September 30–October 2, 2011, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Preview: Thursday, September 29, 6 – 9 p.m.
MoMA PS1
22-25 Jackson Avenue at 46th Avenue
Long Island City, NY
Free and open to the public
Contrary to popular belief, print is not dead. To help prove this point is Printed Matter’s annual NY Art Book Fair. Now in its sixth year, the Fair has become the event for paper enthusiasts, book freaks, the handmade objects-obsessed, papercut-ridden and art and design nerds in New York City. Housed at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, this year’s Fair will take place over the weekend of September 30th to October 2nd, and will feature over 200 exhibitors from twenty countries–independent publishers, booksellers, antiquarian dealers, zine makers–exhibiting artists’ books, monographs and art periodicals. The focus this year is photography books, and so in conjunction with the Fair, Printed Matter has mounted a gallery show that gives a historical overview of artists’ use of photography in their books, from the 1960s to today, highlighting artists such as Ed Ruscha and Sol LeWitt and publishers such as New York’s Dashwood Books and Milan’s FANTOM.
The PS1 space itself, literally being a former school, is the perfect venue, with classrooms transformed into a space for various exhibitors to display and educate the viewer with original, and often limited-edition creations. With a variety of exhibitors, from established institutions such as Yale University Press or UK’s Frieze Magazine to a well-crafted music zine like ‘Sup Magazine to the DIY with Brooklyn’s Showpaper, a free music listings page featuring contemporary art on newsprint, a visitor can really get a sense of how big the range of art book and print publishing lives within. Also, a new addition to the Fair will go beyond the classroom space and include an outside tent to house sixty zinesters.
Outside the classrooms (and that tent), the NY Art Book Fair will include special programming that involves screenings, book signings and performances. The Contemporary Artists’ Books Conference, which is in its fourth year, will focus on emerging practices and debates within art-book culture with a keynote address by artist Tauba Auerbach, and a new series called The Classroom, organized by the MoMA Library’s David Senior, will feature a curated series of informal conversations between artists, workshops, readings and other artist-led programs.
A preview is a great way to get a bit of a head start on such an expansive event. This will take place the evening prior to the official opening, on Thursday, September 29th.
-Janet Kim
Image courtesy of Printed Matter, Inc
