Photocopy and Hand Out! Zines and the Independent Press in Poland During the Transition

An exhibition about zines and the independent press in Poland during the transition years, from 4 September to 15 November 2026 at the Museum of Caricature, ul. Kozia 11. The opening is on 3 September 2026 at 6 p.m. The exhibition is organised in cooperation with the Gabriel Narutowicz Institute of Political Thought in Warsaw.

The Museum of Caricature on the exhibition:

The 1980s and 1990s were the time when the niche independent press flourished most. Bulletins of the political opposition were produced on duplicators; in community centres, science fiction enthusiasts printed illegal translations of the genre’s classics and their own first literary attempts. The photocopier, a device meant to make office work easier in a capitalist corporation, became at that time a tool of resistance, a seedbed of dissenting thought and avant-garde art. Zines, whatever the views of their makers, became part of the political transition. In their pages a discussion went on about a changing world and about the fears and hopes raised by the new political system. Many makers of zines and of the independent press entered the mainstream in the Third Republic - the worlds of politics, scholarship and art.

Independent publications have always accompanied social and political turning points. They appeared wherever the official circulation of information proved insufficient, was subject to control, or left no room for new ideas to develop. Before the word “zine” existed, there was already the practice of making and distributing printed matter oneself, serving as tools of communication, manifestos, commentaries and testimonies of their time.

Self-publishing and independent distribution can serve both to support emancipation and to criticise those in power, and to spread exclusionary or authoritarian ideas. In this sense zines are a source of information valuable to researchers of the history of independent culture and of social conflicts. They document not only the views of their makers, but also the mechanisms by which ideas take material form and acquire their own circulation outside institutions.

What to expect

The exhibition is curated by Anna Nowakowska-Wierzchoś and Michał Rzecznik. The objects on display come from the collections of Barbara Fatyga, Mateusz Flont, Michał Przyborowski and Michał Rzecznik.

The museum announces an accompanying programme:

• 5 September 2026 (Saturday), 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. - the 5th Zine Fair at the Museum of Caricature, free entry; on that day admission to the exhibition costs 1 PLN.
• 12 September 2026 (Saturday), 1 p.m. to 2.30 p.m. - a curatorial tour with Anna Nowakowska-Wierzchoś and Michał Rzecznik, included in the exhibition ticket.
• 19 September 2026 (Saturday), 1 p.m. to 2.30 p.m. - a zine workshop with Julia Niedziejko, places limited.

Tickets and opening hours are on the museum’s website.

Museum profile: Museum of Caricature.