FROM JAPAN: TRAVELER'S FACTORY

The last November my friend invited me to an event in Ace Hotel in Manhattan, there was a Japanese collective who have a company called Traveler’s Company. They were there to do a workshop with their product Traveler’s Notebook. Meet to them there was a great surprise to me because I am a producer and editor of fanzines, magazines and books and long time ago, when I started to do my first fanzines and magazines, I dreamed with my own publishing house where the people could buy my fanzines, magazines, and books and also they could make their own fanzines or books with the material that the company offered to them. In my dream, everything would be handmade and the work process inside the editorial would be horizontal. Unfortunately, sometimes the life shows you that your dreams couldn’t be real due the life itself. But, I was so happy in that workshop looking how my dream became real through other people from the opposite side of the world -regardless their project is too Hipster to me. Due to my special relationship with the Japanese culture, I checked that it project went far from just made notebooks and books, they developed all kind of accessories in order to decorate and personalize the traveler notebook. The experience with Traveler’s Company from Japan was fantastic and totally amazing. I am very grateful to my friend for taking me there. 

A promotional newspaper and a little fanzine from TF that I took in their workshop in Ace Hotel.

Different kind of papers offered by TF in the Ace Hotel workshop

A table in the Ace Hotel lobby with Different kind of papers offered by TF in the Ace Hotel workshop

Travel notebook offered by TF in Ace Hotel workshop

Travel notebook offered by TF in Ace Hotel workshop

More info: https://www.travelers-factory.com

By 
Marcelo Arroyave

THE FANZINE SCENE IN NEW YORK, CHAPTER IV

After 16 months, here I am writing about the Fanzine scene in New York, again! 

In March of 2016 I was in a love depression, and this situation pushed me to go to street and join every single Fanzine event in NY. It was nice because I went to different places on the city and I met another Fanzine scene. One of them was the NYCFeminist Zinefest; it is made a Saturday on March in a very old and very fancy building in the Columbia University in Manhattan; In that moment it was a short trip to me in that festival because it was small, also, was the same Punk-feminist fanzine fair that you can met in another middle class “rebel” event around New York and around the west world: youth with Punk-feminist style clothes and a lot monster DIY Fanzines, plus, fanzines where the author show the drama of her life in that moment (although that young woman currently is a student in one o the most famous and expensive universities around the world).

But, this is the important thing, in middle of it Deja vu, I found a mature woman sat down in a single table with a little and tiny Fanzine on front of her and on the cover a number: 50. In that moment, when I took the fanzine, I felt that my time and my trip wasn't lost. 

 

I talked with her for a few minutes a paid for the Fanzine. I left the event and when I got my home, I left the little Fanzine on my desk where remained until three weeks ago, when I took it again and I read with devotion.

50 is the Fanzine name, like I said above; it is a little autobiography, where the author, in a very hard and deeply exercise of her memory, got and wrote down her memories from the age of one year old until the 50 years old -I didn't know how old was her on the moment when I bought her Fanzine- saying in each page a moment of her life in that age, and letting us know how she changed through her relationship with her mother, father, boyfriends, lovers, books, pets, cities, jobs... letting a little window open to us whereby we can see a little of her life and in the same time, guessing the other big part of her life.

50 was a nice discovered in that fair and I am happy to do a little description of it, because do that kind of memory exercise is hard and some times painful for the author, on the other hand is a good vehicle to let her demons go.

Title: 50.

Author: Jude Vachon

City: New York.

Year: 2016

Measurements: 5.50 inches of width X 4 1/3 inches of high.

Number of pages: 56

Printing Technician: Copies by copy machine in black and white.

Contact: vachonjude@gmail.com

Resume: fanzine with a little autobiography by years of age, from the one year of age until the 50 years old.

 

By Marcelo Arroyave

Eternal member of the Sursystem Collective.

