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Derived from the term magazine, "zine" refers to an independently or self-published booklet or publication. The historical lineage of the contemporary zine arguably ranges from 1970s punk and D.I.Y. movements to sci-fi fanzines of the 1930s to Dada, Fluxus, and Situationist publications and—leaping even further back in time—to Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. It's a nebulous category of alternative printed matter and media where the only stipulation is that there are no stipulations.
Many zines come out of a community's or a single person's recognition of a hole in existing media's representation of viewpoints. Take Vancouver-based Fillip, for example, a magazine that came out of a group of artists, curators, historians, and gallerists recognizing the need for a critical arts publication in their locale. The following list of Cool Independent Zines You Should Known About encompasses a range of zines from neatly designed, strictly edited periodicals like Gagarin to hand-made, fleet-footed publications like Chloe Maratta's Rock & Rose.
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Profile Zine
Founders: Diego Córdova and Emilio Marín
Year founded: 2009
Profile Zine is one of many publications produced by Public Library, Diego Cordova and Emilio Marin's independent publishing house based in Santiago, Chile. Each issue contains profiles of people from different parts of the globe, briefly bringing them together in printed form. Both issues #1 and #2 are included in MOMA Art Library's collection.
Rock & Rose
Founder: Chloe Maratta
Year founded: 2012
Hailing from Baltimore, Maryland, Rock & Rose—edited into perfection by Chloe Maratta—is a zine bursting with content that'll set your brain on fire. Rock & Rose V is an impressive 18 x 12 inch, 27 page publication of photography, song lyrics, poetry, drawings, and more. Maggie Lee named one issue "Best Zine for Opening Ceremony's Best of 2012," and Rock & Rose's latest "Style Reader" includes fashion tips, how-tos, and bath soap recipes.
CLOG
Founder: Kyle May
Year founded: 2011
In the early life of digital media, online content seemed to replicate its physical forefather—print. Lately, printed matter seems to be increasingly influenced by digital media. CLOG was founded in response to the rapid rate of distribution and consumption of imagery online. In their own words, "CLOG slows things down." Each piece of writing is no more than 500 words—no longer than a blog post—meaning that the nuances of each theme are teased out through the intuitive leaps and thoughtfulness of an active reader.
White Fungus
Founders: Ron and Mark Hanson
Year founded: 2004
White Fungus, named after a can of fungus found in a Taichung City supermarket, is an art magazine founded by two brothers, Ron and Mark Hanson, and based in Taiwan. The first issue of White Fungus was printed on a photocopier and anonymously thrown into the entrances of businesses in protest of an inner-city bypass. The magazine is a mix of historical and political writing, critical essays on art and music, and interviews. The founders recently signed a deal for international distribution.
Printed Pages
Founder: It's Nice That
Year founded: 2013
Printed Pages is a quarterly magazine from the site It's Nice That. Building off of its predecessor, the It's Nice That Magazine, Printed Pages is a good-looking, affordable (each issue is £5.00 or less) publication with amazing artwork, interviews, illustrations, photography, and writing. The Spring 2014 issue features a cover by Maurizio Di Lorio, an interview with Stanley Donwood, and a discussion between Rookie's Tavi Gevinson and Minna Gilligan.
mono.kultur
Founder: Kai von Rabenau
Year founded: 2005
As the prefix "mono" implies, mono.kultur is a quarterly with amazing focus, featuring only one interview per issue. Based out of Berlin, this interview magazine prints in-depth, full-length conversations with artists, musicians, filmmakers, and writers. Featured interviewees include Dave Eggers, Kim Gordon, Tilda Swinton, and David Shrigley.
_Quarterly
Founders: Jesse Hlebo and Justin Sloane
Year founded: 2008
_Quarterly is a short run quarterly founded by artists Jesse Hlebo and Justin Sloane and based out of Brooklyn. _Quarterly started as a newsprint publication in 2008 and has grown over the years to tackle immense topics like "Superconsciousness and the Sea" with masterly finesse. Issue 10, titled "Illusions," investigates the "the precarious balance between illusions of freedom and safety."
foto.zine
Founder: Erik van der Weijde
Year founded: 2005
foto.zine is a series of zine collections by Dutch photographer Erik van der Weijde. Each set contains multiple zines that make up a wonderful selection of photobooks. In foto.zine nr. 4, Erik van der Weijde invited five different contemporary photographers to contribute a small series and printed each issue as a mix of his own photographs and a single collaborator.
