Three zines and two films from the Victoria Baths Fanzine Convention

Thanks to everyone who came another packed and inspiring Victoria Baths Fanzine Convention and browsed and bought fanzines, talked to self-publishers about their work, watched the film, came to the talks and asked questions, studied Melanie Maddison's poster exhibition, made pages for the giant Victoria Baths fanzine and helped sell out Deerly Beloved Bakery's stall of vegan delights!

Visitors and self-publishers of all ages came from all over the country, showing the diversity of the publications encompassed by the term: from an artist's book responding to oranges to poetry and avant garde objects, from a new, alternative guide to Manchester to a zine inspired by growing up in crap towns. One zine named after a cat called Elvis got on the train all by itself at Newcastle and was picked up at the other end in Manchester!

Watch Wild Bees Productions' short film, made throughout the Fanzine Convention, which sums up the day beautifully:

A number of new zines were made on the day, including a giant, collaborative Victoria Baths fanzine compiled by visitors who took part in lino cutting/relief printing, button book binding and collaging workshops in the former superintendent's flat.

Visitors dived into the history of the building and were inspired by its beautiful decorative tiles and stained glass windows, as well as their own feelings about swimming, to each produce a page for the finished zine, which was stitched together at the end of the day.

 

Photocopied images and memories from the Victoria Baths archive were available to cut and paste. Swimmers associated with the building, such as members of the South Manchester swimming club and channel swimmer Sunny Lowry, who trained at the baths, feature highly, along with old-fashioned signs!


View the Victoria Baths fanzine below as a PDF:

Open publication - Free publishing - More archive

Ten year old Louis D. Rogers from South Yorkshire wrote 5 Futuristic Machines, a zine about 'a future space war, but written in the past tense as a history book'. The zine was duplicated using Footprint Workers' Co-operative's risograph machine which had made the journey over from Leeds for the day. The risograph looked like it would be defeated by the stairs, but made it up to the balcony with the help of four strong Future Everything volunteers! Merrick from Footprint demonstrated how the risograph works:

Read 5 Futuristic Machines online:

Open publication - Free publishing - More fanzines

Meanwhile, feminist duo Vapid Kitten invited visitors to help make a special edition of the zine at their stall around the balcony area, in a workshop entitled Vapid in a Day!

Contributors on the day were joined by international contributors, who sent their work in via email. View the finished PDF at:

Open publication - Free publishing - More kitten

Elsewhere at the Convention, visitors found out more about self-publishers and their motivations with a screening of Salford Zine Library's 2011 film Self-Publishers of the World Take Over in the former committee room.

Orla Foster and Peter Martin, formerly of Rotherham Zine Library, talked about their new publications inspired by found material and their Closed Caption project.

PhD researcher and writer David Wilkinson brought back memories for Mancunians of a certain age with his talk on post-punk countercultural publication City Fun. He described how publications like City Fun and record labels like New Hormones were "very much the more politicised yet actually more lighthearted underdog to Factory Records in post-punk Manchester".

David started his talk by playing New Hormones band Ludus's brilliantly catchy pop song Breaking the Rules, which he feels epitomises the spirit of City Fun as being
"political yet whimsical, and outsider yet collectivist...the perfect song to accompany a talk about co-operation and an irreverent, amusing, politicised post-punk fanzine run by two gay women". Linder Sterling from Ludus was managed by City Fun's Liz Naylor and Cath Carroll (as Crone Management) and also designed some covers for City Fun.

Later, Cazz Blase, music reviews editor of Shrieking Violet favourite The F-Word, talked about the significance of zines to the punk and riot grrrl movements.

Visitors flocked to Melanie Maddison's poster exhibition around the balcony of the female pool, comprising 80 posters of inspirational European women taken from the zine Shape & Situate, including some of the makers of the posters!

Technology enthusiasts and zine-makers Chris Watson and Logan Holmes from Sheffield's Shift Space collective piloted the use of an augmented reality app which allowed people to explore the local area and point their smartphones at the building to receive visual and audio content, for example visitors could view how the baths looked in the past, in the exact spot where they were standing, just by holding their phone at eye level.

More photos from the day:

Victoria Baths Fanzine Convention May 14 — stalls, speakers, film screening, tours, food, workshops

The first ever fanzine convention to be held in the beautiful setting of Victoria Baths will explore the past, present and future of self-publishing through stalls featuring self-published books and zines to browse, talks, a film showing and workshops.

Manchester's opulent Edwardian water palace, which opened to the public in 1906 and closed in 1993, will be packed with events as part of the Future Everything festival.

To have a stall on the day, either as an individual zine or group of friends, costs £10. Apply by emailing Natalie.Rose.Bradbury@googlemail.com. Facebook event here.

All events in the building are free to enter, although donations are welcomed. Read more about the building at www.victoriabaths.org.uk. Tours of the building will be on offer.

Poster by Kate Prior.

