Issue 30 + Boot Boyz Biz Zine

It is common practice to imbue anniversaries or milestones with an added degree of reverence, symbolism, and celebration. Looking back on the process of putting together the thirtieth issue of Pidgin, it seems as though we have, perhaps unwittingly, become a victim of these cliches. A long time coming, the release of a complementary zine by Boot Boyz Biz alongside an anniversary issue is serendipitous. It seems as though a thirtieth issue—it’s something about those multiples of five—is the correct moment to introduce change. In this case, Pidgin for the first time has endeavored beyond the confines of its single volume and invited an outside author to create through a previously unexplored medium. In reflecting upon this decision, the pairing with BBB seems extremely fitting. Since Pidgin became officially un-themed with Issue 23, we have witnessed the re-inscription of new value to the name of Pidgin itself, as we see ourselves as working to gather all the disparate thoughts, reflections, quips, critiques, and theories scattered throughout architectural discourse into one bound object, greater than the sum of its parts. BBB operates similarly through a hyper-text type model that brings together quotes, illustrations, and diagrams into singular graphic spreads that in their cohesion produce new meaning and disseminate knowledge in new ways previously unexplored by traditional academia. We are honored to have worked with them over this past year and a half to bring you this zine.

In a further effort to span across mediums, Issue 30 also marks the launch of Pidgin’s radio show which will be running on the newly-founded SoA Radio. We hope that the radio will give us the opportunity to not only expand upon the content itself with interviews from the authors, responses to pieces, or transversal connections across issues, but expand our reach as well by making Pidgin accessible to those who are differently-abled.

Throughout the issue you may also stumble upon some QR codes, which will ask you to utilize your smartphone device to access the AR filters and supporting digital content the authors have crafted. Although Pidgin is committed to remaining a printed journal, we are always interested in allowing authors the freedom of investigating new forms to express their ideas. The ambition to expand Pidgin’s format and accessibility has led us to the decision to return to our previous publishing schedule of one issue per year. Moving forward, we plan to release an issue every spring, allowing the editorial board and our contributors more time to thoughtfully craft pieces into a significant whole and to create more possibilities for future collaborations.

All of that is to say: we’re 30, we’re flirty, and we’re thriving. Thanks for sticking around with us—we’ll see you again next year!

Issue 30 includes contributions from:

Courtney Coffman, Tiantian Lou, Ian Erickson, Remi McClain, Oliver Moldow, Sarah Pak, Elizabeth Bowie Christoforetti, Jocelyn Williams, Zoe Osborne, Jonah Coe-Scharff, Casey Breen, Nico Masters, Brandon Clifford, Taylor Lynn Boes, Mackenzie Muhonen, Clark Thenhaus, Daniel Hall, Manuel A. Zermeno, Devanne Brookins, Taka Tachibe, Samuel Dubois, Adrian Silva, Maiss Razem, Esteban Salcedo, Bill Millard.

Spring 2022