On 12 May, an exhibition of works by the artists’ group “Akvārijs” at the Kalnciema Quarter Gallery marked the beginning of the Riga Zine* Fest, which will continue through to 12 June.
This is not only the first ever zine festival to be held in Latvia, but a major event dedicated to encouraging informal publishing in Latvia, the diversity of public thought and cultural experience, illustrations for cultural development and freedom of creative expression.
The festival offers the public the chance to visit a range of exhibitions at various venues around Riga, reaching a culmination on 27 May with the opening of a three day exhibition of zines and works of art at the Ģertrūdes Street Theatre (participants include Jenni Rope, Dunja Jankovich and Līva Rutmane), accompanied by talks, encounters with artists and musical performances.
Among the exhibits on view in the zine exhibition will be zines created especially for the festival by Latvian artists, works conceived by competition participants, 1980s and 1990s Latvian underground music zines from the collection of Jānis Daugavietis, zines published by foreign publishers including In:Surgo, Fine Rats, Extrapool, Napa Books, Editions FP&CF and Central Vapeur, as well as other publications.
One of the festival’s tasks is to introduce the public to the history of the zine movement globally and in Latvia, to which end the Ģertrūdes Street Theatre will be hosting talks on 29 May by philosopher Normunds Kozlovs on “Self-Ghettoization” and scientist Jānis Daugavietis on “The Unwritten History of Latvian Zines”.
Finnish artist and one of the founders of Napa Books, Jenni Rope and Croatian artist Dunja Jankovic will be also on hand to talk about the latest trends in Europe in the realm of independent publishing and artistic expression.
The talks and exhibitions will be enriched by musical performances by Džūka Čūska, Ohmtek, TV Moscow, Toms Auniņš, Viestarts Gailītis and Ernests Ansons, and, last but not least, Laika Jonas.
Festival programme: www.rigazinefest.com
Festival organiser: Popper Publishing ( www.popper.com)
Supported by: State Culture Capital Foundation, Stora Enso Packaging, Antalis, the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Latvia, the Finnish Embassy in Riga, Malduguns Brewery and the Art Academy of Latvia’s Visual Communication Department.
* More often than not, a zine (an abbreviation of the English word “magazine”) is a limited circulation small-format magazine self-published by the author of its contents. Oftentimes, the subjects included in these small magazines don’t conform to the standards demanded by the traditional media. Despite this, in recent years, all over the world, zines of all kinds have developed to the point where they have acquired a professional status, resulting in their sale in large numbers in bookstores and distribution online. It is clearly an increasingly popular format.
