Landscape is a relationship between humans and nature, and that relationship is negotiated through a wide range of media, including zines (i.e., self-published, low-budget, small-run, print publications). As vehicles of self-expression and with content typically outside the mainstream, zines have proliferated in recent decades. Landscape has also become a significant concern in zine culture, reflecting new thinking about humans, nature, and the relationship between them. Hosted at Space p11, a non-commercial gallery within the Pedway system of downtown Chicago, the Landscape Zine Reading Room will expose visitors to a wide variety of works produced during the past decade, including photo narratives, queer botanicals, survival manuals, and more. To give context to that development, information about zine history, theory, and production will be available to participants along with supplemental texts about contemporary landscape. Free and open to the public, the Landscape Zine Reading Room will also include programming for students, educators, and activists with interests in landscape. After the conclusion of the week-long event, copies of zines presented in the Reading Room will be distributed to public collections in Chicago and Champaign-Urbana.
