Friends with Books: Art Book Fair Berlin 2019

Friends with Books: Art Book Fair Berlin, Europe’s leading art book festival committed to the distribution and promotion of artists’ books and associated mediums, launches its sixth edition at Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin. From September 20–22, 2019, a wide array of over 200 international exhibitors, ranging from artists to art publishers, present their publications, reflecting the diversity of today’s art publishing. Free and open to the public, Friends with Books explores the varied facets of contemporary art publishing through an engaging programme of conversations, discussions, book presentations, performances and art installations, bringing understanding to the discipline and celebrating its resurgence in today’s digital climate.

For the complete list of the Friends with Books 2019 exhibitors, visit here.

The 2019 edition hosts a series of curated temporary Installations including the publisher Alias (MX) and artists Mathilde ter Heijne (NL), Tamami Iinuma (FR/JP), Kathrin Köster (DE), Marlena Kudlicka (PL), and Rudolf Samohejl (CZ). For the second time, Friends with Books presents a newly commissioned Children’s Installation – this year by artist Egill Sæbjörnsson (IS), in parallel with children’s workshops and activities led by Sæbjörnsson and artist Claudia de la Torre (MX). Performances include the artist collective Black Palm (DE) and artists Mette Edvardsen (NO), Jeroen Peeters (BE) and Lara Salmon (US).

More about the installations and performances here, and children's installation and workshops here.

The yearly Public Programmes series features presentations, conversations, discussions and performances in partnership with Argobooks: Birgit Rieger and Claudia Wahjudi; ARTPHILEIN EDITIONS: Caio Reisewitz and Dr. Daniela Labra; Black Palm: Sonja Cvitkovic, Verena Dengler, Marine Drouan, Anke Dyes, and Megan Francis Sullivan; Verlag der Arthur Boskamp-Stiftung: Micha Bonk, Ulrike Boskamp, Joerg Franzbecker, Annette Hans, and Sebastian Stein; EECLECTIC: Chiara Capodici, Erik Göngrich, Janine Sack; Fiona Geuss and Martin Ebner; Hatje Cantz: Nanne Meyer and Lena Kiessler; Tamami Iinuma and Thibaut de Ruyter; The Invisible Archive (in collaboration with Goodbye Books): Yon Natalie Mik, Lara Salmon, and Micaela Terk; DISTANZ Verlag: Marlena Kudlicka and Agnieszka Gratza; neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbk): Sandra Bartoli, Silvan Linden, and Florian Wüst; Varamo Press: Mette Edvardsen and Jeroen Peeters, among others.

The public programmes schedule is available here.

This year's Friends with Books Blog interview features artist Elisabeth Tonnard (NL) in conversation with art critic Agnieszka Gratza.

The annual Friends with Books Artist Poster Edition is by artist Anne Schwalbe (DE).

Friends With Books, co-founded in 2014 through partnership by publisher Vanessa Adler and curator Savannah Gorton, is a non-profit organisation offering greater visibility to contemporary artists’ books and art publications, including an annual art book festival, public programming, and collaborations with art organisations and institutions, facilitating the engagement of diverse audiences with the book works of artists and publishers worldwide. The event draws over 12,000 visitors each year, acting as a platform for exchange between art publishing professionals and the general public.

Media contact:
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Visual Identity & Creative Direction, Studio Claus Due.

Special thanks to Udo Kittelmann, Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; Dr. Gabriele Knapstein, Dr. Nina Schallenberg, Fiona Geuss, Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin; Gabriele Horn, KW Institute for Contemporary Art; Melanie Roumiguière da Silva, Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD; Dr. Michael Lailach, Kunstbibliothek Berlin.

Friends with Books is generously supported in part by Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.