Special Issue – Building The Scenes, Prague – February 2019

This special zine issue of Riffs was produced in two days at Building the Zines? Conference, hosted by The Institute of Czech History at Univerzita Karlova, Prague (Czech Republic) in February 2019. This includes contributions from zine makers and scholars from across Europe who together research fanzine history, culture and practice.

For our prompt, we took inspiration from the Riot Grrrl Manifesto:

• Because academics should think carefully about the forms they use to communicate
• Because the knowledge we produce should be accessible to those beyond the walls of the university
• Because the things and people we research should not be lost in the ways in which we communicate
• Because in making we understand what it is to make
• Because in questioning the ways things are we are inspired to find new ways to do

We invited people at the conference to reflect upon this and their own manifestos and to consider how the zine ethos influences their work as scholars and their hopes for academia. This special zine issue therefore includes reflections, experimentations, calls-to-arms and contestations.

41 copies were initially printed in black and white and distributed to everyone at Building the Scenes? A full colour version is available to read here.

A very big thanks to Miroslav Michela for inviting the Riffs team to Prague to create this special issue, and to Miroslav’s team at King Charles University for providing us with such invaluable assistance and a warm welcome. Thanks also to all of the scholars who provided pieces for this special issue, and who also enabled us to consider the process and form of a ‘zine in new ways. We hope to collaborate with you again soon!