Archive

This is Not a Book, 2005, Kurt Allerslev, Damara Kamenicki, Veronika Schäpers, Marshall Weber, Christopher Wilde, variant ed. of 10, #8 (Reflex Lens), Collection of Yale University, Sterling Library, Art of the Book Collection, Curator Jae Rossman
2008

From Drunk Tiger by Kottie Paloma (Private Collection)

On May 3 from 11AM to 5PM, Booklyn artists Kottie Paloma and Fred Rinne hosted Booklyn's table at New Langton Art's Book It! event in San Francisco. Book It! was a one-day alternative publishing gathering, included a panel discussion, and brought together artist’s books, ‘zines, magazines, and online publications from the Bay Area and beyond. The day offered visitors a chance to browse and purchase unique, hard-to-find, and one-of-a-kind publications, as well as a forum for discussion.

From Superstition Highway, by Fred Rinne and Marshall Weber

Partial list of participants and publications: Booklyn, Alejandro Cesarco, Veronica de Jesus Dexter, Sinister Gallery, 16 Golden Guns, Investigations, InterReview Journal, Darin Klein, Material Press, Rebecca Miller, Kottie Paloma, Airyka Rockefeller, Fred Rinne, Roddy Schrock, Silverman Gallery, Whitehot Magazine, Zkank, Block Bologna.

On April 3, Booklyn artist and curator Marshall Weber did a presentation at the Occidental College's, Special Collections Department. Hosted by Dale Steiber the presentation focused on social engagement and political activism in the field of artists books and featured books from both Booklyn's and Occidental's collections.

On April 2, Booklyn artist and curator Marshall Weber did a presentation at the University of California, Irvine Library's Special Collections Department. Hosted by Jackie Dooley the presentation focused on social engagement and political activism in the field of artists books and featured books from both Booklyn's and UCI's collections.

On March 4 Felice Tebbe brought out a fresh crop of incredible artist books, prints and photography and gave a few dozen Booklyn fans the low down on how Booklyn works.

We all had a blast during the Feb. 5, 2008 BONGOUT party at Booklyn's First Tuesday. With exuberant posters, prints, crazy books, all of the Bongout high energy East Berlin silkscreen stylee. Artists Meeloo Gfeller and Anna Hellsgard lead Bongout to places where no silkscreen has gone before.

2007

On December 1st - Booklyn staffer Candice Serling did a presentation about Booklyn and Booklyn publications at the Library and Archives of the Brooklyn Museum. The stimulating event was part of the Museum's First Saturday programming.

From November 1st through the 4th - Bookyn exhibited at the prestigious Editions/Artists Bookfair (E/AB) in New York City, dozens of new curators and collectors pawed through Boklyn's fabulous books and prints, stunned by their beauty and relevance.

From October 10th through the 14th - (for the sixth year in a row!) Booklyn attended the 2007 Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest bookfair in the world. As usual Booklyn shared a booth with Wolfgang Buchta in building 4, level 1, row L, booth #5 and #7.

A fabulous time was had by all and Booklyn agents Weber and Wilde continued on a German and French tour:

- lecturing about Booklyn at the Weimar Bauhaus on October 17th,

- and setting up a selection of Booklyn books as part of an exhibit in Paris at Despalles Editions that ran from October 19th through the 21st.
Download Exhibit Announcement

From September 27th through the 30th - Booklyn shared a booth with Evil Twin Publications at Printed Matter's New York Art Book Fair. Numerous fans visited and a whole new batch of private collectors discovered Booklyn's special sauces.

On June 6 Brooklyn College's symposium It's All About the Book featured a calvalacade of innovative movers and shakers in the current NYC alternative publishing scene. Booklyn's own Felix Tebbe surveyed the plethora of hybrid forms and new media currently used by Booklyn artists in the production of their artists books.

Booklyn was thrilled to be invited to attend Columbia College's Center for Book and Paper Art's Action/Interaction: Book/Arts Conference from June 7 to June 10, 2007. During the conference Booklyn exhibited a dazzling array of artists books from around the world with a focus on recent Booklyn publications, and Marshall Weber, Booklyn's director of Collection Development and Exhibition, performed the multi-media opening keynote that provided a revolutionary Chicago context for the making of art. Link to review of Weber's lecture.

"If there is one thought I want you to go away with today, it is that things are not inevitable. We can change the world in both small and large ways, and for all of us in this room today, all we have to do to achieve positive change is to be responsible and generous with the talents and resources we have been given." M. Weber from the Keynote speech.

Weber along with artist extraordinaire and Bookyn publisher and Board President Mark Wagner also performed "Patriotism is Not Enough" at the conference's sole performance event. Kudos to Clifton Meador and the rest of the conference organizers (including Columbia College Book and Paper Center students) for raising the bar on conference quality in the artists book field. This conference far outshone all recent conferences in this writer's memory by inviting young artists and scholars, having rigerous academic standards and a far more democratic conference structure than allowed by the academic model of most conferences in the field. What a relief to see (and participate in) actual critical discussions of book and art making practice with diverse audiences filled with students and younger professionals in the field.

