Indiependent Mag. - Case Study Magazine on the Contemporary Indie Scene (2010)
Softcover / Hardcover | Images (full color) | 136 Pages | Format: 20 x 25 cm | English edition | €54,99 / €74,99
Editor in chief: Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk
Coordinating editor: Sanne Goudriaan
Design: Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk
Authors: Julia Nuesslein, Milou Grefkens, Naomi den Hollander, Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk, Sanne Goudriaan
This onetime magazine was initiated to map the contemporary Indie scene from a diverse range of viewpoints. By juxtaposing different ideologies, subcultural theories, images, and applying different strategies at an overall level, a critical stance is being taken regarding the manifestations of the Indie scene. The magazine is structured thematically in different categories, this in order to underscore the different interdisciplinary entries, from critic, to artist, to curator, as well as to emphasize the different subsets within the bigger picture, for example scene-versus-authenticity. Every theme or category highlights a certain aspect of the Indie scene, examining a range of issues: from the eye of the beholder to the voice of the masses, from the ivory tower (private space) to the public sphere, from local to glocal, from the physical "real" to virtual reality and cyberspace. These juxtapositions create a kaleidoscope of critical reference material; a case study in which the individual meets the collectivism of a scene (subculture), an inconsistent stand on itself.
#0 The "Grammar" of the Scene | Subculture is included to explore and to place the Indie scene in a certain theoretical and historical context, this approach is essential in order to say something about the current state of affairs. #1 From the Ivory Tower to the Public Sphere is included to juxtapose the individual with the collective and society as a whole. This section explores these different contexts and their internal and external processes. #2 Voices from Cyberspace focusses on the online manifestations of the Indie as an individual and the Indie scene as a collective. What could be said about the differences between online and offline and between virtual reality and cyberspace? What happens with ones appearance with the absence of the body? #3 Rooms of Identity, a paper exhibition departing from Foucault's theory, is intended to examine "Indie living environments". This stereotypical categorization, based on value judgements, serves as a discussion opener to the question: to what extent could subcultural analysis derive objective judgements from frieze fames? #4 Love the Creator features a selection of landmark records, films and events around the contemporary Indie scene.
A difficult debate has always been: what label should be chosen to represent and further examine a group of (like minded) people. Should it be a tribe, a scene or a subculture? Many Utopian systems of interpretation have been provided overtime, some more convenient than others, but most of them were not sustainable. In order to not define this debate in advance, no clear-cut definition or "chosen side" will have our recommendation. The critical reference material serves as a guidance towards a point we think the reader is able to make up his or her mind for themselves. The different essays within this journal have different approaches and attitudes towards either a scene or a subculture, they are only variations on a theme, a preference taken into consideration as point of departure for the various authors. This distinction will eventually be more able to render meaning to the various groups within society and their boundaries, than to reason from a uniform agreement.
Theme overview:
#0 The Grammar of the Indie Scene
#1 From the Ivory Tower to the Pubic Sphere
#2 Voices from Cyberspace
#3 Rooms of Identity
#4 Love the Creator