Isogloss Workshop 2025: Critical Writing, Magazine Publishing, and Collective Practice
You can teach what you want to learn.
–Bernard Tschumi, commenting on Peter Cook's speech at GSAPP, Columbia University, on February 27, 2017.
* Isogloss Workshop is an annual event initiated by Isogloss Collective, a New York-based critical writing and independent publishing group, and co-organized by Accent Society. It will be held online on Fridays and Saturdays (New York time; Beijing time every Saturday and Sunday), through ZOOM, from January 3 to February 22, 2025. 16 courses will be held over 8 weeks, 3 hours for each course, totaling 48 hours.
* This is a mutual learning workshop, will recruit around 40 fulltime participants as research fellows, and will be divided into four groups to carry out research and present at the suggestion of the research advisors. There are an unlimited number of workshop participants, and there are no assignments, but you are welcome to participate in the discussion. The fee will be used in the author remuneration fund for the upcoming Isogloss Review.
* Media partners for the Workshop include ARTDBL(Shenzhen), China Books Review (New York) and Cultbytes (New York). Reviews written by research fellows will be published by the above media and in the Isogloss Review.
* Research fellows will be granted membership into Isogloss Commune, which covers a wider range of people than the core Isogloss Collective. They will not only be able to join the WeChat group of the learning community to share research and learning resources, but can also browse all ZOOM recording archives of the workshop, and enjoy the benefits of future community activities including other mutual learning programs. Research fellows who have performed well in review writing and group studies will be accepted as members of the Isogloss Collective and as contributors of the Isogloss Review.
* The Isogloss Review relies on communal efforts rather than commercial investment for its founding and growth. Members of the Isogloss Commune are welcome to support the Isogloss Review through a “pay as you wish” model. The workshop will be held once a year. The first workshop will use Chinese as the main language, with only a few courses use English. We welcome any friends who are interested in critical writing, magazine publishing and collective practice to sign up!
Syllabus
Magazine, an English word, originates from the Arabic makhzan, and originally meant "warehouse." The term appeared in The Gentleman's Magazine in London in 1731, where it was used for the first time to refer to regular continuous printed matter containing various content. The first magazine in the world appeared at an earlier time, but was called a “journal”––the literary and scientific journal Le Journal des sçavans, founded by French writer and jurist Denis de Sallo in 1665. As such, it can be said that magazines have existed in human history for less than 400 years. As a medium for expressing ideas, spreading information, and uniting communities, magazines can still be classified as something modern. Even after new media emerged, and people have increasingly begun to worry about "the end of print," the time has not yet arrived to discuss "extinction."
The magazines published all over the world over the past 300 years are many, but the Isogloss Workshop only focuses on the independent magazines that are outside the large media industry. They have usually been initiated by individuals or small groups. Out of minority interests and concerns, they pay attention to style, are distributed independently, have a small circulation, and even have very short lifecycles. However, they are effective media for uniting peers and building communities, and some have become important carriers, impetus for schools in literature, art, and thought. Some of them were the outgrowths of blocked publishing channels, while others were creative experiments and spaces for speech begun in a different ways than usual in the staid commercial publishing environment. Even if their field of vision was limited to small, unpopular fields, what they accomplished in the history of world publishing has remained inexhaustible.
The Isogloss Workshop only sorts through the few clues in digital archives that can be called up at present, and carries out joint research and study in the form of lecture and seminar. On the one hand, it conducts digital archaeology on the history of independent magazines, while on the other hand it discusses how individuals who are short of resources can find their peers through writing and independent magazines, create their own communities, and then create a platform for their collective debut.