Bookfair organizer Seonah Kim in Booklyn's booth in Seoul. Photo: Karen Bleitz

Booklyn was proud to be invited to attend the fourth annual Seoul International Book Arts Fair from June 1 to June 6, 2007. During the Book Arts Fair, Marshall Weber, Booklyn's director of Collection Development and Exhibition, lectured about his personal motivations to use the book as a visual art media and hosted thousands at Booklyn's triple-wide (!!!) booth. The Book Arts Fair was a fabulous international success further substantiating Korea's meteoric rise in the art and publishing world.

Booklyn was a big hit at the Codex Foundation Bookfair which ran from February 12th to the 15th, 2007 on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. Booklyn's colorful, future looking books with their solid grounding in provocative contemporary issues, new media, and popular culture stood out sharply from the plethora of subdued colors, traditional media, nostalgic content and Victorian aesthetics and image vernaculars that predominated the other exhibitors' wares. A big hit with the attending students, artists book world personalities Mark Dimunation (from the Library of Congress), Felipe Ehrenberg (activist artist from San Paolo), local zinester Karen Switzer, Steven Black of UC Berkeley and collector Duke Collier could be seen hovering around Booklyn's fabulous booth during the Bookfair discussing the important issues of the day: war, digital media, hand made books and self-censorship.

2006

From November 17th through the 19th Booklyn presented the work of thirty artists at the Pyramid Atlantic Bookfair in Silver Springs, Maryland. Booklyn was thrilled to share their table with Asheville Bookworks from North Carolina.

From October 4th to the 8th Booklyn had a blast at the Frankfurt Bookfair in Frankfurt Germany. Located in our now regular location in Hall #4, floor #1, row L, booth #105, with our regular booth mate Wolfgang Buchta, a Booklyn artist from Vienna, Austria, Booklyn had huge attendance, lots of booksales to libraries in Germany and Luxembourg and much interest from international trade publishers.

2005

On February 25, 2005 Marshall Weber artist and director of Booklyn's Collection Development and Exhibitions Departments was the keynote speaker at the Mackay International Artists Book Forum in Mackay, Australia. Weber's multi-media lecture also featured Booklyn co-founder Schon Schooler on accompanying computer keyboard cuing the visual fireworks that illustrated the lecture. Weber spoke about the explosion of interdisciplinary artists book making worldwide, and chastized the sour grape academics who have been criticizing the level of theoretical engagement in the field. The lecture will be published later this year in "Imprint" Australia's Print Council magazine and the next (2008-2009) "Artists Book Yearbook" published by Impact Press of the University of West England.

Booklyn also exhibited two dozen artists' books from its pool of international associated artists at the Book Forum, including the acclaimed "Raskols" book by Australian artist and photo-journalist Stephen Dupont. Booklyn also initiated relationships with various Australian institutions placing work in and discussing future programming with museums and libraries in Canberra, Mackay, Brisbane, Sydney and Shepparton Australia.

Weber then traveled to Canberra to be a resident artist in a collaorative program between the Environmental Art Studio and the Edition + Artist Book Studio of Australia National University.

From October 19 through the 23, 2005 Booklyn had a booth at the Frankfurt Bookfair . The Bookfair is the largest in the world and since 2003 Booklyn has been the only artists organization from the United States to be part of the Bookfair's Artists Book Court. Booklyn co-founders Marshall Weber and Christopher Wilde shared a super swank double-wide booth with Booklyn Artist Wolfgang Buchta from Vienna. Thousands of readers, librarians and curators from around the world visited the booth and much Booklyn business was done!

Special thanks to Ulrike Stoltz, and Johannes Strugalla and Francoises Despalles of Editions Despalle for beings Booklyn's European partners and for making our attendance at the Bookfair possible!

From June 15th through 18th Booklyn exhibited books for the 21st Century at the 1st ABC at Wellesley College in Massachusets. Booklyn artist and staffer Emily Larned put down the word at the ABC panel on Distribution (and props to Julie Chen for putting her foot down on doubts about artists' valuation of their work!). Further props to Ruth Rogers and crew for throwing an amazing conference. Who's gonna step up to host next years show?

From May 22nd thorough the 24th Booklyn rocked The Southern and Northern California Chapter of the Art Libraries Society of North America's Artists Books Conference, exhibiting the hot new freshness in artists' books at the Otis College of Art and Design on May 22. On May 23, at the Clark Library of UCLA Booklyn artist and curator Marshall Weber was on a panel concerning distribution of artists books with Carolee Campbell of Ninja Press, Nancy Pistorius of UNM, and commercial book dealer Bill Stewart . The panel was moderated by Susan Moon of the Art Library of UCSB. Weber underlined the fact that Booklyn's distribution mission is motivated by educational and aesthetic goals.

