The latest publication from the Hardcore Architecture project by Public Collectors focuses on paper advertising ephemera from underground zines and bands of the 1980s to the early 1990s. From the essay booklet:
Little slips of printed paper, crammed with details about new demo tapes, records, zines, distribution and mail order services or other offerings, found their way into countless letters throughout the 1980s and 1990s. It was common for an envelope to explode with these bits of this and that—all modest attempts to spread the word, drum up some orders or correspondence, and reach new audiences. Zines used them to solicit demo tapes for review and new writing to publish. Bands used them to sell their tapes and records. Given the vast number of people that were engaged in pen pal relationships and tape and zine trading, many thousands of these slips of paper moved back and forth all over the world.
In addition to a short booklet that includes quotes from some zine-makers, band members and record labels about this practice, the main feature here is the recreation of 66 facsimiles of these little ads: scanned from my own archives or the collections of others and all reprinted and cut by hand in the loving but extremely labor-intensive mode of bedroom publishers of yore. Essentially, this edition is a portable exhibit of designed and printed paper bits that many people made and used, but far fewer people thought to save.
About Hardcore Architecture:
Hardcore Architecture explores the relationship between the architecture of living spaces and the history of underground hardcore bands in the 1980s. This publication, which focuses on the domestic homespun production aspects of underground music and publishing culture, is a supplement to the website: www.hardcorearchitecture.tumblr.com. It is one of a series of printed publications addressing the themes of the project through writings, interviews, photos, and printed ephemera. Hardcore Architecture is a project of Marc Fischer and Public Collectors.
