MIAMI DADE PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM
The Reading Room
A Temporary
Space for Artists’ Books, Publications and Multiples
Friday,
June 11, Noon - 2 p.m.
Miami-Dade Public
Library System, Main Library Children’s Room, 101 W. Flagler Street, Miami
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/ www.mdpls.org / 305-375-5048
With special guests:
Cristina Favretto, Head of Special Collections,
University of Miami Libraries and founder of the Zine Collections
at the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke
University; Tasha Lopez de Victoria,
artist and zine educator, TM Sisters; Carol
Todaro, artist, educator, printmaker; Ximena
Izquierdo, artist, zinemaker,
student, assistant director, University
of Wynwood
With
special feature:
A
selection of zines from 1992-1996
from the collection of seminal zinestress Scapula
Ray
On the second Friday of
each month, a secret room in the Children’s Room at the Main Library becomes
The Reading Room. Visitors can stop by any time between 12 and 2 p.m. to get up
close and personal with selections from the Library’s collection of artists’
books, publications and multiples.
The theme of this month’s
Reading Room is zines and obsolete technologies. There are many definitions for
zines, but they tend to be do-it-yourself or independently produced and
distributed publications. Often they are fueled by the personal expressions or
obsessions of their creators. Some trace zines to fanzines, publications
created by 1930s science fiction fans. Zine librarian Alycia Sellie writes,
“Others believe that the medium was more influenced by the punk rock movement
of the 1970’s. Many refer to the legacy of zines in the pamphlets and
broadsides published as far back as Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin, or to
the works of the Dada art movement.” In the 90s, zine culture thrived among
women and girls as part of “the riot grrrl movement's reaction to sexism in
punk culture..and the rise of third wave feminism.”
Because zines are often
created on Xerox machines, we’ll also be talking about the use of obsolete
technologies in art and elsewhere. On special display this week is a selection
of rare, early-mid 1990s punk/feminist photocopy zines from the collection of
Oneco, FL-based zinestress Scapula Ray including Libel, Pawholes, Hey
19, Action Girl, and many others.
As always, there will be
coffee and cookies. We may also talk about the World Cup.
For
more information about exhibitions and programs at the Miami-Dade Public
Library System, visit http://mdpls.org/news/exhibitions/exhibitions.asp