Cover, inside front cover, and a few sample pages of Squatter Comics #1, published between 1989 and the first years of the 1990s by still-running independent anarchist pressShadow Press a.k.a. The Shadow. Available to read at the ABC No Rio zine library.
"ABC No Rio is a collectively-run center for art and activism. We are known internationally as a venue for oppositional culture. ABC No Rio was founded in 1980 by artists committed to political and social engagement and we retain these values to the present.
We seek to facilitate cross-pollination between artists and activists. ABC No Rio is a place where people share resources and ideas to impact society, culture, and community. We believe that art and activism should be for everyone, not just the professionals, experts, and cognoscenti. Our dream is a cadres of actively aware artists and artfully aware activists...
During the construction of our new facility, ABC No Rio programs and operations are continuing "in exile" at other venues and in collaboration with other organizations. ABC No Rio in Exile provides a renewed and focused orientation towards collaborative work that brings us back to our roots - ABC No Rio was founded as a project of the 1970s artist group Collaborative Projects - and in "exile" ABC No Rio remains a "place" where people share resources and ideas in an atmosphere of camaraderie and mutual support.
During this "exile" period ABC No Rio's office, archive and Zine Library have found a temporary home at the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center, right around the corner. We are grateful for their support."
The author of this Libguide doing research at the ABC No Rio Zine Library! Hello!
The ABC No Rio Zine Library contains over thirteen thousand items! Our collection includes independent, underground and alternative publications on subjects such as music, culture, politics, personal experience and travel. We have a special interest in zines addressing political and social issues. As a volunteer-run working group, the zine library does not have very consistent hours; email zine@abcnorio.org to make an appointment!
This project began in the Spring of 1998 when we rescued the Blackout Zine Library from a squat in the South Bronx which was to be evicted. Since then numerous individuals have donated their personal collections, and zine editors and publishers regularly send us issues. Our collection grows daily.
Our Zine Library focuses on the following:
1) Zines that emerge from, or cover, NYC's Lower East Side and downtown Manhattan. In particular, these zines highlight the creative practices for which the area is renowned (art, performance, fiction, poetry and politics) and serve as crucial documentation for events and movements that are largely left out of history.
2) Zines that are embedded in countercultures, subcultures, political scenes, DIY communities, and/or social movements. Some zines are individually made, but many are collectively produced. While some zines focus on a taste community (music) or lifestyle (veganism), we stress the ways those aesthetics and lifeways are grounded in subcultural belonging.
3) Zines that directly address social relations. Even when created individually, the personal expression explores how individual experiences are born out of asymmetrical social conditions (gender, race, class, sexuality).
4) Zines that engage in DIY practical advice-giving, covering such areas as parenting, education, health, dating, and peer support.
Zines are vital as alternative information sources. Zine collections inspire new generations of zine makers by demonstrating the sheer numbers and breadth of the types of zines possible. Zine collections allow actors in contemporary social movements to learn about the lineage of their communities. Zines need to be preserved as an archive of our activity for the historical record. ABC No Rio is a cultural space that has emerged from, and remains embedded in, New York City underground and countercultural movements. Like the zines themselves, ABC No Rio has evolved from within these movements.
