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Reading, Writing & Compiling Zines

Teachers
Neta Bomani, Aliyah Blackmore
Date
September 17, 2023 to November 19, 2023 (10 classes)
Time
Sundays, 1-4pm ET
Location
Hybrid: Online and In-Person at Creative Time Headquarters (59 E 4th St Floor 6, New York, NY 10003)
Cost
$0 Full scholarships for all learn more...
Deadline
Applications closed on August 11, 2023

Apply Now

Description

Reading, Writing & Compiling Zines is a class to learn about the historical ways of reading, writing, compiling, and learning, both with and without computers. Students explore various forms of printed and digital matter such as zines and posters, and how they are published as mediums for creative and political expression. Independent publishers show that everyday people are capable of intervening in public discourse and telling their own stories about their lives. Zines in particular hold a site of rich significance in the history of print communication from radical pamphleteering to the various forms of (micro)blogging. This class will build a case for zines and other publications as critical and artful tools that can be utilized across a multitude of disciplines.

Outcomes

Course of Study

  • Week 1: Orientation
  • Week 2: What is a zine?
  • Week 3: What role do zines play in subcultures?
  • Week 4: How do people use zines to express themselves?
  • Week 5: What role do zines play in popular culture?
  • Week 6: What zine formats can we experiment with?
  • Week 7-8: What can we learn from independent publishers who work with zines?
  • Week 9: Open studio
  • Week 10: Showcase

Expectations

Hybrid Format
  • Attendance for all class types is required. It is not possible to only participate in this class online.
  • Online classes will be labeled on the syllabus and held on Zoom.
  • All applicants must be based in NYC or the surrounding NY Metropolitan or Tri-State Area in order to attend in-person classes.
  • All applicants must participate in COVID-19 Safety and Precautions (see below).
Time & Workload
  • Spend a suggested 30 minutes to one hour on weekly mini zine assignments
  • Spend at least one hour on assigned media including: readings, watchings, and listenings
  • Participate in public events including: seminars and a final showcase
Materials

Materials will be provided.

  • Bone folder, or a butter knife
  • Snap-off blade knife or scissors
  • Cutting mat
  • Pencil, pen or markers
  • Ruler
  • Awl or pushpin
  • A needle
  • Thread (embroidery, waxed or linen)
  • 4 or more binder clips
  • 20 sheets of text weight paper, 8.5 x 11 inches or larger
  • 20 sheets of cover weight paper, 8.5 x 11 or 11 x 17 inches or larger
  • Scanner or digital scanner app (for example, Evernote Scannable)
  • Access to a printer or photocopier (optional)

Is this class for me?

This class may be for you if:

  • You’ve NEVER made a zine before
  • You have made a zine before
  • You’re interested in alternative or counter histories
  • You’re a community organizer looking to incorporate independent publishing into your practice
  • You’re interested in a radical interpretation of book arts
  • You have an idea for a zine, but haven’t been able to make it yet
  • You’re interested in learning how to make simple yet foundational book forms like pamphlets, zines and accordions
  • You’re interested in radical queer, anarchist, black, or feminist politics
  • You’re not interested in conforming to the formal graphic design and layout training of traditional educational programs

About the Venue

Our classroom space is hosted by Creative Time Headquarters (CTHQ). CTHQ is a gathering space supporting artists working at the intersection of art and politics as they continue to plot, orchestrate, and recharge from cultural, political and social organizing work. The space is rooted in the legacy of art and activism, in the rebelliousness of artist-organizers in the Lower East Side such as self-organized neighborhood art, health and education centers, experimental theater, protest collectives, and community-owned housing, cultural and greenspaces, to claim and shape space for artistic and political production. Additionally, CTHQ sits within Creative Time’s historic and ongoing work to gather artists to share tactics for political change most notably through the Creative Time Summit, Creative Time Reports, and its Global Fellowship. Growing within a lineage of visionary and transgressive creative moments, CTHQ serves as a hub for today and tomorrow’s community of socially engaged and politically oriented artists in the neighborhood, citywide, across the country, and around the world.

COVID-19 Safety

Participants will be required to provide proof of up-to-date vaccination status (including boosters) to attend. Participants, teachers and staff are expected to be masked during class. Before the first day of class and final showcase, all participants will be expected to show a negative result on a COVID test.

Meet the Teachers

teacher

Neta Bomani

Neta Bomani is a learner and educator who is interested in understanding the practice of reading and parsing information as a collaborative process between human and non-human computers. Neta’s work combines social practices, workshops, archives, oral histories, computation, printmaking, zines, and publishing, to create artifacts that engage abolitionist, black feminist, and do-it-yourself philosophies. Neta received a graduate degree in Interactive Telecommunications from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Neta has taught at the School for Poetic Computation, the New School, New York University, Princeton University, the University of Texas, and in the after school program at P.S. 15 Magnet School of the Arts in Brooklyn, NY. Neta has studied under American Artist, Fred Moten, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Mariame Kaba, Ruha Benjamin, Simone Browne, and many others who inform Neta’s work. Neta’s work has appeared at the Queens Museum, the Barnard Zine Library, The Kitchen, and the Met Library. Neta is one of seven co-directors at the School for Poetic Computation, and one of two co-directors at Sojourners for Justice Press, an imprint of Haymarket Books.

any pronouns · website · twitter · instagram

teacher

Aliyah Blackmore

Aliyah Blackmore is an Afro-Caribbean writer, researcher, and zine maker based in New York. Through their research, writing, and art making, Aliyah engages with the multi-dimensional threads, narratives, and histories that run through Caribbean and Black Diasporic experiences. She seeks to deepen her understanding of how our modes of cultural production foster and activate spaces of resistance and recovery. Aliyah’s zine making practice is a site to uncover and thread together Caribbean Diasporic histories while moving across various thematic crossroads—matrilineal histories, refusal, and the spaces of recovery and rejuvenation made by Afro-Caribbean women. She is the founder and lead writer for a zine project, Bright Spots Zine. This project unravels Black Bajan and Caribbean Diasporic histories through free printed material, bibliographies, and resource lists.

she/they · website · instagram

How do I apply?

Apply Now

Applications open until Applications closed on August 11, 2023.

You can expect to hear back from us about the status of your application on August 25, 2023. Please email us at admissions@sfpc.study with any questions you have.

How much does it cost to attend?

This class is free / pay-what-you-want through the support of external funding.

At SFPC we believe that no one should be denied an educational opportunity because of their inability to pay. Through the support of funders and community donors, we are able to subsidize tuition-free classes and provide scholarships for participants.

Our scholarships directly redistribute wealth to those who might otherwise be unable to participate in our program. Scholarships are a critical resource on our way towards creating a more comprehensive free or donation-based model in the future.

We know this future is possible through the generous help of current, former and future participants, community members, and friends of the school on WithFriends. Please become a member to help us become a beautiful school that can offer free and low cost classes and events in the future.

This class is made possible by a grant from Art for Justice Fund, a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. Through this grant, we offer tuition-free classes that interrogate the role technology plays in the carceral system through the study of critical theory, computation, visual art and poetry.

Applicant FAQ

For more information about what we look for in applicants, scholarships, and other frequently asked questions, please visit our applicant FAQ.

Interested in more learning opportunities at the School for Poetic Computation? Join our newsletter to stay up to date on future sessions and events, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter. Support our programming through scholarships. Get in touch over email.