Taipa Village Cultural Association collaborated with ZINECOOP Hong Kong to introduce an exhibition in April 2019, entitled “SEE. SAW. ZINE? Publish Yourself !” which aims to promote local zine culture, individual publishing and facilitate art exchanges between Hong Kong and Macau artists. The exhibition showcases an extensive collection of zines and other printed materials in the format of broadsheets and risographs.

“We love, connect & promote independent publishing.” 

Established in November 2017, ZINECOOP is an art organisation that promotes local zine culture. They link zinesters, book fairs, zine stores and readers altogether, as well as supporting zine making and distributing.

“ZINE” is derived from “magazine”, a short form of “fanzine”.  It is a handmade, low-cost and low circulated publication which features different topics regarding the society, daily life and many other related issues.  The content is reflected in the form of text, sketches, images, diagrams, photos and illustrations.

Featured Artists: 

Beatrix Pang is a Hong Kong-born visual artist and cultural practitioner, and founder of Small Tune Press, an independent art publishing house. She has studied design and photography both locally and internationally, and is currently a visual culture studies researcher.

Forrest Lau is founder of A Thin Booklet, a book designer at Red Publish and a graphic designer/illustrator at Yes magazine. Lau is a passionate cinema-goer, a history lover, a graphic arts enthusiast, a bookworm and a dreamer who loves being fully immersed in the book and magazine art industry.

Ranee Ng, founder of Off the Table, is a visual artist who specialises in graphic design, visual culture and zine publishing.

Artists Statement

ZINECOOP Hong Kong was invited by Taipa Village Cultural Association to present the “SEE. SAW. ZINE? Publish Yourself!” exhibition, which features a collection of about 200 self-published works from Hong Kong and Macau for everyone to enjoy. For those who are interested to shop for zines and Riso prints, the on-site dedicated store “Zine & Print” is the best place to go.

Short for magazine or fanzine, a zine is a low-circulated publication with a very broad definition. It does not refer to a certain kind of style or format but rather the spirit and essence of self-publishing, as reflected in the exhibition’s subtitle ‘Publish Yourself!’ From content, format and materials, creators enjoy absolute freedom throughout the whole process. Be it in the streets, large-scale international art book fairs, mailboxes or national public libraries, zine has become the spotlight at global levels.

The emergence of zine began as a medium for marginalised communities to gain voice and for subculture lovers to share thoughts by mail. Zine also plays an important role in the fan community to exchange information and secondary creative works. In this digital and paper-free era, how can we present and discover our true self through zines?

Self-publishing trends are dependent on the freedom of speech and also the press. The revolution of self-publishing technology was led by the rise of black and white photocopiers and Risograph.  Risograph colour-printing made its way to Hong Kong and achieved great success after 2012, followed by the establishment of printing and design houses adapting this technology.  Risograph technique has also fostered the boundless creativity of zinesters, designers and illustrators without restrictions, resulting in the explosion of zine creation!

Join us at the exhibition and explore the fun ideas of zines and the stories behind them! A series of zine talkshows and Risograph workshops will also be held during the exhibition period, connecting zinesters in Hong Kong and Macau and allowing visitors to learn how to self-publish their own zines!

Curator’s Statement 

Zine is short for fanzine, which in turn is the combination of the words fan and magazine.  It is a printed medium lesser-known to the general public due to its scarcity. Nonetheless, in certain artistic circles, it is regarded as an art medium in itself, collectable and charged with enough cultural significance to be archived in public libraries.

Zines emerge from an individual or collective attitude of non-conformity and do not comply with the commercial value required by publishing houses. In other words, they are an idiosyncratic fulfillment of a creative urge based on the principle of manifesto applied to a self-published medium.

Zines usually appear in the form of a limited edition, small format booklet, disseminated to a group of people who are interested in the same subject of counterculture and subculture. Themes may range from daily occurrences, like the domestic life of cats, to socio-political concerns, for instance, gender discrimination. These issues are always tackled with a highly personal view, utilizing writing, illustration, collage, photography, etc., as an art form―let’s just say that there are no restrictions nor rules in making a creative statement about universal values.

For this occasion, we’ve invited the Hong Kong-based collective ZINECOOP, co-founded by Forrest Lau and Beatrix Pang, adding also Ranee Ng to undertake their first ever exhibition. This endeavor is comprised of an extensive collection of zines and other printed materials (i.e. broadsheets, risographs) and also shares their interest in this particular medium. Ultimately, this exhibition aims to serve as a cultural platform to encourage self-publishing collaborations with local associations and creative groups and to strengthen the cultural interchange within the Pearl River Delta Region.

João Ó