Artists’ book. Presence and absence
The artist’s book from its very beginning moved between different circles, spaces and disciplines…
In practice it draws upon fine art, the graphic arts, photography and literature, and yet sits outside of mainstream publishing. As a book – a common utility object – it doesn’t fully belong to the world of high art. On the other hand, as an artwork, it is not always seen by publishers and readers. Ephemeral, always evolving through process and contexts, continually surprising us with its mutability the artist’s book seems to continuously exist „somewhere beyond”. It is found inside and outside of galleries, museums, bookshops and libraries. As the conference organisers we would like to propose a deeper reflection about the various connections between book art and ‚absence’, and how this is expressed by the makers of these artefacts (artists, typographers, bookbinders, designers, photographers, poets etc).
We invite you to submit papers on issues such as:
- series and publications, which used to be popular, andare now forgotten;
- people of the book world, whom we should remember;
- disappearing professions, abandoned techniques, materials no longer used in book art;
- small editions, mockups, proof copies, autographs, ephemera;
- ways of expressing absence through artists’ books;
- bookworks that move between various definitions;
- themes and characters marginalised in the book arts, and ways of combating this phenomenon;
- methods of preserving books (conservation techniques, museology, digitisation);
- non-material books: book as a happening, books imagined and not existing any more;
- book arts online;
- ways of storing, sharing and selling book works of art;
- books about and by minorities, minorities in books;
- book as a souvenir, book as commemoration.
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