The Artist’s Book as Commodity: selling and distribution
Victoriateatern, Södra Förstadsgatan 18, Malmö
Sunday 26th of May, 1.30–3 pm.
We are excited to welcome representatives from three shops that sell books by artists to talk to us about their experiences and discuss current issues with each other. Independent book shops are vital to our DIY culture, making and facilitating opportunities for small publishers and presses: dissemination of artists’ publications brings increased visibility, understanding and appreciation to the field. Firstly, we will take a look behind the shopfront with each presenter to learn about their own experiences of sales, projects, partnerships, social media, book fairs and audiences: in relation to Boekie Woekie in Amsterdam, Bookartbookshop in London and Bladr in Copenhagen, with Q&A, then we will have a panel discussion.
Jan Voss from Boekie Woekie
Boekie Woekie, books by artists, began paying rent for a tiny space in downtown Amsterdam on January 1st, 1986. It was then seen by its 6 founders (artists from 3 countries living in Amsterdam) as a shop for their own publications. After the first 5 years and some reshuffling of the group and with 3 of the founders left, Boekie Woekie began its second phase in a quite much bigger shop space around the corner and with a renewed concept resulting from the gained experience: the new shop opened for publications by others. There are now about 7000 titles – almost exclusively self-published or small press books. Those who run it – Henriëtte van Egten (Dutch), Rúna Thorkelsdóttir (Icelandic) and Jan Voss (German) have continued their personal artists’ careers and since years count the shop itself as a sculpture in progress they work on concertedly. A small gallery space has belonged to Boekie Woekie from the beginning. There never came a stop to very small-scale publishing (3 or 4 titles a year) which has led to the yearly participation in one or two book fairs (Frankfurt, London, New York). The entirely self-financing enterprise is Europe’s, if not the world’s, venue for artists’ books the longest in existence which carries books regardless to their author’s fame.
Tanya Peixoto from bookartbookshop
Founded in 2002, in Pitfield Street, Hoxton, London, bookartbookshop is a non-profit organisation that sells and promotes artists’ books & small press publications. This includes all books by Atlas Press in print, the London Institute of ‘Pataphysics, pop-ups, illustrated books, flip books and zines. It’s a tiny shop with BIG ideas. We love to display students work alongside well-known artists and publishers. Bookartbookshop also hosts occasional exhibitions and book launches.
Bladr – represented by Rebecca Krasnik
Bladr (Danish for ’turn the page’) is a platform dedicated to the communication, appreciation, and dissemination of artists’ books, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. As a platform, Bladr assumes various shapes by being a bookstore and an exhibition place, as well as a space for workshops, talks, performances, and book launches.
By exploring the artist’s book and how it is interlaced with various art disciplines, Bladr seeks to showcase the potential of the art form. The purpose of Bladr is to increase the visibility of artists’ books and to create and facilitate activities that foster a larger community.
Bladr is a non-profit organization founded in 2017 and solely run by volunteers.
The seminar is chaired by Dr Angie Butler, artist-printer and senior research fellow, Centre for Print Research at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. Angie collaborates on projects and events with organisations and individuals: sharing knowledge of studio practice, letterpress printing, artists’ books and small publishing through teaching, lectures, book fairs, talks, symposiums and conferences.