Zine-A-Gogo Means a Zine a Day for Loreli's New High-Speed Project in Fangjia Hutong, Jan 7

In this smartphone age of swiping, scanning, and screen grabbing, few things can seem more obsolete and sluggish than a hard copy zine. However, that assumption was rendered null by the crafty folks at Beijing art collective Loreli, who put together such a DIY publication in the head-spinning span of 24 hours.

Members of the crew, along with a few of their favorite Beijing bands, made their way to Shanghai to quickly ready a zine under that tight deadline at premium Pearl City venue DO art space. Cheekily titled Content, the Loreli cohort then released the zine in Shanghai to anyone curious enough to scoop it up until all the copies were gone. They were enamored enough with the adrenaline-fueled experience to give it another shot in Beijing, this time at The Great Outdoors market in Fangjia Hutong on Sunday, Jan 7, before releasing the new zine, titled Zine-A-Gogo! at a music fueled party at Temple Bar on Jan 13. Below, Loreli head editor Daniel Rothwell (also known for playing bass in the popular Beijing band Tavey Lean & The Solid Gold Dream Machine) tells us more about this high-speed hard copy project.

Rothwell (center) with his Loreli cohorts during the recent speedy zine making project in Shanghai

Why did you go to Shanghai, and how did being there make this project unique?
Originally, this was one of Kerryn [Leitch's, former Loreli head editor] dreams before her imminent departure – to take a dream line-up of Beijing bands over to Shanghai, and blow them all away. Originally, the trip was going to take place in November. Lots of money was spent on a beautiful hand-drawn poster. Two out of the three bands dropped out. That was only the beginning of the nightmare that was to ensue trying to organize this trip.

The whole 24 zine thing was born out of a drunken discussion between me and Marshall at the corner of the bar at Temple – where we can be found pretty much ... all the time. What with many last minute projects completed at his Rock Against Jams night – i.e. the writing, recording, and releasing of an EP in an hour and a half from new kids on the block TFD – we thought it would be easy. Wow, we were wrong.

Rothwell cheekily called the first Zine-A-Gogo "Content"

What's it called? Who contributed? What's your favourite things about it?
The zine is called Content. The name came from a rather unfunny in-joke that probably got quite annoying, when I'd walk around pointing out everything that could be used as “content” in a pre-quasi-neopost-ironic fashion.

The contributions came from all those that attended our event at DO art space. More to mention about them later. We met some awesome people at the event and a surprising amount of people new to the scene and eager to get involved. What's funny is, they were probably more knowledgeable than us.

My favorite thing about the project is that it makes sense in a nonsensical kind of way. We literally had pens and paper scattered around, and vague suggestions as to what we wanted people to provide. There were short stories, illustrations to the short stories, short stories written about illustrations, and even an installation. My favorite thing is definitely the “food-art,” on the green pages. You'll see what I mean. I'm so childish.

These speedily readied 'zines combine writing, illustrations and more

What were the challenges with making a zine in 24 hours, and how did you overcome them?
The challenges came in the form of venue changes, and people (including myself) flaking on previous promises and commitments.

The original venue booked was unfortunately victim to some bad luck a week before the event was scheduled to take place, and therefore had to close its doors to the general public. This was a bummer. Then, there was another venue, and everything was looking up again! Then that didn't work out. Finally, we were put in touch with “DO art space” which I'm happy about for the following reasons:

  1. It was the perfect location anyway. A huge, well lit, open space with practice rooms attached? Sick.
  2. “Sometimes, whilst the hardware of a space may be great, the software can be glitchy.” Thank you to Phillipp for that quotation earlier today at Zarah. The software was definitely up to date, and bug-free.
  3. October, who was our point of liaison for this project was ... perfect. Friendly, accommodating, and eager to get involved. I thoroughly recommend this space for anyone looking to do anything creative in Shanghai, and want to publicly thank her again for being such a good egg.

Rothwell and the others had so much fun with the first Zine-A-Gogo in Shanghai that they plan to do another in Beijing in January

And how did it all shake out in the end?
The crew we had on this trip was tight, and are now even tighter. It was absolutely ridiculous to try and achieve something like this, but after a step back, and reevaluation of the situation, anything is possible. We didn't need to create a masterpiece. We had all the materials needed for a glorified scrap book, it was just a matter of staying calm, and sorting out an order of...content. Liane happened to have with her a fantastic little gadget called a “Photorang”, portable thermal printer thing. That also really saved us trips to the local print shop, and added further quirkiness to the project. Huge shout-out to (alphabetical order) Kerryn, Liane, Marshall and Priscilla for remaining level-headed during stressful times, and working as a team until the bitter end.

On the release night, soundtracked by Boss Cuts, a hybrid of Sino Hearts, and Shanghai's Ugly Girls, we got drunk and gave all the zines away. This wasn't a bad thing. The feedback was strong, and mainly filled with comments of disbelief regarding the time frame. There was also a lot of “Oh yeah, I read about that, was going to come, but, like, yeah, you know how it is, erm... next time...” but also a lot of “Wow, you guys are crazy. I call BS. Where's the QR code?”

Ah yeah, we forgot to put any contact information on there. Good. Stay anon. We will forever be known as those drunk Beijingers at C's, singing along to The Smiths, that gave away the fruits of their labor before disappearing into the non-existent stream of taxis that could potentially grace the streets of Shanghai, but don't.

The creation of Zine-A-Gogo! will take place on Sunday, Jan 7 at The Great Outdoors from 5.30pm-8.30pm. Anyone interested in contributing is welcome to attend. The zine will then be available at a release party at Temple Bar on Jan 13 from 10pm onward. That event will feature performances by headliners Backspace and post punk outfit Laika.

More stories by this author here.
Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
Twitter: @MulKyle
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Photos courtesy of Loreli