HTRK’s Jonnine Standish and DJ Laila Sakini join multimedia artist Darren Sylvester and artist/ DJ Nick Selenitsch on the line up for the Melbourne Art Book Fair evening preview event at the National Gallery of Victoria on Friday 1 May. Tickets are on sale today for the preview event, which features music, food and drinks and exclusive early access to limited edition publications at the fair.
On Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 May, some of the most respected names in art book publishing will share current ideas and issues through keynote presentations, talks, performances, readings, book signings, book launches, an international symposium and international keynote address.
Printed Matter, the world’s largest non-profit organisation devoted to artist publications, will make their Australian debut at the Melbourne Art Book Fair and Acting Director of Printed Matter, Max Schumann, will also present a keynote presentation. Based in New York, Printed Matter curates the New York and LA Art Book Fairs. Japanese publishers HeHe and Tokyo Art Book Fair will also make their Australian debuts and will join artist Chaco Kato in conversation.
The NGV also launches five specially-commissioned projects as part of the fair. Limited edition books will be launched at the fair by painter and printmaker Gareth Sansom, photographer and installation artist Patrick Pound, drawing and installation artist Jess Johnson, new media and installation artist Bindi Cole and painting and collage artist Minna Gilligan.
PROGRAMS:
FRIDAY 1 MAY
Preview Party Line-up:
• 6-7pm Nick Selenitsch is an artist and lecturer (Victorian College of the Arts, Painting) as well as an occasional DJ. Recent solo exhibitions include Chalk and Clay, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2014, Nick Selenitsch – Play, Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, 2014, and, Folly, for Plinth Projects, Melbourne, 2014. Nick Selenitsch was a featured artist of Melbourne Now at the National Gallery of Victoria, 2013, and his work is held in the NGV collection.
• 7-8pm Jonnine Standish, acclaimed musician and visual artist, is perhaps best known as one-half of the lauded minimal electronic duo HTRK.
• 8-9pm Laila Sakini performs as a DJ, an event organiser of the Day Care, Food Court and Girls Club parties, and is a solo artist and a musician in electronic outfit Perfume Production.
• 9-10pm Darren Sylvester’s practice involves photography, sculpture, video, music and performance, often including pop culture elements and narratives on contemporary life. Sylvester will be featured in the upcoming NGV exhibition Transmission: Legacies of the television age and is currently working on his third album with local label Chapter Music.
SATURDAY 2 MAY
• In conversation with Futoshi Miyagi, curator of the Tokyo Art Book Fair, and Mizue Nakamura from independent Japanese publisher HeHe, about Japan’s history and love of beautiful printed matter. Tokyo Art Book Fair and HeHe also present stalls at the Melbourne Art Book Fair with limited-edition Japanese books.
• A discussion exploring DIY publishing with publisher Lloyd Stubber of Bloom and photographer Emma Phillips.
• RMIT Design Futures Lab’s Symposium on independent publishing and the contribution it can make to the future of the cultural sector. Featuring special guest Stuart Bailey, a UK-based designer and editor of independent journal Bulletins of The Serving Library (previously Dot Dot Dot magazine) with full program to be announced soon.
• Digital literature pioneers if:book took a book from concept to print within 24 hours in 2012, resulting in a lavish hardcover art book of 28 volumes. Discussing the 24-hour book process and how digital technology is changing the future of books, join Melbourne Writers Festival Director Lisa Dempster and if:book’s Simon Groth in conversation.
• A circular reading of Christopher L. H. Gill’s Twitter Poetry, convened by Melbourne publisher 3ply.
