THIS IS (NOW) ONLINE | ZINE EXHIBITION BY PULP SOCIETY AND THE IRREGULAR ART FAIR

Online Zine Exhibition at www.thisisnowonline.com
Curated by Pulp Society x The Irregulars Art Fair

In this moment of galleries, museums, and art institutions hurrying to put their content online, what do small-scale arts organisations have to do to stay relevant and make their voices heard? Enter ‘This is (now) online’, a unique zine art-game cum online exhibition organised by Pulp Society and The Irregulars Art Fair during the early weeks of lockdown. To celebrate the spirit of this collectively produced project, the organisers and artists have put the zines up for sale, with all proceeds going towards COVID-19 relief aid.

This is (now) online is an online exhibition, which is the result of a collaborative game played over 3 weeks by 78 artists, designers, writers, poets, and all kinds of makers who were feeling isolated and creatively ‘stuck’ during the lockdown. Players worked together to make a ‘zine’, which is an informal often hand-made magazine that can include images, text, illustrations or more. In this case, players collaborated anonymously to create digital zines as in groups, with the final outcome only revealed to all at the end of the project.

After the closure of the city, many of us were feeling very lonely and unmotivated to create. The idea behind This is (now) online as an all-inclusive project was to motivate artists to create something while giving them a sense of companionship and being a part of something larger than themselves. This was especially important in the initial, uncertain weeks of the lockdown. No applicant was turned away, and the game was formatted such that even a completely inexperienced artist could contribute and be included in the project. One simply had to sign up to play the game, follow the instructions, and contribute their artwork!

The open, inclusive nature of this project attracted a wide range of participants, from established artists and designers, writers and poets and even some curators. Some of the players included Delhi-based DJ Pia Brar, curator and art writer Shaleen Wadhwana, veteran graphic designer Gopika Chowfla, up and coming Goa based artists, Nishant Saldanha and Avani Tanya, artist and organiser Kaur Chimuk, tattoo artist Shreya Josh, and designer/artist Hugo Pilate, amongst many others. 

Zines come in many different shapes, sizes and forms, and range in content from informative, playful or simply an abstract artistic form. Although zines have historically been associated with subcultures, they have gained immense popularity in the last decades and can be found in even the most established galleries. The 16 zines created for This is (now) online explore a range of subjects and ideas, from ruminations on the state of Indian politics as expressed in Helf and Caree, a collaboration between Nirmal Ravisyam and Salil Parekh, an exploration of sexuality and queer subject matter as seen in Kumari and Salahuddin’s Intimacy and Incompatibility, or reflections on the absurd experience of Coronavirus that is expressed in Found at the back of the bookshelf.

This is (now) online was organised by Sitara Chowfla and Vrinda Suneja from Pulp Society, and Tarini Sethi from The Irregulars Art Fair.