Please welcome our new member at GuteSeiten: Kevin Lo - the publisher of “Four Minutes to Midnight“, a Montreal based literary-arts zine that explores the intersection of graphic design, typography, poetry and personal politics. The latest issue #10 features the work of over 30 international contributors, writers and visual artists, intertwined into a stream of consciousness editorial design approach. Simultaneously angry, sad, humorous and hopeful, the issue attempts to voice a caring awareness for the current messy state of our modern world. And: Von Hundert, the art critic magazine from Berlin, just released their new issue 6-2009 and is featuring again some reviews, interviews and gossip from the - probably - most important art scene in the world. Von Hundert has only 100 copies and Four Minutes to Midnight 300 copies - so better order your copy immediately.

Christoph Keller, also one of our jurors for the GuteSeiten Award 2010, is currently exhibiting his archive at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Luxembourg (until 13. september): “Beyond Kiosk - Modes of Multiplication, is a travelling exhibition focusing on independent publishing in the fields of contemporary art, design and graphic design. It’s starting point is Kiosk, an expending archive, which gathers today over 6.000 publications – artists’ books, catalogues, magazines, videos, audio works – and which travelled to more than twenty institutions all over the world. For each presentation of Beyond Kiosk, a designer or artist is commissioned to develop a new display for the exhibition. Mudam has invited English designer Martino Gamper to imagine the exhibition design.” Via

Yesterday was the second annual Zine Fair held at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA). It was a massive turn out by both punters and stall holders whose wares included zines (naturally), knitted cupcakes (?) and some rather amusing pornographic colouring in books…

Zine wise, my personal highlights were the poetically pencilled ‘Up Down’ by Paula do Prado. A gorgeous, cotton stitched book containing whimsical imagery and positive messages. A nice contrast to her more raw, punkier, neighbours at the event. Samuel Bruce’s ‘Folk Marketing’ was a cute idea - a photographic survey of crude, hand made ‘garage sale’ signs across Australia.

Chris Petro & Steph Overs ‘Weird’ is a classic black & white zine with a twist - each printed page comes splattered with neon pink paint giving a spontaneous, punk/craft appeal. The hand drawn typographically led pages are bold, child like and now sat comfortably on my book shelf.

It was a great to meet the Sydney Zine community and witness first hand the energy and enthusiasm for the medium. While traditional, commercial mags are collapsing or contemplating a future purely online, it’s interesting to witness the appetite for simple lo-fi, low budget, stapled artwork. 

Footnote: If you’re in the Sydney area and keen to kick start your own zines, get yourself over to Blacktown Art Centre for a series of free workshops in June. Maybe we’ll see you at the MCA next year…

Paula do Prado's 'Up Down'

Mark Trzopeks 'Beef It'

Chris Petro & Steph Overs 'Weird' Zine

The new Otaku magazine just arrived yesterday from Romania (by the way: our first magazine from Romania!) – Otaku is a lovely magazine about visual art, strongly influenced by japanese culture. They feature articles about graphic design, comic strips, illustration, painting, design, fashion, video, toys and accessories. And this issue comes also with an interactive DVD (includes 8-bit artists from around the world: Dubmood (FR), Graffiti Monsters (USA), Ikuma (SG), Jellica (UK), Kaseo (JP), Kplecraft (JP), Makunouchi Bento (RO), minus (RO), Moloh (RO), Nordloef (SE), Nullsleep (USA), Peter Swimm (USA), Pixelh8 (UK), Random (SE), she (SE), Sidabitball (FR), USK (JP); Video performances from Blip Festival NYC (8GB (AR), 6955 (JP), Alex Mauer (USA), Bit Shifter (USA), Blasterhead (JP), B.S.K. (JP), Bubblyfish (USA), Coova (JP), Covox (SE), Glomag (USA), Kaseo (JP), Markus Schrodt (AT), minus (RO), minusbaby (USA), Neil Voss (USA), Nullsleep (USA), Postal_M@rket (IT), Saitone (JP), Saskrotch (USA), The Depreciation Guild (USA), YMCK (JP) and some trailers from these indie games: Blueberry Garden, Cletus Clay, Cortex Command, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Dyson, Feist, Machinarium, Mightier, Osmos, Retro/Grade, Snapshot, Walkie Tonky, World Of Goo) – and a New York Poster from EbOY. Limited to 1000 issues – get more pictures and information about our hot new friend from Romania and/or order your issue here.

There’s much we can learn from good journalism. It’s mid May and in it’s last issue NEWSWEEK does a special report on travelling and tourism. This a clever move; in the mist of this crisis there are a lot of people that can still spend some of their money on a vacation. Just in case that some readers can’t afford a trip aboard, NEWSWEEK also does a story on staying at home and it even has a piece on the perils of having friends invited to spend some days with you at a family house.

Why do I mention this? Well, most publications only run the travel/holiday issues closer to summer. On the other hand, this is a special year with everybody worried with recessions and debts and mortgages and savings.

By reporting on vacations NEWSWEEK might even help it’s readers to make up their mind about taking a little risk and go ahead with some travelling. The first line of the special report reads ‘We need a vacation more than ever’. But there’s also another thing that really interests me and that is the planning and thinking that goes into making this kind of editorial choices. The risks taken in running a special report on travelling when they do a cover story on the flu – and this has broaden people’s fear of travelling – along side some stories on the crisis itself.

