Heading Off to NYC for Two Book Fairs

Early on Wednesday morning, I'm heading off to New York City to attend two artists' book fairs. The first is the old tried-and-true Printed Matter-sponsored book fair at MoMA-PS1. The official title of the event is the New York Art Book Fair  also known as NYABF. It's in it's eleventh year and I think I've attended all but two of them. (One of them was in 2008. That summer I was in the middle of moving out to Arizona from New York.)

It's a great event, with terrific exposure for artists and publishers becuse every year 30,000+ people come to it and it's a big social event in NYC. However it has suffered in the past from the problem of having no permanent space to hold the event. The last 6 or 7 years it has settled in at PS1, but has suffered from poor ventilation and HVAC, recently exacerbated as MoMA closes up more and more windows throughout the building to add more exhibition wall space. The price of tables has also increased considerably over the years and what you pay for that table seems to vary vastly under an indecipherable and non-transparent system. Although I have not had this problem, there has also been grumbling from the artists' book community in that there are never enough tables or space to satisfy demand. But I still very much look forward to it every year.

In the past, Clif Meador and I have shared tables for two consecutive years. We have taken a bit of a break for the past two years. Before that I was invited to share my work on the Purchase College (SUNY) table for a few years, since I am a professor emeritus at that august institution. It was always fun to catch up with old colleagues and new students there, and it made the many hours of standing at a table go by quickly.

The last three years, Printed Matter has added a West Coast venue, which has also become very successful.

This year, for the first time in the New York area, the Printed Matter New York Art Book Fair has a competitor. The new book fair is called the Independent Art Book Fair or IABF, and will take place at exactly the same time as the NYABF. Even the preview takes place at the same time on Thursday evening.

I understand the reasoning behind having the fair at exactly the same time as the NYBF, but having the preview at exactly the same time is, to my mind, a little strange. But I know that they want to take advantage of the thousands of national and international collectors who are coming to New York for the Printed Matter event and hope that many of them will talso go to the IABF. I hope that it goes well for them and I will definitely be going to see how it looks. I think that given the large increase in table costs over the years at the NYABF, that they could use a little competition. The Green Point Terminal promises to be an exciting venue, maybe more like the vast warehouse-like space that CODEX uses in Richmond CA every other February. It will certainly be cooler and better ventilated than MoMA-PS1!