BZF 2012

BZF (formerly Birmingham Zine Festival) is back for its third annual festival from 12th-15th October and once again – though for the final time – I’m happy to be part of the team organising it!

BZF 2012

All of the events are still being planned, but as usual there’ll be the Independent Publishing Fair which has over 30 exhibitors!. All other events and information can be found on the main website. If you’re a social media use why not “Like” and “Follow” BZF on Facebook and Twitter.

GLITCH COP!3R

I recently got a very nice package in the post all the way from Australia! Drew Taylor (aka bowsneak) sent me a package of art and zines, one of which was GLITCH COP!3R

GLITCH COP!3R

GLITCH COP!3R

[GLITCH COP!3R] was created as part of Sticky Institutes Target 168 2012 zinemaking challenge, in which a zine had to be created within 168 hours (1 week). The ‘secret’ theme for the challenge was ‘C3100 photo copier’.

All of the images in this zine were ‘stolen’ from the internet, and glitched to produce ‘a new work’. Images were selected from Google image search using the phrase ‘c3100’. It was maintained that the file name of each image must include the letter ‘c’ and the number ‘3100’. The masthead of the zine – titled ‘GLITCH COP!3R’ – also includes the alphanumeric ‘C3100’ (the ‘O’ is made up of an ‘O’ and a zero).

GLITCH COP!3R

GLITCH COP!3R

GLITCH COP!3R

GLITCH COP!3R

If you take another look at the front page you’ll notice that the font used in the masthead is Dataface. I think this is the first time that someone – other than me – has used the font for a project!

Zines!

I was also sent lots of other zines including many issues of Death-Beam Dinosaurs, which you can download and print for yourself

A grid of Death-Beam Dinosaur zines

Thanks again for the zines!

Speaking of zines, Birmingham Zine Festival is coming back again later this year.

When I Saw Pavement

All the way back in May I went to see a band called Pavement. About two months later I finally finished off a mini zine documenting parts of my time there.

If you know your way around jpdftweak or other imposition software you can even combine it into a rather awesome poster!

Speaking of zines, I’m helping to organise the Birmingham Zine Festival that’ll be taking place in September. If you make zines you should get in contact through that website.

Interpretations of Reality

On 8th April I took a self-prescribed zine making day. Ever since the Gallery Of Owls meetup last year I’ve been increasingly interested in zines as a means of communication and the DIY scene as a whole. After many failed ideas I finally settled on showing the journey of a pixel and how it can be mutated through different ways of manipulating it, specifically through glitch art.

What is presented is the simple manipulation of the cover image over twelve pages.

In my never-ending quest to explore glitch art off the screen, what then intrigued me was how I could print this. I then had the idea to print these images onto of printed material. In this way we see how glitches can alter our perception of already existing media. Does it add to or detract from the original intent or is it even noticeable?

To pay homage to zine culture I’ve use pages from some of the zines that I’ve collected over the years as well as found papers that have been clogging up my inbox.

The zines are now for sale. Contact me for more information!

Lost in the Wood #1

For the last six months or so I’ve been a regular guest on the Lost in The Wood radio show. Myself and the shows host, Nancy Bennie, have been hard at work to bring you the the first issue of the Lost in the Wood zine!

You can also view individual pages on flickr.

The first issue features an interview with the awesome Stinky Wizzleteat and articles and illustrations from Birmingham’s finest.

Printed copies will become available soon, as will details of how to get involved with the next one. Keep an eye on the blog for more updates.

Enjoy!

All You Can Eat Zine

All You Can Eat Zine

Zines by a.a.s Group, Lizz Lunney and ATTA girl

On Thursday night there was a whole host of cultural events going on in Birmingham. The one that I spent most of my time at was the All You Can Eat Zine event at the Sunflower Lounge hosted by Gallery Of Owls.

Since last year they’ve been regularly making atheir own zine, the GZEAN. Soon after An Endless Supply appeared and from the amount of zines available last night it seems like there is a small, but dedicated zine culture in Birmingham, which is definitely inspiring and reassuring for people looking to start their own.

The general price range was about £2 for a zine, which seems fair. Taking a flick through you could take a guess at how some were produced. For example, you could see that An Endless supply is made on computer with desktop publishing software (and possibly the a.a.s Group zine) whilst ATTA girl and GZEAN are clearly put together by hand. In a way it’s reflective of how times have changed and access to tools increases and learning curves to use software decreases.

There were also a few performances. First up was Richard Peel who did an adaptation of Dracular in about 10 minutes. The two actors mimed to the vocal track which really did make it funnier!

Richard Peel Richard Peel Pez on Drums

The next that I saw before I had to leave was Pez on drums. He had ambient music going throughout the speakers which he drummed along to. In a rather experimental twist he’d sometimes hit his guitar with his drum stick which worked quite well. Have a look and listen for yourself.


(The sound didn’t come out as expected, but I like it more for that reason)

Going to this event really inspired me to start up a zine again. Midge was right in saying that you can sometimes overthink yourself out of doing a zine and part of it is just getting up and doing it.

Watch this space!

Open Source Art Zine on The Pool

I mentioned previously how I wanted to start an Open Source Art Zine (or something similar) and I’m still looking for any input! My idea is also up on The Pool. In case you didn’t know the pool is:

…an experiment in sharing art, text, and code–not just sharing digital files themselves, but sharing the process of making them. In place of the single-artist, single-artwork paradigm favored by the overwhelming majority of studio art programs and collection management systems, The Pool stimulates and documents collaboration in a variety of forms, including multi-author, asynchronous, and cross-medium projects.

Once you work your way around the interface why not add your thoughts to it!