GENTRIFICATION IN NEW YORK CITY

Harlem And South Bronx

Bye Bye Poor People, Welcome Rich People

By Marcelo Arroyave

In the early seventies, many Americans came back to the big city after they left their parent's houses in the suburbs, this process started a phenomenon called Gentrification, this process began when the poor neighbourhoods received public investment and/or private partnerships to improve (reshape and build) housing and urban infrastructure. This process attracts a new class of neighbours in the poor neighborhoods. The new neighbor needs a new environment (stores, shops, specials supermarkets) and this changes the neighborhoods, as a result the rise not just of the rent, or houses, also food and many things such as the recreation and entertainment. This process forces some people who have their life in the neighborhoods to leave their house or apartment. First, because they can't afford the new prices (rent, food, recreation, entertainment) and, second, the landlords throw out the oldest tenants and they get the freedom to sell or rent the apartments or houses to new tenants by the rent or price most expensive. This is a class war, on one side, the landlords and the new neighbors (upper and middle class) and on the other side, the poor neighbors (African American, Latin people, and others immigrants). The Gentrification drives out the poor resident of the neighborhoods where they have lived for decades and forced them to go into marginal areas of the city where they are away from their work and their history, deteriorating quality of their life and destroying the historical heritage of the neighborhood and their families. All it is under the complacent view of the local government, which sees gentrification as a way to improve the image and security of the city for tourists and the middle and upper classes of society.

This phenomenon can be appreciated in several historical neighborhoods in Manhattan, like Chelsea, Soho and the Lower East Side, just to pointed few out. Since a few years ago, other places in Manhattan, like Harlem and South Bronx, started the gentrification process. How the neighbors could identify this kind of urban change? Well, there are many ways to look out for Gentrification and how it starts to reshape a neighborhood and their population.

The first step that opens the door to this process came from the Mayor Office with an investment in infrastructure, like, new subway lines, new street furniture, new public spaces or rebuilt all of these; an example just happened in East Harlem where the last December was opened the new Q line subway, also in Harlem, the next summer (2017) the Supermarket Whole Foods will open their new site on 125 Street and Malcolm X BLDV, transforming definitively the image of the neighborhood and at the same time, its history.

South Bronx started to walk the same path thanks to the Mayor Office:

The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio from going ahead with a $194 million plan to improve the infrastructure in a 30-block area on the Bronx side of the Harlem River. The plan will include making streets pedestrian-friendly, replacing water and sewer lines, carving out a new park and expanding broadband access — all in preparation for future development that, for now, exists only on paper. (NYTimes 12/09/16).

        It wasn't the only signal about the South Bronx gentrification; in the same newspaper this strategic piece of land next to the Harlem River and on affront to East Manhattan, appears in the 51^th position in a list of places to visit in 2017 (NYTimes 01/04/17), thanks to their exclusive places and cultural dynamism. The neighbors who know South Bronx knows what it means when their neighborhood is showed in a list alongside exotic places and heavenly beaches.
 

The poor people and the poor neighborhoods have a large heritage and a deep history in Harlem and The Bronx; the Gentrification transforms the neighborhoods and these could lose their heritage and history. In the same way, the people who built the neighborhood heritage and their history, in many cases, they need to leave the apartments and houses because the life in these traditional places is so much more expensive for them. For example, The Office of the New York City Comptroller shows how the rent average in NYC increased between the year 2000 and 2012; the media of rent for an apartment in New York was $698 in 2000 and in 2012, the rent was $1,167, the increase was of 67,2 % in just 12 years.

The landlords and the local government argue that the new apartments and the new urban infrastructure make the old and poor neighborhoods safer for the old and new tenants. When the neighborhoods get these, the crime and the violence decreases and the people feel more comfortable in their own place. But the crime does not disappear, just moves to another place, near or far away from the old and poor neighborhood. If the local governments want to fight against the crime in the old and poor neighborhoods, the best way is to build new schools with good teachers, make new opportunities for good jobs for the people, or give more opportunities for the youth to get a place in the university without paying a big loan. The old and traditional neighborhoods need more and better hospitals with high quality and more parks and spaces for recreation. The last thing that they need is new buildings or new urban infrastructure on the street with a new price for rent.

The city government said that New York City is better than it was twenty years ago because they started an urban redevelopment especially in Manhattan; and this urban redevelopment brings new companies into New York because the city is safe and has a good environment, especially for the tourism industry. But the massive tourism is good just for the city economy but could be bad for working people, because many times the government only invests in this segment of the economy and doesn't see what happens with the people who don't work in the tourism industry. In the same way, the tourist industry can destroy old neighborhoods when building these new hotels or apartments for rent. Although the tourism business needs special attention, it is necessary that the government pays attention to other segment of the economy, particular migrants need work but not only in the tourism business, because this kind of industry helps to remove many poor people from their own old neighborhood. The web page Curbed said in 2013 that in Manhattan were 48 new hotels under construction due to the high demand for rooms by the new visitors that in 2013 were 54.3 million, according to with NYC Official Guide (NYCGO.COM). This is good for the economy of the city? Of course! This is good for the people who live in the old and poor neighborhoods in Manhattan? Only time will tell, and it will not be long.

