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News, analysis and comment publishing & writing

Zine-phobia
By Fiona Mackrell ArtsHub | Thursday, June 03, 2010

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EMERGING WRITERS FESTIVAL: The Zine Bus I have a confession to make I know its utter blasphemy, to be howled down and derided, but I just dont get zines'. No, they cry! Zines are raw expressions of individual creativity, honest and unpolished jewels in which artists explore and challenge societys oppressive norms and throw off the constrictions of main stream media to facilitate independent publishing and true self-awareness and provide empowered diversity within a vibrant and diverse sub-culture. Thats an awfully big way of describing photocopying. Zines are essentially very, very small self-publications often by one person, or a tightly knit group that usually have print runs under a hundred. The makers dont expect a lot of people to read them, but they love the craft, the hobby, the process. I admire the tenacity, the ingenuity even the self-indulgent stubbornness of just doing a thing because you like doing it. Writers have to practice and public display is a crucial part of that process. Occasionally there is good writing in them. Writers can use zines to build a fan base and a career. Theyre like publishing house submission piles for the rest of us, lots of slush, the occasional gem.

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Some zines are transformed successfully into books by edgy publishers, such as YOU by Luke from Sticky Institute, which has recently been compiled in book form, and comic artist Mandy Ord, who started out making zines. The Emerging Writers Festival was very excited about the Zine Bus, the world first zine fair on a double decker party bus that trundled around inner Melbourne last Saturday, 30 May. After all the zines did come first, with the Emerging Writers Festival just a sideshow at an Express Media zine fair. But seven years on and the tables have turned. The zine fair has become atomised, quietly circling around the main action way out on its own. Last year saw some criticism that zines were getting marginalised so the bus served to correct that, giving them profile once again. Represented were some of the most prominent zine people in Melbourne, Sticky Institute, Death of Zinester, Eddy Burger and Oslo Davis. The write-up from the festival promised innovative displays of art, creativity and DIY indie lit takin it to the streets it was all to culminate in a guerrilla zine market at Fed Square. Craig Schuftan would be there, and hes funny. And the bus conductor, Andrew Finegan would be doing librarian stand up. Come on, how cool. But then it was a bit rainy that Saturday. Maybe my expectations were a bit high. Getting on the Zine Bus as it sat big and red and doubly on the kerbside of the Edinburgh Gardens I didnt know what to expect but I almost felt excited. What I found was about 10 people, all participants not punters, some very serious, and some very cheerful as they desperately tried to entertain themselves by typing a collaborative story on a typewriter. Aside from the curiosity of seeing people doing things manually on paper, the proffered cheese and biscuits platter and the inspiration to be gained from their positive attitude in the face of such limited public awareness, it was disappointing. A few people wandered in, but most of the interest was coming from the bus driver and his wife, overheard saying things like, so what do you do when youre not doin this crap? Perhaps the excitement would have been greater had I travelled with the bus between stops, as the war-stories were explained to me about the fun of keeping the various zines displayed on the seats as the bus went around corners. However, what depressed me was that from the selection of zines I bought, (yes, paid money for), there was so little content (I found) worth reading. That the crowds didnt show, at least not in Edinburgh Gardens was probably not that unexpected. Not many people knew about it and an even smaller number of people seemed to care. Its been awhile since they have. After all the whole phenomenon got going in the 80s becoming a world-wide frenzy by the mid 90s and continued as a strong movement in Melbourne even as interest has waned. Despite this, the history of the zine is worth recognizing. Zines seeded great things. Lets not forget Boing Boing, started out as a little zine. The zine scene these days, from a wander around in and out of The Sticky Institute and the festival seems in contrast to be occupied with literate luddites, digging itself into a
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counter culture crevice rejecting the blogosphere and the Internet and seeking out the clothes and technology of a pre-wired word. Its cute, like patchworking. People who persist with pens, and sticky tape, who make found object books from the trail ends of photocopiers and hold it together with needle and thread, and then fold it into origami. The Emerging Writers Festival celebrates emerging writing in all its forms, whether from unknown writer to known, unpaid to paid, experimental writing in emergent writing contexts or encouraging and developing aspirant writers in their writing craft. Zines certainly finds a place within that context. But in any number of the talks and seminars there was a focus on writing as something to take seriously and to do well; for many people there, it was about improvement, professionalism and craft. There was a strong case made that doodles in your diary and love-pained scribbles in your note-books were unlikely to be sought after reading. Zines are diametrical opposite to that careerism, its the very thing their cheer squad loves, but it seems theres too much emphasis being put on taking zines seriously and very little on making them good. The zines that interest are often explorations of paper design, of the comic form or showcase quiet and intriguing illustration. There are the flickers of emergent creativity and new voices that make you sit up, but they are few and far between. It all makes you realise the zines not about the content. Maybe Ive got it all wrong, I thought you were supposed to read them. Some very serious people take zines very seriously. Libraries collect them, linguists and PhDs study them and art councils love funding them - it makes them look like they understand youth culture, inclusiveness and grassroots artistic movements. Zine Fairs seem to me however, the literary equivalent of Star Trek conventions, complete with the obsessive fans, head-turning outfits, displays, and mysterious language, which while not Klingon can be equally impenetrable. As the zine craze wanes, how long can it remain in the folds of festivals like the Emerging Writers Festival? Can they find a place at all in more mainstream festivals? I wonder if were in the dip of the cycle, and that in a few years time zines will rise again, like yo-yo's, in an endless looping fashion. I have this horror that in fifty years time I will be subjected to seeing zines under glass in art galleries with deep and meaningful explanations of the importance they played in the transitional and limited rebellious period against the dominance of global digital publishing. And I still wont want to read them. Fiona Mackrell Fiona Mackrell is the Sub-Editor at ArtsHub. E: editor@artshub.com.au

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