Zinister Business will run from 14 to 29 November at Hin Residency Space in Hin Bus Depot, George Town, with 192 zines on show, 18 of them from outside Malaysia.
The open call drew submissions from Australia, Belarus, Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. The exhibition is organised by 31A Dept Store, Hin Bus Depot, Kata & Co and Penang Art District.
Neoh Shin Yen, programme coordinator of Zinister Business, told theSun that the international response pointed to a wider community of independent publishers looking for places to show work and meet their peers. “There are already people making zines and self-published work here, but they may be working within different circles,” she said.
“Zines have always travelled well. They can be personal and rooted in local perspective, but the act of making and sharing one is something people from different places can relate to,” she said.
The show is built to widen that reach. Zines are familiar inside creative circles and less so outside them, and the exhibition gathers work that runs from writing, photography and illustration to collage, personal storytelling and formats that depart from the conventional booklet.
A programme of workshops, talks and reading sessions runs alongside the exhibition. Zine Buffet, an open reading session with Anna Tan, takes place on 14 November at 4pm. Hungry Penang Lang asks Why Print, When Everything Is Online? on 15 November at 4pm.
Inkling Studio covers Risograph printing in Why We Riso, Why We Zine on 21 November at 2pm. Kinta Zine Club runs two workshops on 22 November, Cut, Swap, Paste at 11am and Zine The Noise at 2.30pm.
Visiting hours are noon to 7pm on Fridays, 10am to 7pm on Saturdays and Sundays, and by appointment on other days. The venue is at 41 Jalan Kampung Jawa Lama, 10150 George Town.
Details and workshop registration are available at hinbusdepot.com and on Instagram at @31adeptstore.
