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Elsewhere, I highly recommend Jeremy’s A-Z list of mags, created for the SPND-Denver newspaper. Every mag a good ‘un (except I haven’t seen Twin, so can’t comment on that. The others I do know, and thoroughly approve of. Will somebody please start a mag beginning with X though, as EXIT just doesn’t cut the alphabetic mustard.)
When we started Colophon, it was soon after the closure of CMYK, a Barcelona-based magazine event that took place in 2004 and 2005.
Other independent magazine-based events and exhibitions (distinct from mainstream industry gatherings with paid-for booths in huge conference centres) have also cropped up, including this year’s OK Festival in the Netherlands, the Magazine Library in Japan, the ever-moving Kiosk and most recently, De Zines in Madrid, which closes this Sunday.
The more the merrier, we say. Such events are wonderful opportunities to discover new magazines, meet magazine makers and forge new collaborations. As we plan more Colophon events (suggestions still welcome here), and hear rumours of more magazine-focused excuses to get drunk invaluable industry events to come, I’m delighted to offer you the catalogue from De Zines as a PDF download, thanks to co-curators Roberto Vidal and Oscar Martín.
Filled with independent magazines and thoughtful reflections on publishing outside the mainstream, it’s a lovely document, and a taste of what those of us who haven’t been able get to De Zines have missed out on. (The first pages are in Spanish, but there’s a full English translation at the back.) The exhibit is about to close, but its spirit lives on in the fantastic magsite No.Zines, which I’m told is about to get the RSS feed it lacks. Felicidades, gentlemen. Hasta la próxima.
Click here, download the catalogue, and enjoy. (9.8mb, PDF)
Over at our new URL www.welovecolophon.com, the news is out:
The Third Colophon International Magazine Biennale is being postponed.
However, the story doesn’t end there. Have a look.
Want to get your magazine known in Japan? Send in a copy to Jean Snow for the Snow Magazine Cafe, a month-long browsable magazine exhibition coming this August in Tokyo.
Apparently, “the event will be accompanied by a drink and snack menu created for the exhibition.” Magazine-themed menus? Sounds like a hashtag punfest to me. Anyway, sounds great – get in touch with him to be a part of it.
When we were planning Colophon2009, we had the idea of using the assembled talent to make a magazine during the event, and then we would present the finished product (on screen at least) at the closing of the weekend.
It all sounded so simple. In the end, it actually happened – though not without some amazing feats of commissioning and editing from Kati, and remarkable, high-stress art direction from Guido and his team at INgrid, and lots of spontaneous contributions from everybody there. 108 pages, filled with top mag-related content.
And you know what? Despite everything, it’s actually a rather good read, featuring such delights as an interview with Simon Esterson by the Creative Director and Ed in Chief of Good magazine, summaries of the various talks and inspirations at the event, a drunken haze-filled account of the parties by Postr, a selection of the dogs of Luxembourg by Karen, golden rules of distribution/advertising/digital magazines/client publishing, and an imaginary interview with Jeremy Leslie written by me (and then corrected by Jeremy). 81 people contributed in the end – a small proportion of the few thousand there, but a hell of a team to co-ordinate.
We could have sent it to print there and then, but we decided to wait, in order to take much-needed holidays, to make sure that nothing too libellous had slipped through the caffeine-fuelled net, to tidy up a few scrappy edges, and to get some advertising sponsorship to pay for the whole thing.
And so, at last, the Colophon2009 magazine will be unveiled this afternoon at MUDAM in Luxembourg, and then again to help celebrate everyone’s favourite Amsterdam magazine store, the Athenaeum’s 40th birthday on Saturday.
Flash Pass holders from Colophon2009 will hear news soon about how they’ll get their copies; in the meantime, a digital edition will be made available later on today or tomorrow, and it’ll also be on sale via the shiny new Colophon website. Pictures below. In the meantime, if you’re interested in a copy, email me at colophonmag@losowsky.com and we’ll drop you a line when it’s ready.
What fun. Same again in 2011, anyone?
Don’t forget, NYCers, tonight Colophon hits New York City, with a discussion event at the Art Directors Club, 106 West 29th Street. ($5 for ADC members, free for non-members.) Click here for more information.
And we have an additional special guest to add to the program (which already includes top names from Print, Capricious and Woooooo!): Claudia Wu from Me magazine.
A fascinating project, each issue of Me is edited and art directed by an invited guest, with the only condition being that it be about their daily lives, social groups and habits. Read more about Me here.
Come along and learn more at tonight’s independent magstravaganza. See you there.
Following on from the successful London event chaired by Jeremy, I’m getting the USA into the act with an evening modestly entitled ‘The Future of Print’, discussing independent magazines and celebrating the US release of We Make Magazines.
It takes place next Wednesday, 8th July at the Art Directors Club in New York. Come along, do!
Click ‘Continue reading’ for the full info and the press release.
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