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DIY Futures: Storytelling, Imagination, and the Art of the Zine

Environmental Writing Studio Workshop

09.12.2025 12:00  – 14:00 

Location: Rachel Carson Center, fourth floor, Conference Room, Leopoldstr. 11a, 80802 Munich, Germany

Guest Speaker: Julia Bentz

In this workshop, we will explore the power of storytelling in the context of social ecological crises and develop our own creative publications. We will consider current discourses and narratives on global challenges, examine the relationship between emotions, imagination, and agency, and embark on our own search for stories. The insights gained will be expressed in small handmade publications—in zines.

Zines are small magazines that are noncommercial, often home- and handmade, and usually devoted to unconventional subject matters. In the past, zines served as an important medium of communication in various subcultures proposing an alternative to professional design and publishing houses. Throughout history various social and political movements have used zines to subvert dominant ideologies by sharing lived experiences. At the core of the zine-making ethos lies a commitment to subversion, freedom of thought, and a DIY attitude.

We will play with paper and scissors. Participants are invited to create their own zines to experiment with communicating alternative futures.

The workshop is limited to 15 people. To sign up, please email pauline.kargruber@rcc.lmu.de.

Julia Bentz is a regeneration and transformation researcher at the University of Lisbon and a lecturer at the Free University of Berlin. She has a background in interdisciplinary social sciences (MPhil in development studies, PhD in economics) and more than 10 years of experience with art-science approaches to climate-change adaptation and transformation. In her current projects, ART FOR ADAPTATION and NBRACER (Nature Based Solutions For Atlantic Regional Climate Resilience), she explores the transformative potential of art and storytelling as an engagement practice for diverse communities and social groups. She is also a Working Group lead of the COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Action “Shift—Social Sciences and Humanities for Transformation and Climate Resilience.”