TOO MUCH
Founders: Yoshi Tsujimura, Cameron McKean, and Audrey Fondecave
Year founded: 2010
In their own words, TOO MUCH Magazine is "about romantic geography." Based in Tokyo, TOO MUCH features work by international writers and photographers about changes within urbanity as well as globalism's impact on our society and environment. Issue #4, TOO MUCH's latest issue, examines "ways in which space has been black boxed"—a 1940s British military term for technology that hides its inner machinery—in cities. The content in TOO MUCH is always ace, and in the past, the zine has included a 40-page supplement of photographs by Takashi Homma, a recipe poster by Jerome Waag and Alice Waters, and interviews with artists like Vito Acconci.
Fillip
Founders: Jonathan Middleton, Sadira Rodrigues, Jeff Khonsary, and Jordan Strom
Year founded: 2005
Fillip is an arts and culture magazine based out of Vancouver that is published three times a year. Fillip came out of meetings about Vancouver's need for a critical and independent arts publication held by artists, curators, historians, and gallery directors. The magazine features long form reviews, essays, and interviews. As a publishing organization, Fillip also prints book of critical writing.
Our Teen-age Boys & Girls
Founder: Maggie Lee
Year founded: 2012
Unlike other zines on this list, Our Teen-age Boys and Girls is not a periodical, but it is an impressive, hilarious, beautiful publication by Maggie Lee, an important force in the zine world. Our Teen-age Boys and Girls combines text from Lester and Alice Crow's 1945 Our Teen-age Boys and Girls—a collection of case studies of "troubled" youths—and negatives of students circa 1970 found in an Ohio thrift store and given to Lee by her friend Tod Seelie. This mixture of bizarre titles includes "Gordon Continues to Be a Spoiled Baby" and "Dennis Has Many Undesirable Practices." Awkward found photographs epitomize the comedic gold that can come out of creatively re-contextualizing and appropriating content.
Young, Fresh and Relevant
Founders: Chloe Stead and Rebecca Jagoe
Year founded: 2011
Young, Fresh and Relevant is an annual open submission journal committed to creating a space for art writing. The second issue of YFR features writing in both German and English with a few works being translated into English for the time. YFR has increased their page count, from 24 to 68, with each issue, showcasing more and more emerging and established writers every year.
Zug Magazine
Founder: Aaron Fabian
Year founded: 2010
Geneva-based independent publisher Innen launched Zug Magazine, a biannual zine featuring contemporary artwork from both Hungarian and international artists, in 2010. Each issue—themes range from "Invisible" to "Collecting" to "B & W"—is filled with exceptional illustrations, photography, poetry, and collages. Zug Magazine's freestyle design and eerie content make it an exciting publication that lends itself to repeated readings.
SET
Founders: Jamie Young and Paul Guinan
Year founded: 2012
SET is a quarterly publication that investigates the connection between cinema and architecture. Each issue of SET is written by a distinct writer, designed by Paul Guinan, and edited by Jamie Young, who authored the first issue on Hitchcock's 1948 film Rope. SET has delved into topics like repetition and distortion in the Overlook's maze in Kubrick's 1980 film The Shining and the creation of boundaries through spatial interaction in Lena Dunham'sTiny Furniture, making each issue enjoyable for cinephiles and architectural enthusiasts alike.
GAGARIN
Founder: Wilfried Huet
Year founded: 2000
Taking its name from the first man in space, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, GAGARIN is a magazine committed to publishing the writing of living, working artists. Gathering texts from artists in various countries, GAGARIN publishes the works in their original language along with English translations. Keeping the parameters open and abstaining from themes, founder and editor Willfried Huet has kept the design concept stable over since GAGARIN's inception, giving prominence to the artist's written texts rather than imagery.