The first issue of Zent magazine

After almost a year of work on the first issue, Nova Iskra and Zent Collective are proudly presenting Zent magazine. The first issue of Zent will be presented to the public on 11th May at 5 PM on the plateau located behind the building at Terazije 30-32.

Zent magazine is dedicated to the research and examining of the issues that deal with the problematisation of the “contemporary“ in all of its aspects. Zent is political, insofar as it does not see politics (only) as a matter of institutions, but above all as a matter of everyday relations between individuals and communities to each other and to the world. Zent’s language is written in accessible and understandable manner, while it also experiments with forms of expression (from photography, through literature and architecture to theory) with the intention to problematize the relationship between “high”, “popular” and “national” culture, “experts” and “amateurs”, managers and those that are managed. Zent will take the form of thematic printed editions published twice a year, while the website www.zentmagazine.com will consist of other original texts and translations, alongside the content of the print editions. The magazine will function on the basis of an open call for both printed and online editions – the first open call for authors and authors is expected in July.

Zent is attempting to re-invent and establish a publishing model whose goal is not profit but access to knowledge for all. Zent is grounded in the values of community and the belief that the state is not an essential mediator. The name itself comes from the magazine lingo term zentati, which implies a certain level of fear (of) and anxiety (as). For Zent, zentati means to await (nothing specific), to be out of order and out of place, on no man’s land, never where it is expected. Zent understands unity as the first prerequisite for the exercise of extra-ordinal space for all.

Zent is a magazine for extra-ordinary reflection of the present. The present or “prezent”, that is a matter of time and space in which we live, so it makes up the first meta-topic of magazine Zent. The first issue looks at Zent and deals with the present through texts, visual interventions, poetry and comics in a specific way of dealing with social issues, phenomena, discourses and practices from the position of our contemporary: from the urban changes in Belgrade, over the situation of refugees in Europe and the New Racism, to the “European integration” of Serbia.  The writers are Gal Kirn, Paul Currion, Ivan Marković, Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams, Aleksandar Matković, Marina Gržinić, Aleksandra Savanović and Suhail Malik. The answers to the question What is the Present? in the eponymous section are offered by Aleksandra Lakić, Damjan Rehm Bogunović, Mića Stajčić, Natalija Miletić, Malena Nijensohn, sumire, Amanda Grey, Ivan Marković and Marija Milinković.

Visual interventions across the first edition Zent are contributed by the visual artists Dušan Rajić, Boris Hoppek and Gaelle Leenhardt. Author of the comic that shows another dimension of contemporary is Danijel Savović, while Milorad Mladenovićapproached the topic from our everyday perspective in the form of characteristic Facebook poetry.

Visual identity, design and layout of the first issue of the magazine Zent was developed by the graphic designer Olga Jorgačević. Also responsible for the artistic directon are Relja Bobić, Ivan Marković and Aleksandra Savanović. The first issue of Zent was edited by Maja Kantar, Aleksandra Lakić, Ivan Marković andAleksandra Savanović.

Zent is a joint initiative of Zent Collective and Nova Iskra, which is also the publisher of the magazine. Zent is beyond genre limitations and existing arrangements. Zent is for everyone and for all.

Promotion of the Zent magazine will be held on the plateau located behind the address Terazije 30-32 on 11th May at 5 PM. Everyone who have signed up for the newsletter on the website http://www.zentmagazine.com will be able to buy their copy at a reduced promo price.