Arkzin facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Arkzin (also written as @®kz!n) was a special kind of magazine. It was started by a group of people who were against war in Zagreb, Croatia. This happened in September 1991.

Arkzin became a very important publisher in Croatia during the 1990s. It was a paper magazine, a newspaper, a website, and even published books and music CDs. Arkzin encouraged people to use media to create political change. The last issue of the magazine came out in 1999. Arkzin really helped change media and culture in Croatia and other countries.

The Story of Arkzin
How Arkzin Was Organized
The Look of Arkzin: Graphic Design
Publishing Books
Music Label
Arkzin's Impact and Legacy
Prominent Contributors Included
See Also

The Story of Arkzin

Starting Small: The Fanzine Years

The very first issue of Arkzin came out on September 25, 1991. It started as a fanzine for the Anti-war Campaign Croatia. A fanzine is like a small magazine made by fans or enthusiasts.

The goal of this fanzine was to gather information about peace efforts in the former Yugoslavia. It wanted to promote nonviolence and peaceful ways to solve the war that was starting. It also reported on human rights issues and supported people who refused to fight in the war for their beliefs. It was an important place for different political ideas.

Vesna Janković, one of the editors, wrote that Arkzin would support many different ideas. This would help create a society of peace, where everyone could be different and get along. Most of the people who wrote for the fanzine were part of anti-war groups.

The first version of Arkzin had six issues. The last one was published on May 7, 1992. It started with 500 copies and grew to 2,000 copies. People got Arkzin through the mail or by hand. Money for printing came from donations by peace groups in Europe.

Growing Bigger: The Newspaper Era

The second version of Arkzin started on April 1, 1992, and had 93 issues. At first, it came out once a month. Later, it became a bi-weekly, meaning it was published every two weeks.

In this phase, Arkzin became bigger, changing to an A3 format. It also added more editors and covered more topics. Many professional journalists joined because they couldn't publish in regular newspapers due to government censorship. Arkzin was printed like a newspaper and sold at newsstands across the country. Its circulation grew from 2,000 to 10,000 copies.

During this time, Arkzin slowly became a mix of politics, culture, ideas, and art. These different areas inspired each other. Arkzin also changed its tagline several times to show its evolving role. For example, it went from "Magazine of the Anti-War Campaign Croatia" to "Metazine for Civil Society Politics and Culture." After issue 82 in 1997, the name 'Arkzin' on the cover was even written in Japanese!

Dejan Kršić, a graphic designer and editor, explained that Arkzin became a key place for independent and critical information. It not only criticized government policies but also looked at the role of media, thinkers, and youth cultures.

The Final Phase: A Deeper Magazine

The third and last phase of Arkzin was from 1997 to 1998. During this time, seven issues were published. The magazine changed its size, number of pages, and how it was printed. The content also changed.

Most of the professional journalists left during this period. The articles became more about deep ideas and analysis, rather than daily political news. Some people thought that Arkzin lost its direct political focus and became more of an artistic and theoretical project.

How Arkzin Was Organized

Even though Arkzin had editors-in-chief at different times, it usually worked as a team. Everyone planned each issue together at meetings. These meetings included a small group of people who always contributed.

Bojan Bilić wrote that Arkzin didn't have a traditional editorial staff. The people involved wanted to create a way of working that was open to everyone and didn't have a strict boss. Different people wrote and managed the editorials at different times.

Arkzin also tried out "collective authorship." This means many texts, especially important program statements, were written by two or three people together. A famous example was a series of 30 editorials called "Was ist Arkzin" (What is Arkzin), published in 1996-1997. They were signed by a group called the Bastard Intellectual Cooperative.

The Look of Arkzin: Graphic Design

Arkzin was famous not just for its strong political messages but also for its unique graphic design. This design was created by Dejan Kršić and Dejan Dragosavac Ruta.

Maroje Mrduljaš, who studied their work, said that Arkzin's design was very bold and creative. It used interesting typography (the style and arrangement of text) and layered different graphics and content. The designers were inspired by both popular culture and more artistic sources. They explored how the magazine's structure and text worked, making readers think about the act of reading itself.

Arkzins special design was very popular, especially with young people and activists. Many cultural and media groups asked Arkzins designers for help with their posters and messages. The designers often did this for free, which was a great help.

Dejan Dragosavac Ruta designed many magazines and journals, mostly for cultural and civil society groups. He created catalogues, books, and campaign materials for organizations like Multimedia Institute and British Council.

Arkzin's graphic editors also talked about how art and design have a social responsibility. They brought attention to important Croatian designers who used their work for social causes, like Matko Meštrović.

Arkzin's design also got international recognition. Print magazine, a well-known American magazine about visual culture, named Arkzin one of the most important magazines from 1936-2001. This was mentioned in an article about how magazine design changed in 1993, at the start of the new digital age.

Publishing Books

The first book published by Arkzin was "Culture of Lies: Antipolitical Essays" by , in 1996. Since then, Arkzin has published 38 books.

Thirteen of these books were part of Arkzin's own special series called Bibliotheque Bastard. Fifteen books were published together with small independent publishers from Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Arkzin's book publishing followed the same ideas as its newspaper. It strongly criticized nationalism and capitalism. It also promoted ideas like Marxism and psychoanalysis, which were not popular in mainstream Croatian intellectual circles at the time.

Arkzin published translations of famous books by important modern authors like , , , and . Besides translations, Arkzin also published Croatian and regional authors. These authors were known for their critical thoughts on the post-war situation in the former Yugoslav countries. For example, in 1997, they published the novel "Maria Częstohowska still shedding tears or Dying in Toronto" by , who later became a very famous writer.

Music Label

In 1998, Arkzin started its own music label called Carnival Tunes. Its motto was "Independent label for good music - since 1998." Over three years, they released six music CDs.

In 2000, Arkzin worked with another underground music label called Kekere Akvarium. Together, they released one more music CD. It was a double album by called "Man from Katanga/ Blue Bar".

Arkzin's Impact and Legacy

Arkzin was inspired by the idea of "tactical media." This means using media in clever ways to achieve goals. Arkzin actively supported small, independent media and cultural groups. It promoted them in its magazine or helped them with graphic design for their materials.

Often, members of Arkzin's editorial team even helped start some of these new groups. Here are some important ones:

Autonomous Culture Factory Attack
Curatorial collective What, How & for Whom/WHW

The curatorial collective WHW is based in Zagreb, Croatia. Its members are curators Ivet Curlin, Ana Dević, Nataša Ilić, Sabina Sabolović, and designer Dejan Kršić. They said in an interview that Arkzin was very important for their group.

Arkzin was a major place for independent and critical information. In 1998, Arkzin published a special edition of the "Communist Manifesto." They asked one of the WHW members to organize an art exhibition about it. This exhibition aimed to start a public discussion about the ideas in the Manifesto. Organizing this exhibition was a way to make a difference in the art world. The goal was to work together, not just as individuals, in cultural work.

Prominent Contributors Included

Slavoj Žižek
Honor Harger