A Beginner’s Guide to DIY Science: The Zine
DIY culture has reached new heights recently as people have begun to turn away from the over-exposure provided to them by the likes of Twitter and Facebook; leaving them to wander the Earth without knowing what 137 ‘friends’ had for breakfast. As an active attempt to refuse the idea of being force-fed choices, swathes of handmade-communities are forming around the notion that we can trade the information we feel most passionate about, whilst providing a creative array of selections. The empowerment of finding alternative ways to navigate set limitations and expectations allows a whole generation of individuals to create multi-cultural ideologies, especially in an age where higher powers are determined to instigate a global (single-minded) culture.
One of the many ways DIY culture is thriving, is through the ‘zine’, handmade, small-scale published/printed magazines edited and bound by an individual, or a small group. The idea of handmade small-scale publications is not a new, or fresh, one by any means – it came hand-in-hand with the invention of the printing press as a way to establish opinion and personal interests whilst bypassing the need for editorial approval. However, the ‘zine’ movement came to prominence as a by-product of the ‘fuck authority’ punk ethos, and has yoyo’d since then until it’s recent re-emergence, which has seen an interest in zines like never before.
Zines are unique from magazines in a variety of interchangeable ways, but one thing remains certain – they have to be small-scale. The internet has changed the way zines are created, edited and published through software such as Adobe’s InDesign, and shops such as Etsy and Big Cartel, yet the main ethos remain – keep the distribution small (usually to a maximum edition of 100 for smaller zines, 1000 for larger ones), and maintain personal creative control. Whilst some individuals still ensure they make each zine, painstakingly, by hand ensuring a unique experience for the reader, others make use of technology available to them.
A lot of the joy of the zine, however, is in the searching. Most zines exist in the internet’s proverbial rabbit-hole, meaning you have to be prepared to stumble along in the darkness before hitting your head on the publication you attach to. Swaps and trades exist to guide you through the strangely Alice in Wonderland themed metaphor and encourage the swapping of publications once read – kinda like Pokémon cards without the aggressive collectability. Art and book fairs – such as SHAKE Bristol and Counter Plymouth – have recently begun to encourage zinesters to showcase their work alongside other DIY staples such as tape labels, comic-book makers and indie clothes designers.
Max Kemp – of SHAKE Bristol – puts it down to the lack of authenticity found in the digital age, stating “Everything is fast, plastic & fake and I think that people wanna feel something again, you can go online and buy any song you