Wednesday, August 17, 2011

KAIRAN Zine update

Job, existential angst, the recent quake and my chronic laziness have temporarily taken my mind away from mail art-related things, but my zine KAIRAN is still alive - sleeping but alive. The latest issue I've published is #16, while two more are ready and I "only" have to do the layout and the usual boring stuff.

For many years I kept reprinting the old issues in order to make them available to as many people as possible, but from now on I want to use my limited free time to create new works insted of keeping xeroxing, folding, and stapling the same stuff. So when the few copies of the back issues are gone, they are gone for good. Don't say I didn't warn you.
The issues listed below are still available (remaining copies in brackets). Issues #1, 3, 9, and 12 are out of print, but issue #12's guest-editor Bernd Reichert may still have a few copies left:

- #2 (3) has various articles, essays, etc.
- #4 (3) is devoted to mail art in former Yugoslavia
- #5 (4) is a homage to Robin Crozier ("the most famous unknown artist in the world")
- #6 (1) focuses on art & money
- #7 (3) is devoted to mail art in Latin America
- #8 (1) is about femail artists
- #10 (6) & 11 (5) explore the huge poetry network(s) including traditional, experimental, and visual poetry, with tons of essays, interviews, etc.
- #13 (11) is one of my favourite issues ever. Find out why.
- #14 (8) & 15 (8) are the two volumes of the catalogue for my project on copy-art (or xerography)
- #16 (many) is the first volume of a three-part interview project (an update to Ruud Janssen's m.a. interview project of the '90s)

Many of these issues also feature rubberstamp art, stickers, and artistamps.

One issue is US$ 4.00. The two-issue sets are US$6.00.
Please send well-concealed cash or pay through Paypal (ilovemondo@yahoo.co.jp).
My address hasn't changed:

Gianni Simone
3-3-23 Nagatsuta
Midori-ku
Yokohama-shi
226-0027 Kanagawa-ken
Japan

Order today some of these great zines, so you don't have to go all the way to the MOMA in New York, the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Oslo or the Staatliches Museum in Schwerin, Germany to read them.

End of transmissions.

Monday, August 09, 2010

Mini Zine Gathering, Shinjuku, Tokyo, July 30th, 2010

One night after infiltrating the Tokyo Book Fair, I found myself in a small bar in Shinjuku with a much smaller but infinitely more exciting group of people.
But let's take a step back and start from the beginning, i.e. when still-unknown (at least to me) Aussie zinester Jeremy Staples mailed me and other Japan-based zine-makers out of the blue announcing his coming. A little scared by his huge beard, wild look and strange zines, I wasn't really sure I wanted to meet him in person, but good Jeremy turned out to be a mellow guy and great conversationalist.
When, on July 30th, I arrived at our meeting place, I found Irregular Rhythm Asylum's Kei-san, Wasabi Distro's Andrea Hope and lilmag's Momo Nonaka (together in the picture below)



Tattoed Jeremy (sporting a less intimidating beard) was sitting next to Ian Lynam, a veteran zinester from US who now lives in Tokyo.



I'd never heard of Ian until a couple of days before when for a strange coincidence I read an interesting interview to him in the latest issue of Xerography Debt.

We were later joined by Takurock, who's running a library to document the history of Japanese zines



a bunch of Japanese zinesters and, last but not least, the omnipresent Jennie Hinchcliff hot from the Book Fair.
All in all it was a fun night of zine trading, free-wheeling chatting and plotting for future actions and publications. I'll keep you posted on future developements.



Jeremy Staples: http://beardedhobo.com/index.html
The Tokyo Art Book Fair 2010



On July 30th - August 1st the good folks at Zine's Mate (a Tokyo gallery/shop that actually has almost nothing to do with zines) organised the second Art book Fair. If I bother to write about it here is simply because my good friend and mail artist Jennie Hinchcliff of Red Letter Day fame attended and was kind enough to include me in the guest list for the preview/party on July 29th.
I wasn't expecting anything truly special or particularly surprising and I wasn't disappointed in this respect: These people's idea of what an art book is supposed to look like is quite different from mine. I couldn't care less about all those slick publications. To me those are just common books whose content happens to be art-related.



Jennie of course shared my opinion. Among other things, she was also surprised by the tiny space each participant was allowed. Apparently it was back to school. Check those desks out!