• A reading of Stephen Bram’s 13 Poems with audience participation
SUNDAY 3 MAY
• Keynote speaker Max Schumann, Acting Director of Printed Matter. In The Possibilities of the artist book, Schumann shares the origins and development of contemporary artist books as an experimental media/art practice from pioneering artists in the 1960s exploring the possibilities of the book as an art form through to current practices. Printed Matter first started selling art books by artists who later became major artworld figures, including performance artist Laurie Anderson, American novelist Kathy Acker and figureheads of American contemporary art Carl Andre and Printed Matter founder Sol LeWit. Printed Matter curate the New York Art Book Fair, which saw 35,000 visitors last year. (Bookings essential)
• A discussion with Daniel Boetker-Smith, founder and director of the Asia-Pacific Photobook Archive (APPA) on the history and development of photobooks. The APPA was developed in response to the European and American focus of most international discourses around photography and photobooks.
• Sydney/New York publisher Rainoff launches three new signed titles, exclusive to the Melbourne Art Book Fair. Rainoff was awarded the Most Beautiful Books – Australia & New Zealand 2013 Award Program and the Walter Tiemann Prize in 2014 from the Society for the Promotion of Printmaking and Book Art at the Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig.
• Timothy Moore, director of design network SIBLING, leads a discussion on the resurgence of the printed architectural design manifesto.
BOOK LAUNCHES
• Saturday 2 May, 1pm | Australian artist John Wolseley has ‘collaborated’ with nature on his exhibition John Wolseley: Heartlands and Headwaters. Roaming the coastal floodplains of the Northern Territory through to the glacial lakes of Tasmania Wolseley recorded in exquisite detail the diverse wetlands of Australia, immersing large sheets of paper into the sand or hosting them across the charred remains of burnt tree trunks. Many of his monumental works combine collage and unusual markings from these ‘collaborations’ and a new publication John Wolseley: Heartlands and Headwaters is released at the Melbourne Art Book Fair. John Wolseley will be signing a limited number of copies.
• Sunday 3 May, 12pm | Melbourne art book publisher Surpllus presents the Australian launch of Tom Nicholson’s new artist book, Comparative Monument (Ma’man Allah).
• Sunday 3 May, 2.30pm | Contemporary artist Jon Campbell launches his new limited edition artist book with a performance.
• Sunday 3 May, 3.30pm | Photographer Yanni Florence launches his book Immolation, the third of Florence’s books published by Melbourne publisher M.33. Immolation collects 19 photographs of people quietly burning up inside into two limited edition, collector’s item books, hard-bound and printed on cotton rag paper, numbered and signed. Florence is a photographer, award-winning book designer and co-founder of Pataphysics Magazine.
The inaugural Melbourne Art Book Fair gathers some of the most creative Australian and international book publishers, artists, writers and designers for discussions, book launches and events and to showcase fine art, architecture and design publications and small-run artist books. Melbourne architect Tobias Horrocks of Fold Theory has created a contemporary design experience in the Great Hall utilising cardboard and featuring a centrepiece suspended from the NGV’s iconic stained-glass ceiling. For a full list of exhibitors please see www.ngv.vic.gov.au
Supporters
Melbourne Art Book Fair is generously supported by The Trust Company Australia Foundation.
The inclusion of Printed Matter in the event is proudly supported by the NGV Friends of the Gallery Library.
The International Symposium on the Art of Independent Publishing is supported by the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University, through the Design Futures Lab and nonfictionLab research groups, and by the Ian Potter Foundation through its Conference Grants program.
The NGV gratefully acknowledges assistance provided by the Melbourne UNESCO City of Literature Office in the presentation of the Melbourne Art Book Fair.
Melbourne Art Book Fair
NGV International, Great Hall
www.ngvartbookfair.com
Preview evening 6-10pm Friday 1 May
Tickets on sale now for the Melbourne Art Book Fair Preview event, Friday 1 May 6pm-10pm, $20.
Programs and events 2-3 May
Bookings required for Printed Matter keynote lecture: The possibilities of the artist book, Sunday 3 May 2pm-3pm, and RMIT Design Futures International Symposium on The Art of Independent Publishing, Saturday 2 May 2pm-4pm. Both events FREE.
All other programs are free and no bookings required.
Bookings: www.ngvartbookfair.com or call 03 8662 1555.