Collaborative Zine Workshop - Goethe-Institut USA
Join us at KIOSK on Saturday, October 10th for a collaborative zine workshop led by Naomi Shintani Deibel, whose work is on view in the group exhibition I Am A Rock I Am A Roll. All ages and experience levels welcome, whether you’re a longtime zine fan or can’t remember the last time you picked up a pair of scissors!
Drop in any time between 12-6pm and create a page for our collaborative zine. Starting at 12:15pm, Naomi Shintani Deibel will share a brief history of the medium using zines and artist books from her personal collection, including those she has made and those by other artists.
In this workshop, participants are invited to contribute their own perspectives, experiment with different materials and techniques, and collectively create a zine. There are no fixed rules or boundaries. The zine becomes an open space where personal experiences, political thoughts, images, texts, and spontaneous ideas can come together.
After the workshop, the artist will copy, bind, and finish a zine made up of all participants' work, which will be available for pickup in the second half of October at the Goethe-Institut Chicago and KIOSK. Participants are also welcome to come with their own project in mind and complete a zine to take home day-of.
Refreshments and materials will be provided, but you’re welcome to bring your own magazines, books, paper, etc. Please register via Eventbrite to help us plan accordingly.
ABOUT ZINES
In this workshop, participants explore the zine as a medium for self-empowerment, knowledge exchange, and creative collaboration. Zines are self-published, mostly non-commercial publications that are created, reproduced, and bound in small editions. Rooted in the principles of DIY (Do It Yourself) and DIWO (Do It With Others), they provide a space for independent expression, exchange, and collective creation.
The term “zine” is derived from “fanzine,” short for “fan magazine.” In the 1970s and 1980s, zines became an important medium of the punk movement. They offered a way to circulate information and ideas independently of established media structures, build networks, and make individual perspectives visible. In the 1990s, the Riot Grrrl movement in particular used zines as a platform for feminist voices and political perspectives. Because they are simple and inexpensive to produce, zines remain an accessible medium that can exist independently of publishers, galleries, and institutions. Zines have also been widely used by artists as an alternative form of publication and as a kind of mobile exhibition space. They offer possibilities for distributing work, building new networks, and making art accessible to a wider audience. Free from commercial constraints and editorial expectations, zines can bring together personal, experimental, and political perspectives.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Naomi Shintani Deibel (b. 1994 in Karlsruhe, Germany) is a German artist who lives and works in Vienna.She completed her diploma at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and also studied at the Braunschweig University of Art,Joshibi University of Art and Design, and Chelsea College of Arts.Her artistic practice explores feminist perspectives on painting, which she expands through self-written texts, textile sculptures, and collaborative performances. Her work examines the relationships between images, materials, personal memories, and social conditioning. She understands painting as an open process in which meanings, materials, and perspectives are constantly shifting.
