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More than books The Amsterdam Art/Book Fair presents 70 publishers from 16 countries
Organizers Delphine Bedel and Yannick Bouillis talk about the first Amsterdam Art/Book Fair, to be opened at De Brakke Grond in Amsterdam on the 14 & 15 of May.
Why this book fair?
Publishing at large has taken central stage within artistic and designs practices, initiating new economies, new modes of production and distribution, a phenomenon that is taking in all areas of the world. The fair will reflect on these emerging practices and new developments in art through a selection of high-end 70 publishers from 16 countries. Printed matter and digital media edited by independent publishers, artists, magazines, institutions, art schools and graphic design studios will be feature in this first edition. We aspire to be a meeting place during the Amsterdam Art Week.
Why here in Amsterdam?
The Netherlands have been internationally awarded for the quality of its artist – photo – graphic design book production. Amsterdam is unique by its creativity and cosmoplitism – and of course, graphic design has a strong social legacy here, inheritated partly from Willem Sandberg, designer, typographer, resistant and museum director. His figure seems to us reflecting on merging practices in publishing where artists, graphic designers, photographers, curators becomes artists, graphic designers, photographers, curators…
It seems as if book shops are disappearing, and art books are disappearing from the book shops that know how to survive. Is the art book fair the future model to sell art books?
There is absolutely a re-definition of production, distribution and economical models for publishing. The art book fair is one possible model to make the books accessible to a larger audience than in a bookshop.
Do you have experience with these kind of fairs?
Also several events around books have taken place in the last years, this is the first Art/Book Fair in the Netherlands, offering education, public programme with keynote speakers at the same moment. We both have been involved in presenting and promoting publishing practices over the last years in The Netherlands and abroad: this has generated knowledge about art and publishing issues/strategies. Yannick opened the Shahshin bookshop in 2007, and initiated the photobook fair Offprint Paris during Paris Photo in 2010. Delphine edited over 50 artist books and curated pathfinding exhibitions and events, such as the four-part project ‘Shared History/ Decolonising the Image’.
Who will be attending?
The fair aims at a wide audience interested in contemporary art, photography, and graphic design ! It is the occasion to discover artist productions that are merely available in bookshops. Many publishers are presented for the first time in the Netherlands.
It seems a lot of international sellers are attending? Why such an international profile? And why also a program of talks and presentations next to it?
The two days lecture and public program is an essential part of the fair, that is international in its scope, and in close connection to the Dutch context. We want to give special attention to education, art and design academies – some of the schools are invited to present recent publications and lectures series. Keynotes speakers and publishers will provide the audience with more insight to the diversity of publishing today. Book launches and signings, artist talks are opportunities to meet the authors. We do also offer a series of curated tables, tables displaying books selected by artists or curators.
The lecture program will also investigate the future of publications and the revitalisation of printing practices over the last few years. Guests include Kenneth Goldsmith / Ubu Web, Metahaven, Clive Phillpot, Tiffany Malakooti / Bidoun magazine, and Mathieu Copeland. Bidoun magazine is a quarterly publication founded in 2004 with the intention of filling a gaping hole in the arts and culture coverage of the Middle East and its Diaspora. Tiffany Malakooti will present the Bidoun UbuWeb Archive and the The Bidoun Library–a peripatetic resource of books, films and periodicals tracing the evolution of Middle Eastern art. The talks wil brings together among the most promising emerging figures and structures at work in Switzerland, the Netherlands offering a unique panorama on contemporary art for one weekend.
AMSTERDAM ART/BOOK FAIR 2011
Saturday 14 & Sunday 15 May
De Brakke Grond
Nes 45
NL-1012 KD Amsterdam
The Netherlands
T +31 (0)20 626 68 66
www.brakkegrond.nl
www.amsterdamartbookfair.com
<mail [email protected]>[email protected]
Metropolis M is media partner of The Amsterdam Art/Book Fair.
Domeniek Ruyters