März 29th, 2012

Behind the Zines: Self-Publishing Culture

Posted in bücher by Dolf

Die Gestalten, Mariannenstr. 9-10, 10999 Berlin, www.gestalten.com

You better check this out, before you get it. It is not about the Fanzines you and me know…. it is about, hmmm, art-zines – some of them deal with media and graphic design, but most of the zines presented here are – art. Many of them are in super small print runs, sometimes only 10, not sure if that is in order to become a collectible or because of lack of interest. The book has 5 chapters: gallery, archive, laboratory, kiosk and theater. Each chapter starts with an interview with one of the zinemakers (about how they produce their zines, or distribute them, why they do them, etc.) and then lots of them zines are presented, a short description (and info on:year, publisher, edition, frequency, format, print technologie) and images of the zines. Correct, photos of flipped open fanzines.. I told you, art!

Here are some names: Freemans Journal, Faund, Kid Acne, Derzeit, Blindschleiche und Riesenblatt, Fukt Magazin, Mono Kultur, Opak, Fun… to name just a few. The book is well done and looks great, unfortunally most of the presented zines, I mean, art was boring to me. Some of the (bigger) zines sparked some interest but most of it was about the „art of making a zine“ and the content was, well, art – what can I say. I expected something quiet different but was introduced to a world so far unknown to me. The editors, R. Klanten, A. Mollard and M. Hübner did a good job, only the english language used… I guess you have to use those words when you describe art. Nice softcover, 24 x 28 cm, 240 pages – I can tell you, there is alot to look at! (dolf)

39,90 Euro

Isbn 978-3-89955-336-9

[Trust # 152 February 2012]

Both comments and pings are currently closed. RSS 2.0