Civil Society Spore/Arkzin

Just a copy from Simple EN Wikipedia: Arkzin

Arkzin (also written as @®kz!n) was one of the key publishing houses in 1990s in Croatia, with Arkzin paper magazine, newspaper, website and publishing house for books and music CDs. It was started as part of anti-war activist network in Zagreb in September 1991. Arkzin advocated the ideas of media activism inspired by the concept of tactical media. Although the last issue of the magazine was published in 1999, Arkzin had a long-lasting influence on the activist media and cultural scene in Croatia and beyond.

History

First phase: fanzine

The pilot issue was published on September 25, 1991 as fanzine of the Anti-war Campaign Croatia. The aim of the fanzine was to collect information about peace and anti-war initiatives in (post)Yugoslavia, advocate nonviolence and peaceful solution for the emerging war, report on human rights abuses, support conscience objectors and serve as alternative political media platform. Contributors were mostly members of the anti-war groups. The first edition had six issues (double issues: 2-3 and 5-6), with the last issue appearing on May 7th 1992. Circulation grew from 500 to 2.000 copies in A4 format. Arkzin was distributed through post mail, from hand to hand etc. Publishing costs were covered by donations collected by European peace groups.

Second phase: newspaper

The first issue of the second edition of Arkzin, appeared on the April 1st 1992. It ran for 93 issues. Initially a monthly, starting from the issue 13, Arkzin became a bi-weekly. In the second phase Arkzin change the format to A3, broadened the editorial board and scope of topics, included professional journalists as contributors (many of them could not publish in mainstream newspapers any more because of increasing censorship imposed by state at the time). It was printed in newspaper rotation and distributed through a national newspaper stands network. Circulation grew from 2.000 to 8.000 copies. During this period Arkzin gradually changed to a hybrid magazine in which politics, culture, theory and art met and mutually inspired. Throughout its life as newspaper Arkzin changed its conceptual self-definition, changing from the “Magazine of the Anti-War Campaign Croatia” (no. 10, February 1994), “Megazine of the Anti-War Campaign Croatia” (no. 12, April 1994) , “Metazine for Civil Society Politics and Culture” (no. 66, 7 June 1996), “Memezine for Civil Society Politics and Culture” (no. 73, 13 September 1996). Starting with the issue no. 82 (January 17th 1997) the cover page masthead no longer said ‘Arkzin’ in latin, but rather in Japanese katakana letters. In words of Dejan Kršić, graphic designer and one of the editors of Arkzin:

"This development reflects the role that Arkzin plays in the context of the movement for peace, non-violence, human rights, women’s power and ecology on one side, and the efforts of a growing range of people to build a cultural environment, which resists not only the war and its consequences but also the strangling grip of the dominant nationalist forces in Croatia, on the other side. Arkzin has established itself as a major forum of independent, alternative, critical information and debate. Arkzin not only criticises the government policies (e. g. the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the evictions of the people from former Yugoslav army flats), but also examines the role of the media, of the intellectuals and of various marginalised youth subcultures."

Third phase: magazine

Third and final phase of Arkzin lasted from 1997 till 1998. During this period seven issues in total were published. Format, number of pages and printing technique was changed, along with the content. At that time most professional journalist left the magazine. Articles published were more theoretical, reflective, focused on broader analysis, avoiding everyday political issues. Some critics believe that in this period arkzin lost its political edge and became a theoretical-artistic experiment.

Graphic design

Arkzin was known not just for its radical political content, but also for its radical graphic design signed by Dejan Kršić and Dejan Dragosavac.

Books

Slavoj Žižek:

Bruno Latour:

Music CDs

Boxer...

Influence/legacy

Multimedia Institut MI2 / Club Mama

Autonomous Culture Factory Attack

Curatorial collective What, How & for Whom/WHW

Prominent contributors included

External Links: