NY Art Book Fair features Dutch Artists and Publishers

From September 21st until 23rd, the New York Art Book Fair will feature several works by Dutch artists, designers and publishers at the Modern Museum of Art PS1. Ruth van Beek will present her new art book “How to Do the Flowers” on September 22.

About NY Art Book Fair 

Printed Matter presents the thirteenth annual NY Art Book Fair, from September 21 – 23, 2018, at MoMA PS1, Long Island City, Queens. The preview will be held on the evening of Thursday, September 20.

Printed Matter’s NY Art Book Fair (NYABF) is the leading international gathering for the distribution of artists’ books, celebrating the full breadth of the art publishing community. Free and open to the public, the event draws more than 35,000 individuals including book lovers, collectors, artists, and art world professionals each year. In 2018, the NYABF will host 365 exhibitors from around the world featuring a wide variety of works – from zines and artists’ books to antiquarian books and contemporary art editions. The NYABF offers countless opportunities to attend free programs including artist-led discussions, performances, interactive workshops, and curated exhibitions.

“How To Do the Flowers” by Ruth van Beek (2018) | Image Courtesy of the Artist

Ruth van Beek

The repetition of images, visual sequences, accidental similarities and free associations form the alphabet of a mysterious language. Starting from her archive, Ruth van Beek makes collages and books. The images from this archive are constantly conversing with one another. A large part of the image archive finds its origin in old manuals. Books that are made as a tool, as an advisor for everyday occupations. The images mainly show hands that demonstrate how something is supposed to be done. Hands that dig in the earth, that make dolls, that arrange flowers, that cook. All sorts of daily actions pass by. By focusing on the action and detaching from the original context, van Beek encourages imagination, thereby provoking uncomfortable and uneasy feelings: passive human hands become animated, objects become characters and abstract shapes come to life. Hundreds of images and tests from van Beeks image archive come together. They show a method and create, in turn, a manual for creating new work.

Ruth van Beek’s presentationi of “How to Do the Flowers” will be on September 22 from 1pm-2pm. 

“How To Do the Flowers” by Ruth van Beek (2018) | Image Courtesy of the Artist

Werkplaats Typografie

Werkplaats Typografie is taking shelter in the basement, seeking comfort amongst glowing gilded conduits and generously thick brick walls. How are you dealing with the temperatures in PS1? Do you need a break? A hot chocolate? A blanket perhaps? Did you know that warm air rises to the ceiling? We read somewhere that if one is feeling cold, one should put their ceiling fan on its lowest setting, in a clockwise direction, to push the hot air back to the floor where one can feel it. Boiler rooms are not usually known to be the most suitable spaces for simmering down, nevertheless we’d love to warmly welcome you to come down to our Boiling Room for Hot Reading, where you will be provided with some freshly forged (pre)texts and plenty other excellent reasons to chill.

The Werkplaats Typografie (WT), part of the ArtEZ University of the Arts, is a modeling agency, a part-time air quality management venture and a full-time metal workshop located in Arnhem, the Netherlands.

Other Dutch Participants

Other Dutch Participants at the NY Art Book Fair are:

• Eriksay Connection
• Fw: Books
• IDEA Books
• Knust Press / Extrapool
• MonoRhetorik
• Onomatopee Projects
• Roma Publications
• Valiz