UNION GALLERY — Call for Zines: Recreation & Reconnection

National Call for Zines

Recreation & Reconnection

Open to: post-secondary students and faculty across Canada
Submission Deadline Extended: June 10, 2023
Zine Library Launch: June 24, 2023
Curator: Cassidy Alejandria, UG Research Fellow

Download the Recreation and Reconnection Template

Union Gallery is launching a free online zine library! Our team was inspired by the brilliant format of Quarantine Public Library, a project by US based artists Katie Garth and Tracy Honn hosting zines following a simple preset format: the 8-page x-book made from a single 1-sided sheet of 8.5x11 inch paper. Get inspired by visiting the Quarantine Public Library and viewing some stellar examples.

Like QPL, we’re asking artists to use our provided template to craft their own simple 8-page x-book zines for ease of at-home downloading, printing and assembly. With a few folds and a cut, anyone will be able to add your zine to their collection. To kick it off, we’re seeking submissions that follow the theme set by our Research Fellow, Cassidy Alejandria. Check out the call below, submit your work, and stay tuned for our first roster of zines!

Submit Your Zine

Curatorial message from Cassidy Alejandria:

“I associate some of my most heartwarming childhood memories with being outside. Whether it was playing hopscotch on the sidewalk, making chalk drawings, picnics at the beach, or camping with my family. How we would scrape our knees, get sunburnt, sweat dripping into our eyes but we would still beg to stay outside for five more minutes. When did we stop playing outside? When did the places around us become a thoroughfare rather than our destination? How can we reconnect to our surroundings? I want to revisit these feelings of childhood joy and bring them into adulthood.”

…

Recreation and Reconnection will encourage artists to think about why they have become disconnected to their outdoor surroundings. Exploring these specific, visceral memories exemplifies and encourages us to reconnect to our inner child in outdoor spaces. In a time where there is such intense pressure to put childish things away and “grow up,” this project reinstates the importance of caring for our shared spaces.

HOW IT WORKS

Union Gallery invites folks to download + use the Recreation and Reconnection Template following a simple preset format: the 8-page x-book made from a single 1-sided sheet of 8.5x11 inch paper (for some demos and further instruction, visit the UG instagram. Submit zines that engage with these questions through visual and/or textual introspection. We welcome submissions from post-secondary students and faculty across Canada.

This project will take the form of a public zine library that will be displayed on the Wandering Art Station (WAS), a mobile structure intended as a platform for artist engagement with the publics and public spaces of Katarokwi-Kingston.

Zines should fit the Recreation and Reconnection concept. Zines should be appropriate for a broad audience*

KEY DATES

Deadline for online submission: June 10, 2023
Notification to selected artists: June 13, 2023
Zine Library Launch: June 24, 2023
Online Launch: July 8, 2023
Submit your Zine

If you have any questions or require other accommodations during the submission process, please reach out: Union Gallery, ugallery@queensu.ca

*Zines that depict hate-speech, violence, or substance abuse will not be approved

EQUITY STATEMENT

Union Gallery is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion in all aspects of our programming and operations. We welcome applications from qualified 2SLGBTQ+ individuals of all races, gender identities, socioeconomic statuses, and (dis)abilities. We strongly encourage applications from equity-seeking communities. We recognize that BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour), QPoC (Queer People of Colour) and 2SLGBTQIA+ (Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, +) are disproportionately underrepresented within institutional art spaces. Due to ongoing systemic barriers, we prioritize applicants who self-identify as BIPOC, QPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+.