As stated in a strongly worded press release, Somerset House’s latest exhibition Print! Tearing It Up “traverses through the pacifist Peace News of the 1930s, the biting satire of Private Eye (first published in the 1960s and still Britain’s best-selling current affairs magazine), the seminal feminist magazine founded in the 1970s Spare Rib, the cult-pop phenomenon of The Face in the 1980s and 90s and the D.I.Y zines created by teenage feminist collectives into the new millennium.
According to Somerset House, “the number of niche magazines is booming in Britain with the likes of gal-dem and Mushpit launching in the past decade. Print! Tearing It Up explores the contemporary market of magazines, looking at the latest line of publishing pioneers, examining demand for print in a digital era and the future of these independent titles.”
Independent Print trailer courtesy of Somerset House and featured in the podcast. So in this episode of i-D’s weekly fashion podcast, Fash-On Fash-OFF, we’re talking all things print. As the exhibition opens its doors, we explore the history and impact of the British independent magazine scene. We chart the evolution of print publications. And we celebrate the current crop of innovative independent magazines out there today.
This week, I’m joined the exhibition’s Co-Curator Claire Catterall, Bertie Brandes of the satirical feminist zine Mushpit and Sharan Dhaliwal of South Asian lifestyle magazine Burnt Roti.