abbe 2020

studio research into
contemporary artists book practice

academic papers, artists book fair
& publication of selected papers

in partnership with
- the 2020 ARLIS/ANZ Biennial Conference / reimagining the material: artists’ books, printed matter, digital transformation, engagement
- the State Library of Queensland,
- the Queensland College of Art
- the Blue Notebook

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artists / scholars presenting on artists books

Sarah Bodman
Darren Bryant
Angie Butler
Marian Crawford
Anna Maria Antoinette D'Addario
David Dellafiora and Susan Hartigan
Ana Paula Estrada
Caren Florance
Louis Lim & Beth Jackson
Clyde McGill
Tim Mosely
Michael Phillips
Paul Uhlmann

artists exhibiting at the abbe 2020 artists book fair

Darren Bryant / Angie Butler / Caroline McKenizie Craig / Marian Crawford / Anna Maria Antoinette D'Addario / David Dellafiora and Susan Hartigan / Carolyn Dodds / Ana Paula Estrada / Caren Florance / Suzon Fuks / Annique Goldenberg / Grey Hand Press / Bridget Hillebrand / Louis Lim & Beth Jackson / Clyde McGill / Tim Mosely / Mathew Newkirk / Adele Otteridge / Michael Phillips / QCA printmakers / Qld Bookbinders Guild / Bronwyn Rees / Shellbyville  / Paul Uhlmann / Visible Ink

abbe 2017 continued Queensland College of Arts research focus on artists books. It included a conference and in collaboration with Grahame Galleries the 6th artists book and multiples fair and exhibitions.

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"the ideal fold is Zweifalt, a fold that both differentiates and is differentiated"*

The simplicity of folding and the complexity it can generate lie at the core of book culture and Gilles Deleuze’s zweifalt, a fold that both identifies difference and at the same time holds those differences within a relationship. A folio, a single sheet of paper folded in half, demonstrates these properties. Before the paper is folded neither of its surfaces are inherently privileged. Folding it in half immediately ascribes privilege, initiates a grid, a derivative, a measurement and identifies differences that include: protected, exposed, past, present and future. At the same time the fold activates relationships between those differences. It literally holds surfaces apart or together, it reveals and conceals and it moves differences between the surfaces it differentiates, for example reassigning the past, present and future to alternate surfaces. As a tangible act and a conceptual tool the fold scribes any content - material or phenomenal - that marks the folded surfaces of a book.

 Keynote    -    Uta Schneider
Keynote    -     Ulrike Stoltz
Keynote   -  Dr Clyde McGill

Australian Library of Art, SLQ
Julie Barratt
Virginia Barratt
Isaac Brown
Monica Carroll
Carolyn Craig
Marian Crawford
Adam Dickerson
Caren Florance
Brad Freeman and the Journal of Artists Books
Angela Gardner
Maren Götzmann
grahame galleries + editions
griffith university library, QCA
Bridget Hillebrand
Nicola Hooper
Marian Macken
Tess Mehonoshen
A K Milroy
Monica Oppen
Ana Paula Estrada
Amy E. Thompson
Paul Uhlmann
Wim De Vos

* quoted by Arkady Plotnitsky in “Algebras, Geometries and Topolog ies of the Fold”
in Between Deleuze and Derrida. Ed Paul Patton & J Protevi. Continuum, London, 2003.

 

abbe 2015 (artists books brisbane event) was presented by the griffith centre for creative arts research under the directorship and vision of Professor Ross Woodrow. The event included a conference, exhibitions, and artists book fair and visits to significant institutions and practitioners in the field across Brisbane.

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‘post literacy’ and ‘the haptic’

In 2004 Johanna Drucker called for the artists book community to contribute to the development of a critical language to evaluate artists books. Drucker expressed concern that without a critical language the field of artists books might fail to mature into a recognised creative discipline. While the language is beginning to emerge, how to develop it without constraining the dynamic nature of the field remains a concern.

abbe (artists books brisbane event) responds to Drucker's call by promoting discussion of a critical language  to sustain the growth and diversity of the field. The terms ‘post literacy’ and ‘the haptic’, adopted from fields that have established critical languages, were chosen to shape the proceedings at abbe in 2015.  With participation from the editors of two prominent journals as well as leading Australian artists and scholars in the field, abbe 2015 laid down groundwork for the ongoing engagement of antipodean artists and scholars in the field of artists books.

Keynote   -   Sarah Bodman
Keynote   -   Brad Freeman
Keynote   -   Dr Lyn Ashby

participating artists, writers, scholars, publishers, presses: Lyn Ashby Blogger_dad, Sara Bowen, Deidre Brollo, Isaac Brown, Penny Carey Wells, Centre for Regional Arts Practice, Helen Cole, Victoria Cooper, Caroline Craig, Marian Crawford, Daniel Della-Bosca, Fiona Dempster, Hesam Fetrati, Caren Florance, Robyn Foster, Jenny Fraser, Brad Freeman, Angela Gardner, Annique Goldenberg, Noreen Grahame, Alannah Gunter, Griffith Centre for Creative Arts Research,  Bridget Hillebrand, Institute of Modern Art, Journal of Artists Books, Sheree Kinlyside, Joel Lardner, Cassandra Lehman-Schultz, Light-trap Press, Alison Mackay, Judy Macklin, Marian Macken, Heather Matthew, Clyde McGill, Tess Mehonoshen, Christine Mellor, Anita Milroy, Tim Mosely, Nightladder Collective, Naomi O’Reilly, Adele Outteridge, Mikhail Pogarsky, QCA Gold Coast, Red Rag Press, Mona Ryder, Rose Rigley, silverwattle bookfoundry, Glen Skien, Peta Smith, Doug Spowart, Studio West End, Kym Tabulo, Wim de Vos, Gabriella Wilson