One of the tricks that made you feel like a rebel when making and trading zines in the 1990s was coating stamps with soap or paper glue. This prevented the postmark from sticking, so the stamps could be used several times. In addition to savings and a prankster’s joy, the trick bore the loose promise of a new zine arriving at your address, sooner or later (in addition to some very faded stamps). And the zines came from everywhere: the former Yugoslavia, Europe, both Americas, the Philippines and Malaysia. Ever since then, dust has been gathering on the evidence – boxes of zines, letters and postcards.
In my eyes, this exhibition transforms the zines from a lovely, intimate memory of the 1990s scene to museum exhibits, even though this goes against everything that drove us, fanziners, at the time. And even though some of the featured zines are still worth reading, even though I still make a zine on occasion (alone or with others), and even though today’s scene is very much alive, the selection is dominated by a historic view. It was dictated by the showcase – and don’t even get me started on the mailing labels and self-adhesive stamps. –Tea Hvala
Tea Hvala published her first zine Pssst … in 1997. After four issues and a half, it was followed by Potopis kože (2001), Slastičarna (KUD Anarhiv & KUD Mreža, 2002), The Curved (2004), Izvajanje velikega blatarja (self-published, Damijan Kracina, 2007), 3 Stories (2010), StiffSmiles (2013), Discord (LBAL, 2015) and Podzemlje (self-published, Bata Leviki, 2016). Between 2008 and 2016, she co-authored zines of collectively created stories and collages during the In OtherWor(l)ds workshops.
Organisation: Kino Šiška.
