More than 80 independent and solo publishers will present and sell magazines, books, zines and art books at Indiecon 2020.
A catalogue of all exhibitors is now available online: à indiecon-festival.com/exhibitors – a list of recommendations is attached.
Visitors can book a free ticket for the event, which will be held on 5 and 6 September at the Oberhafen, Hamburg à indiecon-festival.com/visitor-registration
Themes that
never sleep
At Indiecon 2020, independent publishers will be dealing with highly topical themes even in times of the coronavirus pandemic. Why the crisis can spark productivity – and which titles are unmissable.
They never really came to a standstill. Even during the coronavirus pandemic, the makers of many independent publications worked on, even in the face of tougher conditions. “Social crises are times of extraordinary productivity in publishing,“ says Hamburg’s Minister of Culture Dr Carsten Brosda in his welcome to Indiecon 2020 – and assures the scene of his continuing support.
Independent publishers, he says, deserve special attention and support, “because literature, journalism, art also operates on the meaning of our social community”. And – without wanting to go too far – that work can't just be switched off for months and years on end.
“Operators on meaning” and changing perspectives
The “operators on meaning” represented at Indiecon include political publishers such as Hamburg’s Marta Press, which combines feminist and anti-fascist standpoints in its list, and the artist Loulou João, who explores identity and “Afropean experiences” in bubblegum-hued illustrations. Die Epilog looks at our present-day culture through an academic cultural lens – and is particularly gentle in the current issue.
International guests extend an invitation to changes of perspective at Indiecon. In the first issue of Off To Mag, readers make a journey to the Ghanaian capital of Akkra. Journalist Liz Gomis’s team plans to showcase an African city in every issue – beyond the picture postcards and described from the point of their residents. The zine Buluntu – Turkish for “treasure trove” – collages special finds to create interpretations of reality that critique contemporary life. The first issue of the Alien Magazine from Lisbon is about an understanding of "the alien".
Inspiration from the niches
It’s the unexpected relationships that make voices from the niches relevant to the social centre. The Parisian magazine Club Sandwich writes about food and society – and explains, for example, what cucumbers have to do with the subjugation of women in India. The Dutch publishers behind NXS magazine dive deep into digital spheres in search of the self.
On route to the future, Kapsel magazine took in China and its vibrant local science fiction literature. For a link to the present, the doooogs collective has assembled a wide selection of publications from China and its neighbouring countries that are virtually unavailable in Europe.
Love reading and you'll love publisher mairisch Verlag, for example, or Literarische Diverse magazine, whose two issues to date have delivered exactly what they promise. One source of visual inspiration is the print collective Riso Sur Mer For a real pacy beat, recent winner of the Deutscher Verlagspreis (German Publishers Award) Korbinian Verlag brings radical-contemporary literature to Hamburg – and the music and literature magazine Das Wetter.
You’ll find an overview of the event online: the digital catalogue contains detailed information about exhibitors and selected publications (à indiecon-festival.com/exhibitors).
How to get to Indiecon
Visitors can book a free ticket now (à indiecon-festival.com/visitor-registration). If you really don't want to miss this event, you need to be quick: the number of visitors is severely restricted because of the coronavirus pandemic.
One element of uncertainty remains: if a spike in COVID-19 infections demands a return to greater restrictions, Indiecon could still face cancellation. Fortunately, we can do something about that in our daily routine: keep our distance, wash our hands, wear a mask.
Information about the event:
Indiecon 2020 – Independent Publishing Festival
5–6 September 2020
Stockmeyerstr. 43
Oberhafen, Hamburg
Admission to Indiecon is free of charge to visitors.
Register at: indiecon-festival.com/visitor-registration
Full info: indiecon-festival.com
Facebook: facebook.com/Indiemags.de
Instagram: instagram.com/indiemags
