Selfpublishing: hüman
NO.001 Captivating
hüman is an independent publishing project initiated by Buzzy Breezy Studio. Compared with the definition as “zine” or “magazine” , it is much closer to a personal affective work that persists of “no overstating” , “no demeaning” and “absolutely subjective” attitudes throughout the context. From the very view of three originators, hüman, who pursuits to unveil the true, ordinary warmness and civil moments to readers, intuitively picks up those familiar and/or unaware fragments existed in people, stories and surroundings of Guangzhou city. In Cantonese, “嚣闻” (hiu1man4) is a transliteration of human with the profound meaning of opening senses fully, which indicates that messages from all directions can be successfully received and spread out through the way we listen, watch, smell, taste, touch and walk, adding a more lively image of sound and hubbubs on project hüman.
相比起定义为“杂志”或“Zine”，《嚣闻》(hüman) 更接近于一件充满创作者个人强烈情感的作品，内容上有着“不拔高”“不贬低”和“绝对主观”的坚持。以创作者的主观角度，从广州的环境、生活和人事物当中采风，让广州的人情味、市井气能被感知，这是《嚣闻》追求实现的意义，也是项目为什么取名为“hüman”的原因。而中文名“嚣闻” （粤语发音hiu1man4）除了是对“hüman”的音译，也带着打开感官，通过听、看、嗅、尝、触、走等方式，从四面八方收集消息并传播的含义，有着更热闹、喧哗的意象。
Three people, from different specialised areas, came along for creating the first hüman. Some people like to plan thoughtfully before the start then, and some prefer to do just for a rash impulse; and to us, making a book or zine is the goal that we all have deliberately longed and hoped to achieve one day. Although the dreaming seeds were sown on different occasions, the encounter of people and time together enliven this project, and we believe that the facts will give us the best echo.
At first, inspired by the Chinese word “闻” we notice that human bodies can sense and react proactively or passively confronting various environments. Started from Zhongshan 6th Road, we tried to record the immediate attractions to our feelings: morning gossips and dirty words from elderly dim-sum talks, conversations yelling from a passer-by lady, stores under Qilou Buildings, smells of burning incense from Liurong Road, and delicious beef offal soup, steamed rice rolls, water snake congee, etc. All the voice, smell and human figures that we encountered were about to overlap.
During the stroll around Zhongshan 6th areas, we depended on the colours to choose the way, or changed the routes for moving mottled figures of the alley, or stopped by a kind inquisitiveness of “Who are you looking for?”. Movements and stillness that we captured intuitively become so precious as they were exactly what appealed to us at that moment remaining even lively in our mind afterwards. Just like life, it is always there waiting for our curious eyes. Perhaps we can all slow down a bit and think about new directions for some fresh absorbing scenes.
Producing this issue is more like an individual, continuous dialogue with multiple reflections on Zhongshan 6th areas. We walked into the places, brought with our own experiences, memories and emotions and overlaid on the environment then, which was turned into this “Captivating”. Looking back, we did not seek for deliberate seriousness, but naturally, let the “feelings” flow and paint in images and words. We are very thankful for having received so much help from others, such as the lady clerk from Lihong Store who gladly wrote the title “嚣闻” for the unborn cover; uncle Xian and aunty Liu from Xiaokang New Street shared us with many interesting old time stories that are fading out and less remembered in Guangzhou now; lovely talks in Tao Street with the landlady from the classic vinyl store; and the sunshine and rain, which feels like that “the very right time” cannot be set up without those warmhearted supports. In all the fortuitous meet, hüman stands with its belief and persistence. We hope you would enjoy it.
21 Niuxiang · 牛巷二十一号
Eyeful of Zhongshan 6th Road · 中六马赛克
Old Boys’ Hunt · 熟男鉴宝
Toast to Time · 三点三多史
Alluring Scent · 香艳有度
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Edited by Buzzy Breezy Studio
Buzzy Breezy Studio gathers three “greedy”souls who are both adventurers and down-to-earth thinkers with talents in independent writing, edit and design. The logo concept stems from “屎坑计”(si2 haang1 gai3), which means witty ideas coming up when you sit on the toilet, expressing the openness of the studio and reminding people not to miss interesting things because of preconceived prejudice. For now, the studio has an independent publishing project named “hüman”.
