Zines and Beyond: Independent Publishing in the Real and the Virtual ABC No Rio October 14

Oct 14 2009 7:00 pm
Oct 14 2009 10:00 pm
Etc/GMT-5
Zines and Beyond: Independent Publishing in the Real and the Virtual Panelists: Michael Carter, Jim Fleming, Fly, Billy Miller and Seth Tobocman ABC No Rio 156 Rivington St. New York, NY 10002 Wednesday, October 14, 7-9pm “There is no apostrophe in zine. Zine is not short for magazine. A magazine is a product, a commercial commodity. A zine is a labor of love, producing no profit, and frequently a loss, of time at least. In a magazine, information is just another ingredient, thinly sliced layers to keep the cream filling of advertising from sticking together. Information is the reason a zine exists; everything else, down to the paper it’s printed on, is there to convey information.” -Larry-Bob, publisher of Holy Titclamps “The best zines, whatever their subject, do not inhabit a ready-made world; they create one unto themselves.” -Fred Wright, The History and Characteristics of Zines On Wednesday, October 14, 2009, ABC No Rio invites speakers with a wide range of backgrounds in zines, comics, radical book publishing and independent social networking sites to share their experiences and explore the role of DIY publishing. The five panelists will present their own experiences with independent media as well as consider its role for the distribution of political content in both the digital and print form. Zines have long and storied history, stretching back to earliest days of publishing. Written in 1776, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense can be viewed as a proto-zine, a self-published pamphlet castigating the British government and promoting American insurrection. In the 1930’s, fantasy and science fiction fans created fanzines, which featured reviews, articles, cartoons, and short fiction related to the subject their common devotion, produced by the fans themselves. The Zurich-based Dadaists, and later the Surrealists and Situationists, turned to underground publishing as a platform for their politically driven rants, détournement, and collages. In the 50’s and 60’s the San Francisco and Beat poets created mimeographed, small-run chapbooks to distribute their literary tracts. These miniature bursts of inspiration are all important antecedents to the contemporary zine. Juxtaposed with the magazine, a commercial venture and a vehicle for advertising, the zine is a labor of love, written from a personal point of view or aimed at a particular audience. Embedded in the zine is a critique of commodity culture, a holdout against the privatization of common interests, and a rejection of highbrow taste and aesthetics. With the arrival of the internet, many former zine makers began publishing online in the form of ezines, and later, blogs. In many ways, blogs and zines are similar—distributing vital information often overlooked by an increasingly consolidated mainstream media, written from a personal point of view, and aimed at a targeted audience. Still, important distinctions remain. Zines and Beyond is the final event of Hanging Out at No Rio, a 6-month project that invites nine artists to explore ABC No Rio, its history, and the changing face of the Lower East Side, curated by Erin Sickler. More information on the project can be found at: hangingout.abcnorio.org Panelist bios: Michael Carter is a poet, writer, performer and cultural critic, living in New York City. From 1982-92, he was the editor and publisher of the quintessentially East Village literary and arts journal zine redtape. His poetry and fiction have been published in many magazines and anthologies, including Up Is Up, But So Is Down: NY’s Downtown Literary Scene, 1974-1992 (NYU Press, 2006) and The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry (Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1999). He is the author of a book of poems Broken Noses and Metempsychoses (Fly By Night/Tribes Books, 1996). He was also vocalist/lyricist for the music/performance ensemble, The Vacuum Bag. Jim Fleming is a key mover of the eminent Autonomedia in New York City, the main US publisher of radical theoretical works on media and politics, and an autonomous zone for critical art discourse. Autonomedia publishes books on a wide variety of provocative and radical topics, such as anarchism, "autonomist" and extra-parliamentary marxism, cyber-feminism, the literature of psychedelics, and queer individualist novels. Well-known Autonomedia authors have included Antonio Negri, Peter Lamborn Wilson, Hakim Bey, and Silvia Federici. Autonomedia maintains the Interactivist Info Exchange, an online forum and blog relevant to progressive politics. Fly has been squatting in the Lower East Side of Manhattan since 1990 where she paints and draws comix and illustrations. Her work has appeared in the Juxtapoz, New York Press, Village Voice, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Punk Magazine, World War 3 Illustrated, Maximumrocknroll, Profane Existance and numerous other periodicals, zines, comics and books. Fly has been making zines for about 25 years now & has been a member of the World War 3 Illustrated collective since the early 90s. Her first book CHRON!IC!RIOTS!PA!SM! was published by Autonomedia in 1998. In 2003, she published the graphic novel-style book PEOPS, a collection of portraits and stories released by Soft Skull Press. PEOPS was the subject of an exhibition at the Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art, San Francisco, CA (2004) among other venues. Fly is currently working on a multitude of new book & comix projects including a new volume of PEOPs & an illustrated novel called Dog Dayz as well as recording a spoken word album with Physics Honors Students & also a new album with her hardcore band Zero Content. Billy Miller is an artist and writer. He has exhibited his work both nationally and abroad at venues including P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Deitch Projects and John Connelly Presents, New York and Kunstverein, München and has curated shows and events at The Randolph Street Gallery, The Center for Book Arts, and Autoversion Gallery, New York; The Jersey City Museum and 58 Gallery, Jersey City; and Exile, Berlin, among others. His writing has appeared in publications such as Vice, Index, K48, Won Magazine, and Butt. He is the editor and publisher of a number of independent publications including When Johnny Come Marching Home Again, No Milk Today, and Straight To Hell, a.k.a. The Manhattan Review of Unnatural Acts, which has published true reader-written sexual histories and cutting-edge male erotic photography for over three decades. Seth Tobocman is a radical comic book artist who has been a fixture of Manhattan's Lower East Side since 1978. In 1979, Tobocman began publishing the radical comic book World War Three Illustrated, with the help of Peter Kuper. He has been involved in the anti-war movement, the squatters’ movement and now the movement against corporate globalization. Tobocman has worked as an illustrator for the New York Times and other publications and authored several books including: Disaster and Resistance: Comics and Landscapes for the 21st Century (AK PRESS, 2008), War in the Neighborhood (Autonomedia, 2000) and You Don't Have to Fuck People Over to Survive (Soft Skull Press, 1999). He is currently working on a book about the economic crisis to be called Understanding the Crash. Tobocman was the subject of a solo exhibition at ABC No Rio and a two-man show at EXIT ART gallery. His images have been used in posters, pamphlets, murals, graffiti and tattoos by peoples movements around the world. ABC No Rio is a center for the arts on the Lower East Side, founded by artists committed to an actively engaged culture and a vision of expanded possibilities for our lives, our neighborhoods, our cities and our society. www.abcnorio.org