Skip to main contentIn a time where Beer Frame's zine wunderkind, Paul Lukas, finds himself as a SPIN columnist, and the lovably Xeroxed Thrift Store by Al Hoff mutates into a HarperCollins paperback, one wonders whether the zine revolution has passed. The answer is no, according to the Portland Zine Symposium, being held this weekend on the Portland State University campus. Encouraged by sponsorship from Portland's Independent Publishing Resource Center, what began as an idea among friends Eleanor Whitney, Joe Biel, Alex Wrekk and Nicole Georges has quickly materialized into a vital conference addressing the future of zinedom.
Whitney, self-publisher of local zine Indulgence, envisions the symposium as a "place for people to network, explore ideas that affect zine culture, and build skills to strengthen the quality of independent media that is currently being produced." The conference is rife with workshops geared to both discussion and instruction, from "Gender in the Zine Community" to "Beyond Kinko's: Offset Printing Your Project." There's even "Bike Repair Basics" and "Electrical Wiring." On those courses' relationship to zine culture, organizer Biel says that "the DIY element of the symposium was unintentional," but adds that anything to further self-sufficiency will probably appeal to many participants.
Biel and Whitney have somewhat dissimilar perspectives on what they hope to achieve with the two-day conference, but both comment on the need for renewing interest in a medium that, if not waning, has lost the interest of many "first-generation zinesters." There are a number of theories for this readership drop: careers, family demands, the ever-expanding Internet.... Aging may be a factor, too. "As people get older," says Biel, "they become less interested in simple self-expression and more interested in using what they are publishing as a vehicle for ideas that have begun to manifest themselves in deeper ways in their lives."
Commerce also invariably plays a role, as many zine veterans grow more interested in bigger, more slickly produced formats, with corresponding larger press runs. Whitney sees the Portland Zine Symposium as a chance to "help bridge the gap between the more personal, smaller zines, and the ones that are bigger and more widely distributed." She acknowledges a hierarchy at work even in the relatively loose constraints and liberalism of the zine world, and hopes that events like this weekend's can help to break that down, as well as to uncover the oft-insidious strains of racism, sexism and homophobia that continue to exist. There also seems to be a general consensus that the overall quality of zines is on the decline, a trend organizers hope can be interrupted with help from events like the Symposium.
Other planned workshops include: Super 8 Film, Radical Cheerleading, DIY Comics, discussions on activism through writing (with panelists from Street Roots, Write Around Portland and IPRC), tips on strengthening writing and aesthetics, and a much-anticipated presentation by local representatives of Indymedia, a global media activist network.
Who knows, maybe the new zinesters will be able to give Dave Eggers a run for his money.
Science Building II, PSU, 1719 SW 10th Ave., 775-1947.
10 am-8 pm Saturday- Sunday, July 14-15. All symposium events are.
A not-to-be-missed "Wallflowers Welcome" zinester prom/benefit will be held the night before. PSU Mulicultural Center in Smith Memorial Center, 1825 SW Broadway. 7:30 pm Friday, July 13. $5.
For more information, go to www.microcosmpublishing.com/pdxzines.html .
WWeek 2015