Schedule
Introduction
Week 1, A
New York, Friday, Jan 3, 2025, 20:00-23:00
Beijing, Saturday, Jan 4, 2025, 9:00-12:00
Critical Writing, Magazine Publishing, and Collective Practice
Lecturer: OU Ning
1. Lectures
Week 1, B
New York, Saturday, Jan 4, 2025, 20:00-23:00
Beijing, Sunday, Jan 5, 2025, 9:00-12:00
1-1. Artforum and Art Criticism in America
Lecturer: Lee AMBROZY
Reviewers: Yuan FUCA, WENG Xiaoyu
Artforum, inaugural issue, June1962. ©Artforum
Readings:
1-1-1.安静主编，《白立方内外: ARTFORUM当代艺术评论50年》（生活·读书·新知三联书店，2017）
1-1-2. Amy Baker Sandback ed., Looking Critically 21 Years of Artforum Magazine (UMI Research Press, 1984)
Week 2, A
New York, Friday, Jan 10, 2025, 20:00-23:00
Beijing, Saturday, Jan 11, 2025, 9:00-12:00
1-2. October and the October School
Lecturer: LU Mingjun
Reviewers: Danielle SHANG, WANG Xin
October, inaugural issue, Spring1976. ©October
Readings:
1-2-1.鲁明军编著，《前卫的承诺：<十月>访谈录》（东方出版中心，2023）
1-2-2. Annette Michelson, Rosalind Krauss, Douglas Crimp, and Joan Copjec eds., OCTOBER: The First Decade, 1976-1986 (The MIT Press, 1987)
1-2-3. Rosalind Krauss, Annette Michelson, Yve-Alain Bois, Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Hal Foster, Denis Hollier, and Silvia Kolbowski eds., OCTOBER: The Second Decade, 1986-1996 (The MIT Press, 1997)
Week 2, B
New York, Saturday, Jan 11, 2025, 20:00-23:00
Beijing, Sunday, Jan 12, 2025, 9:00-12:00
1-3. The Music Criticism in The Village Voice and The Wire
Lecturer: YAN Jun
Reviewers: MU Qian, Eve SHI
The Village Voice, inaugural issue, October 1955. ©The Village Voice
The Wire, inaugural issue, Summer 1982. ©The Wire
Readings:
1-3-1. Tony Herrington ed., Epiphanies: Life-Changing Encounters with Music (Strange Attractor Press, 2014)
1-3-2. Tom Johnson, The Voice of New Music: New York City, 1972-1982 - A Collection of Articles Originally Published in the Village Voice by Tom Johnson (Het Apollohuis, 1989)
Week 3, A
New York, Friday, Jan 17, 2025, 20:00-23:00
Beijing, Saturday, Jan 18, 2025, 9:00-12:00
1-4. Cahiers du Cinéma and La Nouvelle Vague
Lecturer: ZHANG Xianmin
Reviewers: Aurelia DOCHNAL, WANG Xueli, YU Zijing
Cahiers du Cinéma, inaugural issue, April 1951. ©Cahiers du Cinéma
Readings:
1-4-1. Jim Hillier ed., Cahiers du Cinéma: The 1950s: Neo-Realism, Hollywood, New Wave (Harvard University Press, 1985)
1-4-2. Jim Hillier ed., Cahiers du Cinéma: 1960-1968: New Wave, New Cinema, Reevaluating Hollywood (Harvard University Press, 1992)
Week 3, B
New York, Saturday, Jan 18, 2025, 20:00-23:00
Beijing, Sunday, Jan 19, 2025, 9:00-12:00
1-5. Comparison: The New York Review of Books and The London Review of Books
Lecturer: LIU Zheng
Reviewers: Alec ASH, ZHONG Na
The New York Review of Books, inaugural issue, February 1963. ©The New York Review of Books
The London Review of Books, inaugural issue, October 1979. ©The London Review of Books
Readings:
1-5-1. Robert B. Silvers, Rea S. Hederman, and Barbara Epstein eds., The First Anthology: 30 Years of the New York Review of Books (New York Review of Books, 1993)
1-5-2. Jane Hindle ed., London Review of Books: An Anthology (Verso Books, 1996)
Week 4, A
New York, Friday, Jan 24, 2025, 20:00-23:00
Beijing, Saturday, Jan 25, 2025, 9:00-12:00
1-6. Guy Debord and the Situationist International
Lecturer: Matt TURNER
Reviewers: HUANG Banyi, OU Ning
Internationale Situationniste, inaugural issue, June 1958. ©Internationale Situationniste
Readings:
1-6-1. Knabb Ken ed., Situationist International: Anthology (Revised and Expanded Edition)(Bureau of Public Secrets, 2006)
