RAVENING/RAVELLING/REVELLING
Book Arts newsletter
No. 40, March/April 2008
UWE Bristol, School of Creative Arts, Department of Art and Design
Review by Jurate Sasnaitis
Secrets of the Photocopier, an exhibition at Platform Artists Group,
as part of Festival of the Photocopier presented by Sticky Institute
Zines are often difficult to define and it is this difficulty of
defining zines that contributes to its ever-changing dynamics and freedom
that encourage experimentation and innovative art forms. —
public service announcement by Sticky Institute
Does anyone still remember the Gestetner machine, a method of reproducing
documents by stencil? Does anyone remember the drum and unstable blue
ink of the mimeograph? Does anyone know that 'photostat' is not another
word for photocopy? It's actually the original projection photocopying
process invented in the 1900s. Gosh those were the days! Making multiples
was not that easy: technology was neither accessible nor cheap. Now
we have inexpensive, easily accessible copying. Moreover practically
every home, business and institution has a printer attached to their
computer. The world is the oyster of every bod inspired to self-publish
a small circulation, non-commercial, minority interest zine.
ravening: [of a ferocious wild animal] extremely hungry and hunting
for prey
On the other hand, practically every bod and her uncle with a computer
attached to that printer has her own blog. So what’s the point,
you may well ask, why bother? If blogging is replacing the zine, how
is it that a zine exhibition in the Degraves St Subway can attract hundreds
of punters, not merely passing on their way to catch a train but genuinely
interested and intrigued? Easy! Because there is something about the
tangible object, whether that's to do with ownership or tactile appreciation
or the colour and texture and delight of many different ideas rubbing
up against each
other, people love it. People need it...
ravelling: [noun rare] a tangle, a cluster, or knot
I love it! I walk wide-eyed with wonder by the stalls and exhibition
windows of the launch of Festival of the Photocopier, pouncing occasionally
on that particularly tasty miniature book or "monster in a box".
From a distance Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison's fluorescent lit window
is a blur of bluish-white; closer, a melange of white critters have
escaped the confines of the arctic watercolour behind them and skitter
across an icy ground strewn with at least 19 zines (hope I counted correctly),
publications which prove that low tech does not equate with low quality.
Here it is possible to learn many things, from putting a publication
together in How to... plan for commercial printing to the more
esoteric archaeological pursuit of How to... spot a phoney fossil.
Oh, and is that marsupial-rat-thingy (not good on animals, sorry) about
to chew on Gracia’s collages in Postcards from... A trapdoor
in everyroom? And is the lazy turtle about to get off on Have
wheels, will go, the zine for those with major automobile lurve,
or is turtle turned on by Footy Essentials, or frozen by the
thought behind Louise's Before it's too late? So much to savour,
not least of which a few recipes from Three in the Kitchen,
a collaboration between Shari Altman, Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison.
revelling: engage in lively and noisy festivities, esp. those which
involve drinking and dancing
People make beautiful things though they speak of the injustices and
madness of the contemporary world. I wend my way through the crowds
and attempt to find a common thread amidst the plethora of ideas and
the range of print technology. After all, 'photocopier' is a bit of
a misnomer when faced with the splendid production of Present History
from The Contextual Villains, for which they won an Australian Desktop
Magazine Award in the category of Best Design for Creative Print Media.
What does emerge are notions of political vandalism, social satire,
visual appropriation and the primary function of sharing a very particular
enthusiasm, if not obsession. From All Thumbs Press you might get a
pithy comment on cultural difference, hand printed with big fat stamps
and illustrated with delicate pencil drawings. From DNA a sample of
a real FANzine dedicated to punk and alternative music that goes back
to 1979! Erinsborough Exploits speaks for itself, or rather, from the
mouths of soap stars come philosophical musings that never graced the
storyboards of prime time television.
The twelve windows of Secrets of the Photocopier reveal far
more than what is implied by the title of this exhibition. It's the
secrets of the heart we find here; years of changing and challenging
passions laid out for our amusement, and perhaps our edification.
Jurate Sasnaitis
Secrets
of the Photocopier
{Image below, Looking for a way in, postcard
collage by Gracia.}