The small room where Jennie was "relegated" actually was the wildest and most interesting. Her "neighbour" was a Japanese lady, Aya Muto, who lives in Los angeles and mostly works in America. Her picture zines are very elegant and poetic.



Useless to say, among all those people the real queen of the night was Jennie-chan.



If you want to read a longer & better story about the book fair you'll better check out Jennie's blog at http://redletterdayzine.wordpress.com/
Are you interested in Aya Muto's zines? Her address is ayamuto@earthlink.net

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Hinchcliff/Johnson




I saw the interesting movie Black, White + Grey: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe, a James Crump documentary about the famous American collector. Even though his relationship with Mapplethorpe takes center stage, the movie is mainly about Wagstaff, his life, and the people he met in the frantic NY art world - among them "an eccentric artist named Ray Johnson."



This same photo appears in the movie (Johnson is only briefly mentioned... let's say his part in the movie is about 2-3 seconds) and a zine I received from m.a. queen Jennie Hinchcliff.
Bizarrism #10

When Dann Lennard is not running after his daughter Jones (see below) he's probably amusing himself with such a zine.
If people asked me what a zine is, I would show them this jewel from Australia. Admittedly, not all the zines out there feature weird people and tall stories, but all of them – and especially the best ones – approach their chosen subject without filters or inhibitions, and are refreshingly candid and honest. Add to all this a real talent for writing and you have Bizarrism. In issue #10 you will find, among other things, articles about the mystery surrounding Floreana Island; the horse mutilator of Albury; the Collyers Brothers, compulsive hoarders extraordinaire; and our favorite dictator, Uganda’s Idi Amin.


This could be considered as typical tabloid/trashy stuff, but be careful because editor and main writer Chris Mikul thoroughly researches his stories and displays a well-developed critical sense and a healthy dose of humor. This is what separates this zine from those whose only goal is to shock people. Maybe not a zine for everybody, but one which rewards the curious reader.
AUS$6.00/US8.00 postpaid/full size/40 pgs.
Chris Mikul, P.O. Box K546, Haymarket, NSW 1240, Australia
Isn't She Lovely

This one arrived only a few hours ago. Dann Lennard and Helen Vnuk are the middle-class-looking weirdos who have been publishing Betty Paginated from their base in Australia (see older post). Rather improbably, they managed to create the little angel you see featured below...



... and this zine chronicles Jones' growing up. I haven't read this one yet, but if it's as good as the premiere issue, it's a keeper.
Hell, I wish I had a dad like Dann...
If you want some of their stuff, mail them at danhelen@idx.com.au
Blackguard


Are you tired of reading silly, badly drawn comics? Here’s something you might like – if you have nothing against sex, violence and blasphemy, that is. Mr. Stratu (of Sick Puppy Comix fame) is finally back with a vengeance, and has assembled a bunch of talented (sometimes demented) artists.



Issue #1 loosely revolves around “religious crazies,” while the brand new second offering is subtitled “Father.” This is an excellent zine, with full color cover and high production values. Recommended to all the not-so-easily-offended comic lovers.
$7.00/digest/40 pgs.
P.O. Box 35, Marrickville, NSW 2204, Australia
Disconcerting

Janell is hot. She has decided to publish her zine on a monthly basis and she has managed to keep the pace so far. Luckily her writing hasn’t suffered from all this work. This is your typical perzine, by a 23-year-old “advertising student and geeky dreamer” from Singapore. It consists of personal thoughts and feeling towards the places and people she encounters every day.



Her style sometimes betrays her young age, but all in all it is very mature and poised. An added point of interest is reading about life in Singapore. And don’t forget Janell’s drawings that manage to be chaotic and detailed at the same time. This is definitely one of my best recent finds.



$3.00/digest/44 pgs.
me@janell.tk http://janell.tk/
Dr. Danny Swank

If you care about checking Dr. Swank’s page in wemakezines.ning.com, you will find the picture of a slightly weird but very likable older gentleman. I’m told this is not the doc’s real portrait, but I refuse to believe it. After all his writing style, erudite but funny, perfectly fits that photo.