What's on

A screening of $100 Dollars and a T-Shirt, a documentary about fanzines in Portland, USA and the famous Portland Zine Symposium, will introduce what zines are and who makes them. http://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/title/1011








DJ and writer Dave Haslam will explore the legacy of post-punk fanzines, including his own publication Debris (1983-1989) which ran to 19 issues and was called the "the best fanzine in the world" by the NME. Debris featured everything from interviews with Sonic Youth and the Fall to authors Raymond Carver, Tony Harrison and Hubert Selby Jr to a 70 year old barber and the woman who ran the local launderette.
www.davehaslam.com


Alex Zamora of London-based Fever Zine, and contemporary Manchester zine makers Vapid Kitten, who produce an edition for Kindle, will explain how zines are adapting for the digital age, and consider what lies in store for the medium in the future. www.feverzine.co.uk
http://vapidkittenblogs.blogspot.com

Visitors will be invited to create their own response to the building and its stories on the day by making their own zines drawn from what’s going on in the building during Future Everything as well as using material reproduced from the archive at Victoria Baths. This includes hundreds of memories donated by people who used the building before it closed, from reminiscences by children from nearby schools who were so keen to swim they rushed there in their lunch hours to vivid recollections of scary swimming teachers and post-swim Bovril to old ladies nostalgic about meeting their husbands at the dances that were held at the Baths when the gala pool was covered over in the winter. Artefacts also include swimming shields and certificates, as well as material relating to the Channel Swimmer Sunny Lowry who trained at Victoria Baths.

Workshops

• Linocut your own versions of the Pilkingtons tiles that adorn Victoria Baths with Lauren Velvick!
• Letterpress with artist Amy Pennington!
• Embroider with Threads & Letters fanzine! Stitch your own Angel of Purity inspired by the colours of the spectacular Victoria Baths stained glass window. Materials will be provided along with angel templates.
• Manchester-based book artist Christa Harris will be happy to answer any questions about book arts, bookmaking and small/self publishing and will be disseminating information on a variety of related topics including basic bookbinding, advice for small publishers, how to get an isbn etc. Hardback bind your Victoria Baths fanzine for a nominal cost!

In advance of the Fanzine Convention, on Sunday 1 May, Tess Lomas and Alison Kershaw of Pool Arts will revisit the 2003 classic but rare fanzine "The Vicky" for one more issue. Become an instant "The Vicky" Journalist and file your report on the day's happenings. No experience required just willingness to get stuck in! The new issue will be available at the Fanzine Convention on 14th May!

Listen to the Shrieking Violet discussing the event on All FM's Under the Pavement radio show, and picking some tracks related to self-publishing, swimming and Riot Grrrl, here:

Under the Pavement 21 April 2011 by Under The Pavement on Mixcloud

Elsewhere in the building

Also in the building will be a HANDMADE event and two artists in residence: Antony Hall from the Owl Project and Yu-Chen Wang from the Chinese Arts Centre, who will make an installation and performance.

Physical Oscillators at VB arts

Sunday 1 May 12-4, Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 May 10am-4pm

Artist and local resident Antony Hall will make use of the magnificent and newly refurbished Gala Poolto develop a new work on a grand scale, involving local young people and students in its construction.

He will be creating an installation continuing his research into physical oscillators to generate sound and visible patterns in a new kinetic artwork, created within the space of a now empty swimming pool. The project will use pendulums and the gyroscopic action of motors and fans to create a sensory walk-through environment reflecting the behavior of small swimming or flying insects.

The residency culminates in a demonstration and exhibit at Future Everything Handmade event.

Antony first explored VB arts (Victoria Baths) as an MA student and has gone on to develop a practice that examines the boundaries of art and science.

A multidisciplinary artist who investigates biological and physical phenomenon; the behaviour of liquid or animals, and the physicality of sound, he is interested in how we interface with science & technology; visually, physically and ideologically; and how these interactions effect us creatively and socially.

He is a founding member of the 'Owl Project' who with north east based producer and musician Ed Carter have been selected as the north east winner of a £500,000 commission for Artists Taking the Lead, one of the major projects for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

Handmade: Digital | DIY | CraftVB arts (Victoria Baths) will co-host a day of contemporary craft, digital hacking, interactivities and DIY culture. A new maker community is emerging, connecting the culture of traditional skills and materials with modern-day digital production, distribution and interaction techniques.

Future Everything will invite makers to create objects, installations and performances that explore the cross-fertilisation of new and traditional media and materials.

Taking a conference strand from discussion forum to practical exploration, Handmade will bring the dialogue around the intersection of craft and digital culture to life in one of Manchester's prime heritage locations.

The festival will create an all new forum for Crafters, Hackers and Digital Innovators to share ideas and practice, led by some of the UKs leading digital crafters.

The UK's only FabLab will be moving the lab to Handmade for the day, inviting the public to play with their digital manufacturing equipment and create something they can take away with them.
Established Digital Ceramisist Michael Eden will be contributing to Handmade by delivering a short presentation on the relationship between the handmade and the digital in the evolution of his work. This will be followed by a Q&A session.

MzTEK and SPACE Studios and Dundee University will both be present to host a range of digital crafting workshops while Manchester Craft and Design represent the more traditional world of craft and design.

www.futureeverything.org