoreck
154A Calle Lanza
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eMail: niels@nk-consulting.net
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Niels Knud-Ole Koschoreck is a writer, consultant, and contemplative thinker based between Venice and London. His work spans cultural philosophy, mysticism, and personal transformation, published across his German Substack GedankenGänge and the English Substack Culture for Living. 
making holes in the water is his first published book of poetry.
ABOUT VARIAN VICISS
Varian Viciss is the artistic alter ego of Niels Knud-Ole Koschoreck, working primarily in photography and performance art across Venice and London.
ABOUT DAMOCLE EDIZIONI
Founded in 2009 by Pierpaolo Pregnolato, Damocle Edizioni is an independent Venetian publishing house specialising in handmade, hand-stitched, multilingual artist books printed with movable type. Located in San Polo (Calle del Perdon 1311), the house has published works by Ai Weiwei, Yang Lian, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Allen Ginsberg, and is regularly cited among Venice's most distinguished bookshops and small presses.
PUBLICATION DETAILS
Title: making holes in the water (Venetian Poems)
Author: Niels Knud-Ole Koschoreck
Photography: Varian Viciss
Publisher: Damocle Edizioni, Venice
First edition: April 2026
ISBN: 978-88-32163-62-9
Format: Hand-stitched, numbered, signed
Edition: 100 copies
Language: English (Italian provenance)

This release was published on openPR.