Multimedia zines: Into the fifth dimension

Since the 1960s, independent artists have incorporated multimedia formats into their works. With the first example documented as multimedia art by Bobb Goldsteinn in 1966, the concept spread across the globe. Specifically, it benefited the punk and, later, indie scenes in America and the United Kingdom. Employing multimedia practices, Icelandic fanzine creators combined local aesthetics and ideas that were ubiquitous in the global DIY context. Such endeavours facilitated the formation of a new identity. Existing on the outskirts of the music industry, artists crafted their own indie realm, delivered through the principle of archivism. Musicians, writers and record producers not only crafted a new identity but also manifested independence from the imposed ‘discursive construction of Iceland’. As opposed to computer-controlled media, human-controlled multimedia embraces personal and communal experiences that feed into a new and, perhaps, more objective narrative. Through cassette compilations, booklets and fanzines adorned with collages, independent labels and the artists they represented (Erðanúmúsik, Ísafjörður Über Alles, Gramm Records) constructed an image of the country existing in a dialogue with other cultures and making itself heard. For this article, we chose three case studies that bring an overview of the independent culture of Iceland in the mid-1980s, shortly before the international breakout of the Sugarcubes. By many historians of popular music, the event was viewed as a turning point in Icelandic pop history. It followed the active phase of punk that, according to Björn Vilhjálmsson, lasted from 1979 to 1982. By the mid-1980s, bands were turning towards more accessible music which was nevertheless distinctive and more appealing for the international audience.