Zines microteach
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'Reading Zines' presentation July 2015
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Zines microteach
- 1. Reading zines Draft presentation & activity… http://library.artstor.org.arts.idm.oclc.org/library/secure/ViewImages?id=%2FDNCeCtIKzM9JS46fg%3D%3D&userId=gDdPeTM%3D&zoomparams=
- 2. Reading zines • Introduction to zines • How to ‘read’ zines – text & image • Reading zines activity in pairs • Post photo & ideas to Padlet wall • Feedback to group (zine- notsecret)
- 3. What are fanzines/zines? • Fanzines to zines • Self-published, non-profit • Free form controls of normal publishing • Usually DIY aesthetic • Various materials • Recent resurgence – zine fairs (zine- Bast)
- 4. What are zines about? • ‘Original fanzines’ • Punk zines, music zines • Photography • Comics & illustration • Craft (knitting, zine making) • Gender & feminism • Political modern zines • Perzines (personal focus)
- 5. Visual literacy “Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognises before it can speak. But there is also another way in which seeing comes before words. It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world…” John Berger (1972) Ways of Seeing
- 6. Zines as cultural artefacts • Shift from political to personal • Personal & social context are important • Zines are cultural artefacts (zine - Sniffin glue)
- 7. Manipulation
- 8. Reproduction
- 9. Typography Think about words and image Even the choice of typography contains meaning
- 10. Activity • In pairs pick out a zine that interests you • 2 mins individual reflection • Discuss the zine pairs, using questions as prompts • Take photo of zine and post thoughts to Padlet wall
Editor's Notes
- Today I thought I’d talk about something that was one of the themes of the LILAC conference in Newcastle a couple of weeks ago – threshold concepts. First I’ll say that I’m by no means an expert on this. It’s something which is providing me with a new way of thinking about library education rather than something I’ve actually put into practice, but I thought it worth sharing with others in case it’s of interest. Those that were at LILAC will already know about this, so apologies!
- Put basically, threshold concepts are areas of ‘troublesome knowledge’ where students can get stuck, or concepts or ideas that they can find it difficult to understand. Each discipline has them e.g. in literary theory examples might be deconstruction or postmodernism. These ideas might be difficult for students to grasp because they are super-complex, conceptually difficult, or involve troublesome language.
- Zine is short for fan magazine / became first of all FANZINE i.e. Sci-Fi fan magazines in 1930s USA ... then punk, such as Sniffin’ Glue (1976). Now, the fan element is not so key or strong and it is a zine. A zine is self-published, non-profit. What’s so great is that people do it for the love of it, or to get their message across. It’s a completely free form of expression (This is something that has been around since the invention of the printing press and has been important throughout history) Free from the controls of normal publishing. Zines can be about anything. Punk ethic of DIY– make it yourself, express your culture through the medium. Often cut and paste. The method of creation and content complement each other. Doesn’t have to cost much e.g. cheap photocopying, but often the time and money put into it isn’t made back. You don’t do it for the money (mostly given away for free or swapped for other zines). Materials - Can bind with staples, thread, wool, clips. Can have freebies i.e. embroidery thread, badges, patches. Can be small or large. Black and white or colour. On different types of paper, different kinds of covers. Resurgence linked to craft and make do and mend. In the face of Internet and blogs people still like something tactile. A way of expressing yourself, getting work known. Lots of zine fairs at the moment. Lots of art and design students involved. Current zines are less political and more personal / expressions of the self. Does this say anything about the times we are in now and society of the 1970s: current zines vs. the punk zines? Overlap with artists books? What is a zine? An argument that has not been resolved in the current scene.
