Zine Mela: DIY Collectives art & activism Documenta/ Lumbung
About this Event
Zine Mela: Talk Panel on DIY Collectives in art & activism (Documenta 15/Lumbung)
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with Zine Mela founder curator Hamja Ahsan (Shy Radicals / Radical Chicken)
and Ranerimmm @ranerrim from Projek Rabak @projekrabak in Malaysia. and other collectives tbc in punk and experimental music, art and activism. Reflections on the survival of DIY Culture, collectivity in Asian cultures, what is Lumbung? curatorial practice, life experiences, Documenta 15 experiences, history of DIY collectives in Asia and the diaspora.
(NOTE: The gallery and Zine Mela exhibition will be open 11am-5pm to be explored by guests - if you live outside of the UK or outside of London you can watch the event livestream on Zine Mela Youtube channel - check your local time zone. Malaysia 8pm-10pm, India 5.30pm-7.30pm, Bangladesh 6pm-8pm, Nepal 5.45pm-7.45pm etc.)
Projek Rabak isa prominent, independent Malaysian multidisciplinary artist-friend collective. Founded in January 2011 in Ipoh, Perak by a group of six local youth, the collective's primary objective is to celebrate youth culture, champion local creative arts, and cultivate fresh creative talents. The group acts as a bridge between various artistic mediums, combining alternative literature, visual arts, music, film, and performance art. They have represented Malaysian contemporary and community-based art globally, including presentations at prestigious events like the 59th Venice Biennale (2022), documenta fifteen in Germany (2022), and the Singapore Biennale.
The collective operates on the core philosophy of lepak—a Malay term for care-free hanging out—treating friendship as the driving engine for their community and collaborative work
Annie Jael Kwan is an independent curator, researcher, educator and cultural strategist whose exhibition-making, programming, publication and teaching practice is located at the intersection of contemporary art, art history and cultural activism, with interest in archives, feminist, queer and alternative knowledges, collective practices, solidarity, sisterhood and spirituality. She leads Asia-Art-Activism (AAA), an interdisciplinary research network, and is the instigating council member of Asia Forum that has a recurring flagship event during the Venice Biennale in 2022, 2024 and 2026. She was the co-editor of Southeast of Now: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia’s guest issues: Archives (2019) and Performativity (2022), the publication Asia-Art-Activism: Experiments in Care and Collective disobedience, and Thinking Collectives: Collective Thinking (ICI Berlin Press).
Gerimis is a collaborative artistic, archiving, and independent publishing collective based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Founded in 2018 by Wendi Sia and Sebastian Heng, the initiative functions as a creative platform that co-produces content with the Orang Asli (the Indigenous peoples of Peninsular Malaysia). Gerimis crafts zines, photo books, and journals that blend field notes, photography, and original indigenous artwork (such as linocuts and digital illustrations)
Hamja Ahsan is the founder-curator of Zine Mela. After participating in Documenta 15, he founded the Lumbung Zine Club collective with Yaner Rim of Projek Rabak and Baan Norg (Thai collective) after Documenta. He is best known for the book and film Shy Radicals : Antisystemic Politics of the Militant Introvert, translated in multiple languages, now adapted into a film streaming currently on Nowness. He was awarded the Grand Prize at Ljubljana Biennial for the work Aspergistan Refendum. He is working on his second book Radical Chicken based on his Documenta art project.
hamjaahsan.com/mela
Zine Mela: South Asian Journeys in DIY Cultures is an annual zine fair, reading room, archive, art collection, film programme, distro, solidarity network talks forum on indy publishing and alternative spaces, hang out space.
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The current edition of Zine Mela 2026 #ZineMelaTurf will be held in London. 3rd July- 30th July at Project Space in Turf Studio (1st Floor).
South Asia meaning Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indian, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, Afghanistan, Adivasi first nations and their global diasporas across Caribbean, Africa, Latin America, Europe, Americas, Arab World and South Asian language orientations from Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu to Bengali to Tamil, South Asian variations of English, hybrid slang.
Curated & Founded by Hamja Ahsan - involved in zine making and collecting for over 30 years since the early 1990s. Pioneered POC-led Zine cultures with the creative activist festival DIY Cultures curated with Sofia Niazi and Helena Wee (2013-2017) which transformed the zine scene in London, nationally and transnationally, across Asia and Africa, from a Eurocentric White hipster dominated scene.
The inaugural zine mela took place in 2025 at WIP Space, London - July- August. The project travelled to Folkestone 6th-8th February 2026 #ZineMela2026 and become a nomadic zine reading room, zine fair, open archive, board games, indie comics, graphics and illustration, a hang out space to makes, read, chill, play, inspire and investigate. Get in touch to host any aspect of its collection or to invite Hamja Ahsan as a guest speaker. The Turf edition continues and expands the travelling living room of zines and chill.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 0.00 to GBP 10.00
