VANCOUVER, BC.- The Vancouver Art Gallery is presenting Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines, the first exhibition dedicated to the radical history and vibrant aesthetics of artists’ zines from North America. Organized by the Brooklyn Museum, this monumental exhibition offers a thrilling journey through counter- and subcultural movements of the twentieth century.
Zines or “fanzines"—self-published booklets, often made with a copy machine—have been a potent tool for artists and activists since the 1970s, putting the power of print in the hands of everyday people. Artists have harnessed the medium’s essential role in communication and community building and its significance to subcultures, grassroots movements and avant-garde practices, from punk and street culture to conceptual, queer and feminist art.
Featuring over one thousand zines and artworks by more than one hundred artists—including Vaginal Davis, Bruce LaBruce, G.B. Jones, Miranda July and Raymond Pettibon—Copy Machine Manifestos demonstrates the role of zines within artistic production across Canada, Mexico and the United States. The exhibition also showcases zines’ intersections with other mediums, including collage, craft, film, drawing, fashion, painting, performance, photography, sculpture and video. Zines continue to challenge the status quo and are an important catalyst for social change.
“We are excited to be the exclusive tour venue in Canada for this ambitious exhibition, honouring the rich history of Vancouver’s expansive zine culture. Vancouver has been a vital site for the development of all kinds of DIY artist publications and communication methods in art," said Anthony Kiendl, CEO & Executive Director of the Vancouver Art Gallery. “I hope that audiences come away from the Gallery with a love for artist publications, this compelling history, and an appreciation for the contributions that these artists have made to art and culture over the past 50 years.”
Copy Machine Manifestos is organized roughly chronologically and by communities and networks, opening with a section devoted to zines that grew out of the 1970s mail art scene in Vancouver and beyond. Among the highlights of this section is local artist Anna Banana and her satirical and sardonic publication Vile (1974–79) that mocked the visual languages of popular culture and mass media. Other exhibition sections include: The Punk Explosion, 1975–1990, which features zines, records, film and photography from the 1970s and 1980s punk movement. Publications including Destroy all Monsters by Cary Loren with Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw and Niagara; J.D.s by G.B. Jones and Bruce LaBruce and Just Another Asshole by Barbara Ess, highlight the close relationship between zines and music. Queer and Feminist Undergrounds, 1987–2000 demonstrates how marginalized communities used zines to establish control over their own representation; Subcultural Topologies, 1990–2010 explores the mid-1990s when zines were becoming integrated into commercial art galleries and museums; while Critical Promiscuity, 2000–2012 further reveals the significance of zines to queer creativity. The exhibition concludes with A Continuing Legacy, 2010–present, which showcases the vibrancy of present-day zine-making and the relevance of zines to contemporary art practice.
“Looking at the history of zines is a vibrant and exciting way to approach the last five decades of artistic practice, while simultaneously challenging and transforming the way we understand that period of art history by foregrounding a range of new and underrepresented voices and perspectives,” says Branden W. Joseph, Frank Gallipoli Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art, department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University.
“To document a single history of zines would be impossible due in large part to the sheer volume, variety and experimental nature of the medium,” says Drew Sawyer, Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography at the Whitney Museum of American Art. “Instead, we hope that Copy Machine Manifestos offers a compelling look at how artists have not just created and used zines but have also been central to the format’s development, including its contemporary popularity.”
To complement Copy Machine Manifestos at the Vancouver Art Gallery, a reading room inside the exhibition showcases a selection of zines and small publications produced by local artists and makers, including Sonja Ahlers, Whess Harman, Erica Wilk, Cole Pauls, Cheryl Hamilton, Lisa g Nielsen, Liz Knox and many more. The reading room encourages visitors to enjoy a small sample of the robust zine culture that exists in the city, including a site-specific print installation by local artist and zine maker Marlene Yuen, titled Pockets of Time (2023/2024). Visitors are also invited to explore the Vancouver Zine Guide—prepared by the Gallery’s Library and Archives—which provides information on where to find zine collections and communities across the greater Vancouver area.
Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines is on view through September 22, 2024.
Please note that this exhibition contains graphic content and language. Viewer discretion is advised.
Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines is organized by the Brooklyn Museum and curated by Branden W. Joseph, Frank Gallipoli Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art, department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University; and Drew Sawyer, Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography at the Whitney Museum of American Art (formerly Phillip and Edith Leonian Curator of Photography, Brooklyn Museum); with Marcelo Gabriel Yáñez, Research Assistant; and Imani Williford, Curatorial Assistant, Photography, Fashion and Material Culture, Brooklyn Museum. The Vancouver Art Gallery presentation is coordinated by Siobhan McCracken Nixon, Assistant Curator. Major support is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
The exhibition is accompanied by the first comprehensive publication to explore artists’ zines—published by the Brooklyn Museum with Phaidon Press. This richly illustrated volume includes over 800 images of zines and works in other media alongside texts by the curators and specially commissioned essays by Gwen Allen, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Tavia Nyong’o, Alexis Salas and Mimi Thi Nguyen, as well as an extensive section featuring biographies of all the artists represented in the project. The publication is available to purchase via the Gallery website or in the Gallery Store.