- Photography zines Girl photographer (intro is good; tells of how she sees her zines vs her professional life) Elk Catalogue of concern (usually point out the acetate cover) Viewpoint Fanzine Photographique (x2) Modern punk / hardcore Agitate Modern hate vibe (point out the retro front cover / cassette imagery) Bonuscupped! Little zines about skateboarding (point out the size and simplicity) Zines which are closer to ‘book arts’ / or are glossier Parfait (note the binding) Smell of the wild No zine (made by an ex-LCC student) Rabbit love stories (stitched by sewing machine) Smaller, better, faster, flimsier Vexxed Political modern zines End of the beginning...E11/M11 (made by the community of road protestors) Eel (Hackney based; documenting changes in that area) Savage Messiah London Burning Collaborative Love to print (group of female printmakers) Collectivity (note the stitching on the front) Rum-muffel (shared zine) Sweat Shebang Original ‘fanzines’ Bam balaam Vague (anarchist, post-punk) Shocking pink (feminist mag which took on the style of a fanzine) Smiths indeed (covers mimic Smiths record sleeves) When Saturday comes (football fanzine; this issue discusses Hillsborough) In the City Art etc. Meow Uncanny (collage) Limo zine (concertina fold) Arts pneumonia Arty Bast (mimics the Vorticists’ ‘Blast’) Birdzine Theda Bara’s babies To have and to hold (mention the different types of paper used) Future Fantasteek (mention the materials used) Hello, let’s be friends Heuberger (printmaking) Mill Press Spaces Issue Not secret Feline vomitus (made by LCC students in the library (cream paper copier); show the poster inside it) This is a zine not a glossy Brighten up your writing (letterpress words) Der alienautomat Foreverland Joy doom manifesto (mention cover paper and binding) Week with Woody Wien (glossy; collaborative) New Wave cut and paste A gentleman’s guide to gig etiquette Personal (‘perzines’) Your pretty face is going straight to hell (mention the crayoned cover) I am a camera Gender and Feminism Electra Body talk (made by ex-LCC student) Pink mince Raise some hell (anti-patriarchal parenting) Girl/Boy (joint zine; one half is girl’s view, the other half is the boy’s) Shape and situate (posters of influential women; were displayed at Women’s Library) Queery zine (mention the size, simplicity and the paper bag) Reassess your weapons Poor lasses Aesthetically pleasing Comics Electric baby zine (mirror at the end) Sherlock Holmes vs Skeletor Up a blind alley Gissa job (looks like a JSA book) Trantastic comics Craft Fete (includes badge and thread binding) Sugar paper Zine making
- (Find quote related to zines e.g about zines as cultural artefacts??) In the modern world we are surrounded by images. Visual culture encompasses many media – drawings, paintings, graphic novels, photographs, television, film, digital images, news images, advertising, scientific images, animation, and with millions of images now circulating and being viewed on the World Wide Web and through social media. Visual culture is one of the ways we negotiate the world around us, so images matter more than ever. We should question zines as a cultural artefact. Zines are often a mixture of text and images, so looking at and thinking about zines can require us to think about text and image together… The following questions will help you to interpret, evaluate and use; to look, feel, describe and articulate… EVALUATING ZINES How often do we really ask questions of the images and other visual media we encounter? When we use images, it’s important for us to be fully aware, to be conscious and critical of what we are seeing. When using an image or visual resource, it’s important to describe your source and think about where the image comes from. This will help to ensure that we are using appropriate resources. As well as questioning the source of an image, it’s also important to think about the content of images and visual media. We can do this by observing the simple, easily described elements of the image, and by thinking about the meanings held within images. Objects and images are created within personal, societal and cultural contexts which shape their meaning. We the viewer then interpret their meaning from our own personal and cultural perspective. All visual media contains semantic meaning, so eve the typography within zines contains meaning and has been chosen for a reason. Think about why the author might have chosen this particular font. The zine may even be handwritten for a DIY effect. Typography produces different messages. The type or font can reveal as much as the words themselves. Visual literacy allows us to think critically, to question and analyse images in the same way me might question text or statistics.
- Political to personal - The original fanzines were often political, but they’ve increasingly moved into self-expression and are now more personal. So often more inward looking now, rather than outward looking (I’ve brought along examples of both). So when we are reading zines we need to think about the context (personal, social) in which they were created. Me and Bruce (and my dad) could be seen as both personal and political….
- DIY nature of zines. Often use appropriated image and text. E.g. creating collages from existing visual media in order to re-examine something, create or create something new. Examples…
- REPRODUCTION Think about quality, reproduction, intention? (again, DIY nature of ziens) etc Examples… When we are looking at an image in a book or online, it’s important to consider the quality of the image reproduction: Is the image reproduction of good quality? If the image is digital, what is the resolution, size, clarity, file format? Have the text/images been manipulated in any way? Think about colour, texture, size, and image quality.
- When you look at the zine, try to: Describe the zine. Analyse the zine, considering more than the obvious Raise questions about the zine and try to answer them Back up your ideas with evidence Think about what you are seeing
- Students moving from one space of understanding into another will pass through this threshold space where new things have to be integrated and others have to be let go of. This suspended state is known as a liminal state. In liminal states there is an oscillation- you might understand something for 10 seconds and then lose it again. This can be extremely stressful and students might sometimes use mimicry as a way of coping with this. This is actually something I’m experiencing at the moment because I’m currently learning guitar and struggling with music theory. I’ve realised I’m in this liminal space and often find myself ‘getting it’ and then it disappears again. I even sometimes pretend to understand something in my lessons because I’m embarrassed by this. It’s reminded me what an anxiety-provoking state this can be. But the crucial thing is that this anxiety is actually necessary to learning. Threshold concepts are transformative. Learning needs to be anxiety-provoking in order to take us into these new, uncertain places. Threshold concepts are also often irreversible and can be profound, changing what we know as well as who we are e.g. learning about feminist theory might change the way a student looks at life or their future.