In recent years, zines, a type of self-publishing, small-circulation books, have proliferated across China and other Asian societies. In China, this wave has significantly risen during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. Why have zines become popular? Who produce, publish, circulate, read, and archive zines? What can we learn from zines and the practice of self-publishing? Saansausau, a research group on self-publishing, conducts conversations with dozens of zine makers in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, as well as in diaspora Chinese communities.
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/Exhibition/
脫機晾紙：自出版行動備忘 / Airing Paper (offline): Rise of Self-publishing Waves
立方計劃空間 TheCube Project Space, 2F, No 13, Aly 1, Ln 136, Sec 4, Roosevelt Rd, Taipei, Taiwan
2024/05/25 — 2024/06/09
Airing paper, a technical term in the printing industry, refers to a procedure of paper moisture conditioning to restore its nature and resilience, where paper lies flat in a ventilated space. Offline indicates the decentralized mode of production combining mechanical printing and craftsmanship in the course of zine making, unlike the capital-intensive in-line production in print capitalism. The term further connotes the spontaneous, autonomous, and ambiguous self-printing movement, prompting a dialogue with contemporary cultural production in terms of calculation (jixin), machinery (jiqi), and institutions (jizhi).
While digital fatigue seeps into our contemporary life, (offline) serves as a visual index of disconnection from computer networks. By revisiting the self-publishing movement, Airing Paper (offline) sheds light on the potentiality of the analog, tactile, and embodied medium, which is seemingly out-of-date. Further seen in a dialectic of movement and stillness, the act of airing implies an undercurrent of social transformation waiting in the wings.
Airing Paper (offline): Rise of Self-publishing Waves offers a contour of the self-publishing practice in contemporary China and charts their scattered, autonomous configurations and routes by featuring a significant number of zine publishers’ works. Amid the time of obscurity and uncertainty, Airing Paper (offline) rises to the horizon and encounters friends via curatorial practice.
Dates: 2024.05.25 — 2024.06. 09 (Wed-Sun 2pm – 8pm)
Venue: TheCube Project Space
Curator: Saansausau