The annual celebration of independent print media returns to the Central Library on October 31.
Detail from this year’s official Madison Print & Resist poster, by Claire Warhus.
The 2014 installment of Madison Print & Resist felt like a rebirth for the event (formerly known as Madison Zine Fest), which has existed in one form or another since 2004. It was the first Print & Resist to be held at the new Central Library, featured an expanded roster of exhibitors sharing a diverse array of DIY print media (from zines to large-scale prints to art books to, well, a lot of stuff that falls under the banner of print), and boasted several workshops that took advantage of the library’s maker-friendly Bubbler facilities. In previous years I’d always liked the event, but it usually took place in a more sedate venue in a UW-Madison library, and once or twice it didn’t happen at all.
Last year, the atmosphere at Print & Resist was much more lively. I made way more impulse buys than I should have, encountered a bunch of people and printmaking groups I hadn’t known about before, and just generally got the sense that the event was finally really coming into its own. That new momentum shows in this year’s event, taking place October 31 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., again at the Central Library. This year’s workshops will include sessions from the Overpass Light Brigage, King-Cat Comics author John Porcellino, and Milwaukee artist Nicholas Lampert, perhaps best known for is delirious “Meatscapes” mixed-media project. The list of exhibitors is again big and heavy on Madison-based artists, and this year the event will add another new dimension with print installations. Even amid the Madison-based exhibitors this year, there’s a ton of variety, from the feminist Spooky Boobs Collective to painter Derrick Buisch, who started making punk zines in the 1980s and went on to become a UW-Madison art professor.
Co-organizer Sarah Tops Rogers met up with me at WORT-FM this week to talk about the ongoing evolution of Print & Resist. She shared her thoughts on the role that not just the event, but DIY art and media in general, can play in the Madison community, and explained how some of this year’s workshops came together.
Segment produced by Dylan Brogan. Keep up with the Tone Madison/WORT podcast on SoundCloud and hear a short version of it every Thursday on WORT’s evening news show. Speaking of WORT, they’re having a pledge right now, so go donate if you value this crucial community radio resource.
And don’t forget to join us on October 20 at the High Noon Saloon for a new live podcast, The Tone Cluster.
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