Since the 1970s, zines—short for “fanzines,” magazines, or self-published booklets of texts and images, usually made with a copy machine—have given a voice and visibility to many operating outside of mainstream culture. Artists have harnessed the medium’s essential role in communication and community building.
Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines is the first exhibition dedicated to the rich history of five decades of artists’ zines produced in North America. Come see this groundbreaking show before it closes March 31, shop the exhibition, and—if you’re feeling inspired—contribute a zine of your own!
→ DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME
Inspiration for your own zine-making endeavors.
READ → Curator Drew Sawyer chats with artist and performer Vaginal Davis about inspirations and friendships.
WATCH → Zines as a vehicle for visibility: Hear from Drew Sawyer in conversation with artists Joey Terrill and Demian DinéYazhi.
READ (at your own risk) → Dive into digitized versions of selected zines from the show.
→ COMMUNITY CORNER
We asked you to share your zines with us—and you delivered! A huge thank you to everyone who sent us their art or left a piece of themselves at the zine cart in our lobby. Excerpts from a few of your contributions are below.
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By Cassandra McGowen, a retired architect, poet, and Brooklyn Museum Member for the past 35 years:
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By Paul Reitz, who published fanzines in the ’70s:
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By Ryan Seslow, a CUNY professor and local Deaf Brooklyn artist whose work focuses on struggles for communication and access:
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By an anonymous artist who left this on our zine cart:
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn, NY 11238
From top: Artist’s Eye: Lizania Cruz on Zines at the Brooklyn Museum, January 2024. (Photo: Kolin Mendez); Vaginal Davis (American, born 1969). Yes, Ms. Davis, 1994. Photocopy zine. © Vaginal Davis. Original source: The Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP); How to plan a zine project by Neta Bomani. (Photo: Corinne Segal); Still from a video by the Brooklyn Museum; Installation view, Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines at the Brooklyn Museum, November 17, 2023–March 31, 2024. (Photo: Danny Perez); GIF from a video by the Brooklyn Museum; Images courtesy of Nina Thérèse Valentin; Images courtesy of Cassandra McGowen; Images courtesy of Paul Reitz; Images courtesy of Ryan Seslow; zine by anonymous
Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines is organized by Branden W. Joseph, Frank Gallipoli Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art, Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University, and Drew Sawyer, Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography at the Whitney Museum of American Art (formerly Phillip and Edith Leonian Curator of Photography, Brooklyn Museum), with Marcelo Gabriel Yáñez, Research Assistant, and Imani Williford, Curatorial Assistant, Photography, Fashion and Material Culture, Brooklyn Museum.
Leadership support for this exhibition is provided by Shelley Fox Aarons and Philip E. Aarons, the Phillip Leonian and Edith Rosenbaum Leonian Charitable Trust, and by
Major support for this exhibition is provided by the Brooklyn Museum’s Contemporary Art Committee and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Additional support is provided by Elyse and Lawrence B. Benenson, Catie Marron, and Kathy Fuld.
