Volume 2015 | Another Art Book Fair

From Sharne Wolff…

Anyone who has ever tried to look at art using online books and catalogues will likely agree with the comments of well-read British author and personality Stephen Fry. When asked if the rise of the e-book meant the death of print, he tweeted: “Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators”. Without doubt art books in general have survived the rapid technological change of the last decade or more. They continue to be unmatched as the best way to view reproductions of artworks, while artists’ books are conceived as works of art in themselves.

A new partnership between Artspace, Perimeter Books (Melbourne) and Printed Matter Inc. (New York) this week hosts the first in a series of art book fairs. To be held every two years, Volume 2015 will occupy several floors of Artspace’s Gunnery Building. The inaugural outing will “focus on independently produced, artist-led publications and related materials that are responsive, discursive, irreverent, and that function as creative and politically engaged modes of communication.” Volume 2015 will also stage a series of talks and workshops alongside almost 90 exhibitors who span the art book field displaying everything from homemade zines to antiquarian volumes, photobooks and limited editions. While homegrown exhibitors include some well-known art publishers like Artand, Das Platforms and Runway, exhibitors also include platforms such as Gertrude Contemporary, Brisbane’s Institute of Modern Art and the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art. In company with these are individual artists and collaborators like Kenny Pittock and Deidre Brollo while Books Kinokuniya (Japan) and Printed Matter are representative of several international publishers.

From September 11 to 13
Artspace, Woolloomoooloo