Thursday, November 16, 2006

rundown

Here's the rundown of my zine activities for the past 2 months:
- finished new hisWorld/herWorld
- finished Art School Chronicles: Year 2
- started on Choose Your Own Moral Code! part 2
- gallery show involving visitors making zines
- went to Madison Zine Fest
- kept up with Zine Machine
- presentation on zines/MadZineFest
- Zine Workshop
- now working on zine history presentation

whew. i'm getting burnt out on zine stuff. i'm only 1/4 way through all the great zines i picked up in madison, and those are the little visual ones that don't take much time to read. all of this academic zine activity has taken all the fun out of zines for me. i think when this semster is over, all i want to do is read them and make them...

hey, what about all this academic activity around zines? does having a zine fest on a university campus change the nature of zine culture? do we change the fringe-ness of zine culture when we discuss them in a classroom setting? or are we discussing them in a classroom setting because the fringe-ness has changed?

most of the zines i've seen lately don't fall into the stereotypical perception of rebellious, subversive activity. in fact, they're quite charming. lately, there seems to be an inundation of perzines that tell stories of love and loss, shame, guilt, anger, thrills, personal revelations... sure, they're not the stories that you'd typical find in Cosmo or GQ, but they don't really shock, and most of them aren't going to start any revolutions. then again, maybe these are the zines i notice the most because these are the zines i love the most. the simple stories of everyday things that happen all around us - this is what really tells us what life is all about. we're so bombarded by front-page news of astounding events by powerful people, but these make up such a tiny fraction of what really affects our lives. that's how it goes: "small animals make first paths". i love being a small animal, carving out a small path, and i want to know what all you other small animals are out there doing, too.

W-or-ks-ho-p

The zine workshop was a lot of fun - thanks to everyone who came out to join us. Here are some photos taken by Cody, and our collaborative zine should be available in the zine machine sometime next week.






Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Zine Workshop


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The Zine Machine crew will be hosting a Zine Workshop this Sunday, November 12th, at the Arts Iowa City Gallery from 1-5pm. We will discuss methods and materials, the history of zines, look at an assortment of zines from around the country, and work on a collaborative zine for everyone to take home. It's free and open to the public and for all ages. Please email us at info@zinemachine.org if you plan on coming (space is limited).
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