1-6-2. Tom McDonough ed., Guy Debord and the Situationist International: Texts and Documents (The MIT Press, 2002)
2. Seminars
Week 4, B
New York, Saturday, Jan 25, 2025, 20:00-23:00
Beijing, Sunday, Jan 26, 2025, 9:00-12:00
2-1. Chinese and English Magazines
Yuan FUCA, GU Qianfan, WENG Xiaoyu: Heichi Magazine
Michael GUO, Coco QIN: te editions
Ricky LI: November
AN Tairan, LUO Xuan: Tangent Essays
Websites:
http://www.heichimagazine.org
https://www.tangentessays.com
Week 5, A
New York, Friday, Jan 31, 2025, 20:00-23:00
Beijing, Saturday, Feb 1, 2025, 9:00-12:00
2-2. Chinese Online Magazines
Chris WAN: Daoju
Cindy HUANG, LIU Weitian, NIE Xiaoyi: Qilu Criticism
ZHONG Gang: ARTDBL
XU Kuangzhi: KONGBAI
Websites:
https://www.qilucriticism.com
微信公共号：打边炉 ARTDBL
微信公共号：空白艺论II
Week 5, B
New York, Saturday, Feb 1, 2025, 20:00-23:00
Beijing, Sunday, Feb 2, 2025, 9:00-12:00
2-3. Independent Bookstores and Local Communities
Annie ZHANG: From Initium Media, Matters to Nowhere
LI Jiaoyang, ZHONG Na: Accent Society and the Oversea Bilingual Writing Community
Websites:
Readings:
2-3-1.張藝曦，《結社的藝術：16-18世紀東亞世界的文人社集》（聯經出版公司，2020）
2-3-2.郭英德，《中国古代文人集团与文学风貌》（中国人民大学出版社，2012）
Week 6, A
New York, Friday, Feb 7, 2025, 20:00-23:00
Beijing, Saturday, Feb 8, 2025, 9:00-12:00
2-4. Historical Asian American Periodicals, the Chinatown Basketball Club and Community Building
Herb TAM: Historical Asian American Periodicals
Herb TAM, ZHANG Lu: Basketball as the Community Medium: Chinatown Basketball Club
(In English and Chinese)
Magazine Fever: Gen X Asian American Periodicals, exhibition at the Museum of Chinese in America, curated by Herb Tam, October 3, 2024 – March 30, 2025. ©World Journal
Websites:
https://www.mocanyc.org/event/magazine-fever-gen-x-asian-american-periodicals/
https://chinatownbasketball.club
Readings:
2-4-1. Jeff Chang, Who We Be: A Cultural History of Race in Post-Civil Rights America (Picador, 2014)
2-4-2. David Hollander, How Basketball Can Save the World: 13 Guiding Principles for Reimagining What’s Possible (Harmony, 2023)
3.Assignments
* Each research fellow need to submit a review in Chinese and English of 2000-3000 words, to be preferably published in Isogloss Review and partner media of the workshop.
* Research fellows will be divided into four groups to conduct collective research on the following four topics, and give presentations and discussions in workshop.
Week 6, B
New York, Saturday, Feb 8, 2025, 20:00-23:00
Beijing, Sunday, Feb 9, 2025, 9:00-12:00
3-1. Samizdat: Back to the Pre-Gutenberg Age
Advisors: PENG Yanhan, Kevin WU
Activists associated with the historical edition Memory, USSR, May–June 1976. ©International Memorial Society.
Russian samizdat and photo negatives of unofficial literature. ©Nkrita
Readings:
3-1-1. George Saunders, Samizdat: Voices of the Soviet Opposition (Pathfinder Press, 1974)
3-1-2. Ann Komaromi, Soviet Samizdat Imagining a New Society (Cornell University Press, 2022)
3-1-3.景凯旋编译，《地下：东欧萨米亚特随笔》（花城出版社，2010）
3-1-4. Project for the Study of Dissidence and Samizdat
https://samizdat.library.utoronto.ca/content/sfinksy
Week 7, A
New York, Friday, Feb 14, 2025, 20:00-23:00
Beijing, Saturday, Feb 15, 2025, 9:00-12:00
3-2. Unofficial Chinese Poetry Journals of the 1980s
Advisors: DONG Yuxiang, OU Ning, WANG Lin
In the 1980s, there was an active poet community in Sichuan, China. From left: BAI Hua, ZHANG Zao, ZHONG Ming, OUYANG Jianghe. ©XIAO Quan
Collection of unofficial poetry journals from China at Universiteit Leiden.
