List of lists of lists

A zine workshop with Eloisa Aquino and Jenny Lin (B&D Press)

April 14, 2018 - 12 PM to 4 PM

Lists are strangely seductive and addictive, for many reasons:

  1. They are predictable: the numbered or ordered information allows us to develop “schemata” —mental maps drawn from experience.
  2. They make things look easy and finite, so they help you to focus.
  3. They can be suspenseful — what’s next?
  4. Lists can feel definitive or authoritative.
  5. Et cetera.

 

Participants are invited to respond to the collection at Artexte and to create a zine in the structure of a list.

A “list zine” is a compilation of referenced items, sometimes overtly similar or sometimes obscurely or arbitrarily connected only by the fact that the items happen to be included on that list. The list zine might highlight similarities within a set of seemingly dissimilar items. It might invite a reader to actively try to interpret and create connections between listed items. The list zine might provide an abbreviated introduction to its contents, directing the reader to seek out more information about works or subjects that exist beyond the zine.

During this workshop the list zine will be explored as a document of each participant’s perusal of the Artexte collection. Its creation and existence will reflect the participant’s individualized selection, recording the specificity of their visit, or that moment in time. During the workshop, each participant will receive a prompt from the workshop facilitators to explore the Artexte collection, select items and respond to them in “list form.” The list zines created in this workshop can be as systematic, personal, poetic, abstract, confusing, clear, banal or unusual (etc.) as the participants desire. Content can be created by the participant or composed of found images or text from Artexte’s collection. No prior zine or art-making skills are necessary.