zine is not dead! and art is not dead...yet?
reflections, favorites, and inspirations from tabling at zine not dead
hi friends,
one of my new year’s resolutions was to table at chicago zine fest (and i will in october! yay!), but tabling at zine not dead was an unexpected plus. the pessimistic part of me never expects to meet my resolutions, let alone exceed them, so this is a win for me. i’m happy about it, but dealing with mental/physical health issues lately makes my joys smaller and losses heavier. nevertheless, i did it—and by it, i mean sweat through 7 hours in a cramped, crowded, and AC-less church gym. despite the working conditions, it was my favorite tabling experience out of all the tabling i’ve done in the past. i’m just so sick of vintage resellers, $300 tabling fees, and boring vendor curation sponsored by corporations. zine not dead felt real, grassroots/community-focused, and well-curated. zine is not dead, and maybe art isn’t dead…in chicago…yet.
some thoughts from my notes app:
very well organized for a first-time fest, thank you organizers
refreshing to see a thriving alternative arts community in chicago
tabling is hard work, i forgot. u must hydrate or diedrate
the fun part is talking to people who approach your table/buy your work
this reminded me of why zines are so fun and great
i met people who traveled from detroit, nyc, and dc! that’s insane
i made new art! it’s been a loooooooong time since i made anything new
i need to bring a suitcase next time instead of a tote bag to transport tabling supplies and goods
my haul is tiny, but here are some of my favorites:
flesh by kelly wang: i’ve been a fan of their work since i bought their other zine, our grand station, a few years ago. i love their illustration style and sense of humor. in flesh, three short story comics explore private school, gender, and sociocultural norms in taiwan. this is part one of a longer series they’re working on and I can’t wait to read it!
some notes on publishing and education by robert baxter: i feel like he just gets it. his thoughts on publishing are so illuminating and insightful. you can read his zines, past curricula, and more at tiny.cc/robertbaxter.
here are some quotes that got me thinking:
A book is a space-time sequence.
Is language the only medium of literature? Or could an actual piece of paper be such a medium as well?
To know something is not a goal, but a starting point for our imagination.
Form must not be a vehicle for thought, it must be a way of thinking.
Publication is the creation of new publics in a culture of reading.
Publishing isn’t a passive medium; it is a part of our lives and societies, shaping them, guiding them sometimes even controlling them. Rarely looking inward, publishing helps define our world.
Self-publishing isn’t about spreading at all. It’s about autonomy.
The freedom of the craftsperson lies in their ability to work according to their own plan.
It is imperative that we publish not only as a means to counter the influence of a hegemonic “public,” but also to reclaim the space in which we imagine ourselves and our collectivity.
Let’s practice publishing less in terms of a noun (object), than a verb (process), that means “working politically” instead of making work “about politics.”
lucky risograph: is a press based in nyc. i love their overall aesthetic and curation. the pop-out zine fold was inspired by vintage taiwanese tiles—a cool example of the form becoming a way of thinking.
the floral observer by taxonomy press: this micropress based in detroit makes riso-printed quarterlies all about interacting with nature. i love the concept and design of this publication, and i talked to the printer (rachel hays) about creation, fests, and zines.
my zine collection continues to grow…
i felt very inspired seeing other zines and artist works. my love of what the zine is—an alternative form of book made by anyone, against Big Publishing, unique in form and content—was renewed. i loved seeing the different binding methods (spirals, sewn, colorfully-stapled), cut-outs, complex folds, pop-outs, and layouts varying in size and shape. The forms were wacky yet in perfect conversation with the content. this can’t be mass produced by Big Publishing! zines expand the possibilities of Book! it’s all about sitting at your desk at 3 am individually cutting every zine with an xacto knife. it’s slow and “inefficient” work but it’s anticapitalist and democratizing and that’s why i love it.
anyway, catch me at chicago zine fest this october! i hope to make new stuff and meet more cool people.
until next time,
Liana
"an alternative form of book made by anyone, against Big Publishing, unique in form and content" -- my favorite line and something that I keep thinking about :) a zine can only be made once and can be made by anyone