There is only one way that any publication can face the coming years and that’s by investing in some changes and making a lot of trial and errors experiences.

Arts publication White Fungus is returning to Taichung City, Taiwan, for its next series of issues, beginning with issue 11. White Fungus-Editor Ron Hanson says the team is ready and excited about the trip: White Fungus Interviewed By Ling-Ling Liang on World TV

With a Big Bang the new issues of two great magazines about photography arrived at our GuteSeiten headquarter: the fabulous geo-located media magazine - Ein Magazin über Orte #5 - and the magazine for photography, design and subculture: Die Nacht #5. This issue of Magazin über Orte is about crime scenes and features great pictures of explosions (Sarah Pickering), a story about the former concentration camps Gusen I and II, disturbing pictures of urban places where people died, car wash photography from Peter Piller, contemporary pictures from ancient battlefields (Bleda y Rosa) and much more. And Die Nacht #5 features an interesting article about the history of artzines, and amazing photo portfolios from Ronald Brul, Alice Smeets, Joachim Froese, Olaf Martens, Pernille Koldbech Fich and illustrations from Eric Nyquist and Olivia Bargman. Both have around 1000 copies - so you better order your copy immediately.

Jen Stark is doing great sculptures - out of hand-cut stack of colored paper. Via

Dear Nicole and Elke, how did everything started? Why did you had to start Jungsheft - a porn magazine for girls?

We had the idea on our holiday. We asked ourselves why we could not see really good looking boys naked - like for example the friend of a friend. We just thought about normal guys and we also wanted to read about themes besides typical hair tips. We didn’t just wanted to think about it, and so we started producing the first magazine - that happened four years ago already.

And why did then Giddyheft - a porn magazine for boys followed? At least there are already plenty of magazines for boys.

Many friends of the girls that ordered or bought the porn magazine for girls wrote us that they would also like to see girls from the next door naked. And this is how we started with the porn magazine for boys.

How long does it take you to produce one magazine? And how do you find you models? Casting, recommendation, verbal propaganda, application?

We are collecting themes the whole year and then we are looking for persons who want to write something about this themes. Things get more precise tree months before each release. Then we meet once a week and combine the things that at the end go to the graphic designer. The models usually apply - and mostly they produce the pictures alone or one of our photographer friends takes the pictures.

Would you like to work full time producing these magazines? Or are you happy with this “hobby”?

Of course we would love to be the female Hugh Hefner.

What is it that you wish for your magazines? Is there something that you couldn’t realize until now? And where could you still need some help?

People who want to write and advertisers would be great. And we would also love to be able to offer a subscription - but we are already working on that.

Little target group analysis: Who are your readers?

Boys and girls between 18 and 35 years.

Which other magazines would you like to recommend?

Feigenblatt. It has more erotic and the editor is really working hard for it every issue.

Internet killed the magazine star? Your final statement about the current media crisis: Will there be no more magazines soon?

I can’t imagine that there won’t be any paper magazines anymore soon. But I am convinced that there should only be as much magazines as that can be sold. So many magazines only have artificial circulation. The market will just adjust and the wheat will be separated from the chaff.

More information, more pictures and the opportunity to order the new issues of these two great porn-fanzines immediately here.

What does it take for a product to sell? Besides an infinity of things, there two that are most important: need and desire. Another couple of questions: why is mainstream media in so much trouble? Because people don’t need it anymore (there’s a lot of all-you-can-eat-information on the net) and most publications are far from being desirable. The last question: why do independent magazines sell? The answer for this is quite obvious but I would love to read your comments here.

The problem with most newspapers across the globe today is that their editors are too ‘closed minded’ to see past the 70’s. People simply don’t need an ‘old’ newspaper anymore. By the time someone gets out to buy the day’s newspaper all the breaking news have been heard or seen or read on a screen.

Do I believe that this is the end of print age? Not really, not even the end of newspapers. What every newsroom must do (and this is asking a lot) is to find the ‘iphone effect’ on their publication. What must one publish to transform the boring, not-needed, old publication into a desire object? Find this and you’ll be publishing a very successful ‘old medium’.

To start – and you MUST start now – you can see a lot of independent magazines and fanzines. Really see and read them. And then start trying; as design thinking can teach you, this is an on going process, a trial and error curve. It’s a fun path to travel and one every reader will appreciate.

What makes a publication desirable? Creativity! Innovation! What makes Monocle magazine ‘sail’ past this crisis is the fact that; not only it’s beautifully written and designed; but also because every page is full of good ideas, of news that you might not even consider to be interested in before reading it. That’s creativity working on a newsroom, to find the different story, the different approach to an ‘old’ story.

The only way to become the object of desire for an audience is to give them your most, all of your sweat and tears on a daily bases. Desire is having every reader eager for the next issue. That’s our goal – for everybody working on a newsroom – and the public has already told us that what we have been doing so far is not working.

Like Apple going back to the drawing board to reinvent the phone, newsrooms must reinvent communication with an audience. To do so, creativity and innovation are the recipes and everyone’s brilliant minds are the ingredients. Working together for something desirable.