As for his zines’ contents, Manuscripts Don’t Burn features true stories about this and that, most of them written by the doc himself, including the always hilarious Tales from the Bus that have also been collected in a single zine of the same title. In my opinion, though, the real jewel is Cranky Buddha: This is a history zine of sorts in which the doc writes about such people as Benjamin Franklin, Diogenes the Cynic, and Calamity Jane by mixing rigorous historical research and wicked humor.
Quote: “I saw an interesting factoid recently: Human beings are physically incapable of licking their own elbows. Try as I might it turned out to be true, at least in my case. But I was close. And now my shoulders hurt.”
Cranky Buddha, $2.00/digest/64 pgs.
Manuscripts Don’t Burn, $2.00/digest/28 pgs.
2262 SE 39th Ave, Portland, OR 97214

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Subscribe!

Dear readers,
Here's a question for you: Why risk to lose even one of my surreal posts when you can easily keep track of what I write, and when?
I mean, WHY?
I suggest that you click on that little "Post" thing in the upper right corner NOW. You will not regret it.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

In Memory of a New Friend

In 1998 I met through the post German mail artist Johannes Musholf. We happened to have a friend in common (not a rare thing in our Network), Ivan Zemtsov from Russia. As our names were different versions of the English 'John' I came up with the idea of forming a collaborative group whose name was supposed to be The Three Johns (anybody remembers the British new wave band of the '80s?). Sadly Johannes suddenly died in 1999. As a tribute to him I've uploaded the last thing he sent me before passing away. Johannes was fond of telling stories, and that was one of the things I liked the most about him.












Tourism (2)


I should have posted this one several months ago, but as the more faithful followers of this blog know all too well, I'm constantly fighting my chronic laziness.
This said, I still remember with great fondness the nice meeting I had with fellow mail artists Antic Ham (South Korea), Francis Van Maele (Luxemburg, now living in Ireland) and Keiichi Nakamura (Japan).



Our rendez vous took place in Shin Okubo, an area near Shinjuku that's famous for being a sort of Little Korea, full of Korean restaurants, Korean shops, etc. Francis was afraid that Ham would be homesick away from her country and found a hotel in this area. Ah, the joys of traveling!... The main event took place in a Korean seedy eatery where we had the only possible kind of mail art congress: We got drunk.
Japan post


I think I have mentioned before how wonderful the postal service in Japan is. They will deliver the goods no matter what, and will even apologise for something they haven't done in the first place. Here are a couple of examples, respectively coming from the US (slightly broken envelope) and Serbia (flood- or typhoon-altered envelope)




The second envelope contained Dobrica Kamperelic's long-running zine Open World. As you can see, the zine itself got a nice treatment that added some colour to its usually b/w design.

Now, THIS is a mail art catalogue

Once upon a time, paper ruled mail art. People wrote letters (imagine that), didn’t know what a computer was, and all the project documentation was in paper form, ranging from simple lists of participants to thick catalogues. Nowadays most people opt for posting all the works in a blog, mainly because it’s less labor intensive and definitely cheaper. Still, once in a whole I come across an old school doc, and the zine that Mujinga produced for his project Utopia is very well worth mentioning.






Inside you will find a brief description of the works he received, the usual list of contributors and, most importantly, a discussion on what mail art is and an interesting piece on how and why he embarked in this project, including the problems he encountered and the lessons he learned. All in all it’s a very useful primer for people who are thinking about doing the same thing, or are interested in the subject, and even includes a handy list of mail art-related web sites.
$2/Digest/20 pgs
Mujinga/Edward, 1 Delves Cottages, Church Hill, Ringmer, Lewes BN8 5JY, UK
spaceman@mujinga.net or http://wemakezines.ning.com/profile/mujinga

Madagascar!!! (the real thing)

If you are a paper fetishist like me, you’ll better get Well, Here We All Are!
Stories from Madagascar, Land of Golden Cows
before Sailor runs out of copies. You’ll get a heavy cardstock cover (mine was a nice brown that shines and twinkle under the light) and even the inside pages were copied on high quality paper. The whole combo is then kept together with a thick black rubber band that I find very appropriate, because I may be wrong but I imagine that this stuff would be easier to find in Madagascar than staples.