The Gentrification is a big issue which affects many big cities around the world, and has a strong impact on the spatial configuration of the city and changes the real life and the imaginary in a very important portion of the population. The massive tourism and property speculation are two of the most important causes of this problem in New York City, but the low regulation of local governments makes this problem more chronic and it is the poorest population that suffers the worst effects. If the local government does nothing to control or regulate the problems caused by Gentrification, very soon we will see portions of the city occupied only by tourists and become empty and lifeless, when those depart to their homes. From the neighborhoods and old neighbors, it is necessary do something for call the local government and show the Gentrification consequences while strategies are created to resist the hits of hotel corporations and the landlords that just want to see profits Where there are stories of fights and resistance and a rich and dynamic life, like in Harlem with their black and Latin history and heritage and The South Bronx with their Salsa, Latin Jazz, Graffiti and Hip Hop history and heritage.

MAGAZIN SURSYSTEM 05 EN PRINTED MATTER (MANHATTAN, NYC)

Hola Todxs! Como editor independiente siempre he soñado con crear un lugar donde converjan multitud de proyectos editoriales independientes y autogestionados, pero como sabemos en Colombia el habito de la lectura casi que ha desaparecido y la cultura de los impresos, aunque ha tenido ciertas explosiones a lo largo del siglo XX y principios del XXI, nunca se ha convertido en un Habitús dentro de nuestra joven sociedad. La semana pasada tuve la oportunidad de pasar por Printed Matter en Manhattan (NY), -un sitio que se parece al que he soñado- y dejar en él unos pocos números del magazin Sursystem edición 05; algunxs se preguntaran qué sentido tiene dejar ejemplares impresos en Español en un país anglófono, pues bien, increíblemente y contra todos los pronósticos y prejuicios que podemos tener hacia la cultura norteamericana, mucha gente se esta interesando por nuestra lengua y qué mejor forma de seguir incentivando éste interés que por medio de un impreso gratuito. Por otro lado, si algunx de los que visita este blog vive y/o esta por ese lado del planeta y quiere tener el SSyS05 puede pasar por el nombrado lugar, recogerlo y de una vez conocerlo ¡Se dará cuenta que parece salido de un sueño!. Eso es todo por ahora, ¡Nos vemos!

Marcelo Arroyave

Colectivo SSyS

Transmitiendo de nuevo desde Colombia.

ENSAYOS GRÁFICOS SELECCIONADOS PARA EL SURSYSTEM 05

Titulo: Los zombis de la sexta avenida. Autor: Luto. Ciudad: Cali

Titulo: Globalopolis. Autor: Kancer. Ciudad: Chihuahua.

Titulo: Y todo esta a la vuelta de la esquina... Autor: Wizard. Ciudad: Bogotà.

Titulo: Sin Titulo. Autor: Julio Fuentes. Ciudad: Barcelona.

Titulo: Invasiòn. Autor: Roberutto. Ciudad: Cali.

Hola todxs. Dentro del proceso de producciòn del magazin Sursystem se incerta la convocatoria de ensayos gràficos, en esta oportunidad como se trata de imaginarios, presentes o futuros de la ciudad globalizada, se procedio a seleccionar dentro de los que llegaron vìa Internet, los que tocaban dicho tema. De antemano queremos agradecer a todxs los que enviaron trabajos, aunque algunos no fueron seleccionados por diferentes motivos, consideramos valioso el esfuerzo de hacerlos llegar. Presentamos entonces los cinco que se han escogido para aparecer en la pròxima ediciòn del impreso, que si todo sale bien, saldra a la luz a principios de noviembre y sera impreso en Espanol y Catalàn de forma independiente. Haremos el esfuerzo de distribuciòn tanto en Europa como en Amèrica del Sur, aunque debemos decir que es un ejercicio difìcil, sobre todo para un impreso autogestionado como este. Esperamos que sean de su agrado y de nuevo gracias a todxs los que siguen apoyandonos con su trabajo creativo, fins aviat!

Marcelo.

Transmitiendo desde Manhattan, NY y con teclado sin acento latino.