Rock, Paper, Scissors: The DIY Punk Zine and its Influence in Contemporary Visual Culture

This dissertation examines the practice of producing independent, self-made magazines or ‘zines’ within the DIY Punk counterculture, a practice which began in the US and UK in the mid-1970s. It studies the politics and ideologies that have driven DIY punk zine production since the '70s and how these politics relate to, or have been influenced by the ideas of 20th century cultural theorists and radical art movements. The dissertation also investigates the role that zines have played within DIY punk as devices for strengthening resistance against consumer capitalism, building communities and developing the identities of individuals who feel marginalised or alienated by a profit-obsessed society.

The influence that the aesthetics and ideologies of the DIY punk zine have had on modern-day practices of corporate marketing, web networking and mainstream publishing are also examined. Here, the difficult relationship of underground media with mainstream culture is explored, with a focus on how the messages of the underground are inevitably altered when distributed through channels of consumer capitalism. The dissertation examines the reasons why the zine is becoming increasingly apparent in mainstream visual culture.

Specific examples of graphically innovative zines with a wonderful visual energy are illustrated and discussed in relation to the points made here. Many of these zines, particularly the examples included from Ireland, have so far been left absent from academic or visual texts on the subject.