Then you open the zine and you are transported into this alien land where life is much different from so called civilized countries. Sailor spent one month on the island, visiting her friend who was working as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Alternating typewritten and handwritten texts with photos and quirky & cute drawings, she tells about life in Madagascar, its people, customs, food, language, etc. It’s the next best thing to actually boarding a plane and seeing it for yourself. Recommended.
$3.50 or selected trades (email first) /Digest/64 pgs
Sailor Holobaugh, 4 Valley View Ave, Takoma Park, MD 20912
sailor.holobaugh@gmail.com http://wemakezines.ning.com/profile/SailorHolobaugh
Loserdom





I must admit that my first impression of this zine wasn’t very positive. First of all, the cover was a confusing jumble. Even the many comics (they comprise about half the zine) looked rather crude. Also, I’ve never been too much into punk, and the prospect of reading endless interviews with unknown musicians wasn’t very appealing. Then I actually began to read the zine and I realized how wrong I was. Anto is a master interviewer, and his two long conversations with Irish peace and social activist Caoimhe Butterfly (11 pgs) and Deko Dachau (13 pgs) (“probably the most well known of Irish punk rockers”) are engaging and informative. I learned quite a lot about the evolution of the local music and zine scenes (the piece on Dachau even features many covers of historical Irish punk zines). What really won me out, though, were the comics. I’ve never quite seen something like this: They are a curious but ultimately beautiful mix of detailed landscapes and backgrounds and roughly drawn people who look more like caricatures. I can’t wait to get the next issue and see how Anto’s and brother Eugene’s surreal time travel ends. This monster issue is round up by zine reviews and an interesting Spanish revolution tour of Barcelona. Please gimme more!
$3 or 3 euros /Digest/112 pgs
loserdomzine@gmail.com http://wemakezines.ning.com/profile/Loserdomzine
www.loserdomzine.com
Bellarosa





This is a very nice booklet I got last year from Mariano Bellarosa, a new mail art friend from Italy I met through the mighty social network DodoDada (http://dododada.ning.com/). Mariano's forte are very detailed, somewhat weird drawings. This particualr booklet has very high production values and if you like the genre, you might want to contact him. You will find his profile in DodoDada.
AP!


If you are a mail artist, I don't need to explain who is Vittore Baroni. If you don't know him, I guess the easier thing to do is to google him and see for yourself all the things he has done since joining the mail art network in 1977. His zine Arte Postale! has been for 30 years a focal point for all the network's activities.





Unfortunately Vittore has decided to pull the plug on this project: AP! 100, that should be published later this year, will be its last issue.
The cover you see above is AP! 96, a magnificent catalogue Vittore produced last year to document an exhibition devoted to artists' books.
I believe that Vittore still has some back issues left, plus copies of some of his other publications (books, etc.). For a list, you can contact him at:
vittorebaroni (at) alice (dot) it
Xerox


The book you see below was published last year by German copy-artist Klaus Urbons to document his exhibition/project on xerography.





2008 was the 70th anniversary of the invention of the photocopier, a machine which has played a pivotal role in dramatically expanding what (mail) artists and zine makers can do, and both Klaus and I decided to make a tribute to its inventor, Chester F. Carlson.
My contribution was yet another two-issue set of KAIRAN (#14 +15) that features works by some 90 copy-artists and several articles on the subjects.
A few copies are still available. If interested, please send US$6.00 for the set (or US$4.00 for one issue) to my address.
Greetings from Kanazawa

I always say I love to live in Japan. Actually I should say I love Tokyo. I like big city life, to be precise. This doesn’t mean, of course, that I can’t appreciate the beauty of small cities. One of the places I haven’t visited yet but I’m definitely planning to is Kanazawa, a city on the west coast that is famous for Kenrokuen, considered by the Japanese one of the three best gardens in the whole archipelago. For the time being, I can now travel vicariously to this town thanks to mail artist and master photographer Mark Hammond who has just self-published Kanazawa in Black and White, a delightful collection of his b/w pictures that capture his adopted hometown in all his subdued charm.



Evenly divided according to the four seasons, these beautifully printed photos show you a side of Japan that people living abroad rarely get to see. This is a must for both photography buffs and people who are interested in all things Japanese.
$15 postpaid/Digest/40 pgs.
Mark Hammond, Teramachi 2-11-34, Kanazawa-shi, 921-8033 Ishikawa-ken, Japan
mark@po3.nsknet.or.jp http://www3.nsknet.or.jp/~mark/