Archive and Reading:
3-2-1. Unofficial Poetry Journals from China
https://digitalcollections.universiteitleiden.nl/unpo
3-2-2.徐敬亚、孟浪、曹长青、吕贵品编，《中国现代主义诗群大观1986-1988》（同济大学出版社，1988）
Week 7, B
New York, Saturday, Feb 15, 2025, 20:00-23:00
Beijing, Sunday, Feb 16, 2025, 9:00-12:00
3-3. The History of Little Magazines
Advisors: AN Tairan, Ricky LI, LUO Xuan
General Idea was a collective of three Canadian artists, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal and AA Bronson, who were active from 1967 to 1994. They published FILE Megazine (1972–1989) and founded Art Metropole in 1974. In 2004, AA Bronson began working at Printed Matter as its director. ©National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists who Make Zines, exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, curated by Branden W. Joseph and Drew Sawyer, November 17, 2023 – March 31, 2025. ©Paula Abreu Pita
Readings:
3-3-1. Beatriz Colomina and Craig Buckley eds., Clip, Stamp, Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines 196X to 197X (Actar, 2011)
3-3-2. Stephen Duncombe, Notes from Underground Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture (Microcosm Publishing, 2008)
3-3-3. Branden W. Joseph and Drew Sawyer, Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists who Make Zines (Phaidon Press, 2024)
Week 8, A
New York, Friday, Feb 21, 2025, 20:00-23:00
Beijing, Saturday, Feb 22, 2025, 9:00-12:00
3-4. The Ecology of Independent Magazines in New York at Present
Advisors: Yuan FUCA, GU Qianfan, WENG Xiaoyu
Keith Gessen, Mark Greif and Chad Harbach, three of six founders of n+1 magazine, which began in late 2004. ©Harvard Magazine 2010
n+1 is often regarded as a “hipster magazine” and “highbrow journal.” ©n+1
Websites:
https://direct.mit.edu/octo/issue
https://canopycanopycanopy.com
https://www.cabinetmagazine.org
https://www.papermonument.com
https://www.pinupmagazine.org
Conclusion
Week 8, B
New York, Saturday, Feb 22, 2025, 19:00-22:00
Beijing, Sunday, Feb 23, 2025, 10:00-11:00
Graduation Party
Screening of ZHAO Dayong’s The High Life
Accent Society, Suite 702, 89 Fifth Avenue, New York 10003
ZHAO Dayong, The High Life, 93mins, 2010, Drama, Color, HD, Chinese and English Subtitles. ©Lantern Films
Participants
Lee AMBROZY, AN Tairan, Alec ASH, Aurelia DOCHNAL, Yuxiang DONG, Yuan FUCA, GU Qianfan, Michael GUO, Banyi HUANG, Cindy HUANG, Ricky LI, LI Jiaoyang, LIU Weitian, LIU Zheng, LU Mingjun, LUO Xuan, MU Qian, NIE Xiaoyi, OU Ning, PENG Yanhan, QIN Kechun, Danielle SHANG, Eve SHI, Herb TAM, Matt TURNER, Chris WAN, WANG Lin, WANG Xin, WANG Xueli, WENG Xiaoyu, Kevin WU, XU Kuangzhi, YAN Jun, YU Zijing, Annie ZHANG, ZHANG Lu, ZHANG Xianmin, ZHAO Dayong, ZHONG Gang, ZHONG Na
Course Facilitators
Aurelia DOCHNAL, Helena JIN, LI Jiaoyang, OU Ning, WANG Lin
Visual Designers
Xiaoma + Chengzi
About ISOGLOSS Review
ISOGLOSS Review is a multilingual online magazine for cultural and artistic criticism. It invites writers of different nationalities in New York to work as a writing collective and write bilingually, in English and their native languages, on the cultural and artistic events that happen in New York. This is a process of mutual learning and knowledge production.
ISOGLOSS refers to the geographical boundary of the distribution of a specific linguistic feature, which was inspired by the concept of ISOHYET (bounded by the same rainfall) in climatology. ISOGLOSS reminds us of the objective existence of borders, even if crossing boundaries and integration have become part of mainstream thought.
In New York, an international metropolis that no longer absorbs and engulfs different cultures as a "melting pot," but advocates decentralization and multicultural coexistence, bounded diversity is certainly more attractive than unbounded monopoly. This is why ISOGLOSS Review intends to practice multilingual writing and publishing.
ISOGLOSS Review is based on ISOGLOSS Commune, a community of writers, editors, and readers with ISOGLOSS Collective as the core. It relies on the joint efforts of this community to initiate, grow, and develop sustainably, and incubates paper publishing projects through ISOGLOSS Books, strengthens the community's mutual learning experiment through ISOGLOSS Academy, and solidifies the offline connection of the community through ISOGLOSS Spaces.
ISOGLOSS Review welcomes contributions from art critics, film critics, music critics, dance critics and book critics in New York, and welcomes all kinds of funding to support a reasonable remuneration for our writers.
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