Plus Booklyn artists and staffers Mark Wagner (of Smoke in My Dreams fame!) and Emily Larned (Galois Fields = brilliant!) along with Booklyn artist Ruth Lingen were all part of The Artist Turns to the Book exhibit running from May 24 through September 11, 2005 at the Getty Research Institute. The reception for this exhibit closed the conference with a bang and featured Mark Wagner wowing the crowd with his TAG jacket. Also featured in the exhibit was Chuck Close's newest book A Couple of Ways of Doing Something, which is represented by Booklyn.

2004

From November 19th through the 21st Booklyn presented the work of thirty artists at the Pyramid Atlantic Bookfair in Silver Springs, Maryland.

From October 6 through the 10, Booklyn presented 16 artists and 50 books at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany.

Thousands of people, hundreds of artists and writers, and dozens of collectors, curators, librarians, and publishers from around the world enjoyed Booklyn's standout presentation.

Booklyn was the sole representative of American book arts in the Artists Book Square in Building 4, level 1, row L, booth 107, one booth down from their French/German partner Edition Despalles, which is now having their 20th Anniversary exhibit at the Klingspor Museum in Offenbach, Germany.

From June 4 through the 9th, 2004 Booklyn was a featured guest exhibitor at the First Seoul International Book Art Fair both exhibiting over fifty artists books by over thirty artists, and producing a video/performance artwork which opened the festival. The Book Art Fair (concurrent with the Seoul International Book Fair and the Seoul International Electronic Book Fair) at the vast COEX Pacific Hall in Seoul, Korea. Thousands of eager viewers both from the general public and professionals engaged with the books while a staff of fluent translators assisted.

Booklyn artists Marshall Weber, Christopher Wilde and Maria Yoon opened the Fair with a newly choreographed and video/music scored version of Booklyn's ongoing interdisciplinary performance art project ...even the birds were on fire.... (A description of the performance follows.)

On June 4th, 2004, at 4:00PM (the opening afternoon of the Book Arts Fair) Marshall Weber and Maria Yoon performed ...even the birds were on fire... a four act butoh-like dance piece that used various costumes as if they were pages on the book of the human body and uses human skin as if it were a page to write upon. Delicate airplanes with evocative images flew through the air becoming gifts for the audience and giant ink brushes drew letters on the stage floor as Weber and Yoon evoked emotional landscapes of recent history. The dances were accompanied by a soundtrack of readings from various books of poetry by Booklyn poets mixed with original music by Booklyn artist and Revolocien Wreckidz composer Christopher Wilde. Live translation was provided. The piece was very well received and was reviewed on various Seoul television, radio and print media.

From April 29th through May 2nd 2004 Booklyn was a featured and invited exhibitor at the Matter & Spirit: The Genesis and Evolution of the Book symposium held at the Wells Book Arts Center of Wells College in Aurora, New York. Booklyn artist and curator Marshall Weber was a panelist on the Marketing the Creative: Artists', Collectors' & Sellers' Experiences; The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Panel on Entrepreneurship in the Book Arts.

This panel discussed entrepreneurial efforts in the book arts community. Panelists included Mark Dimunation, Director of the Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress, moderator Jeff Dwyer, formerly of Pennyroyale Press, book artists Donald Glaister and Don Rash, and Priscilla Juvelis of Juvelis Books. Sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, Missouri.

On January 29, 2004, Booklyn artist and curator Christopher Wilde participated in Artists' Books: Present Tense, a panel of artists, curators and publishers presented by The Museum of Arts & Design, and moderated by Ursula Ilse Neuman, curator of the Corporal Identity-Body Language exhibition. Wilde also assisted museum staff in designing the panel and selecting the panel participents.

Invited panelists included: Xu Bing, Caren Heft, Buzz Spector, Kate and Patrick Hambrecht, and Christopher Wilde, Booklyn. The panel explored the present and future of the book as a form of cultural expression. Participants discussed their own work and offered diverse perspectives on issues regarding the relationship between books, libraries, linguistics, literature, and independent artists' publishing.

From April 17 through the 19th, 2004 Booklyn created a veritable wonderland of artists books and hospitality in their corner urban/folksy booth at the 2004 Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS-NA) 32nd Annual Conference. Booklyn presented programming and artists books which were pertinent to the conference's sessions and concerns including artists' books dealing with 9/11, queer culture, alternative learning, architecture, and peace and conflict studies.

2003

On Thursday evening, November 20, 2003 from 7:00PM till 9:00PM Booklyn artist and curator Marshall Weber introduced a perplexing survey of new and enigmatic artists' books and artworks from around the world at the venerable San Francisco Center for the Book. The event featured a special guest appearence by local EsEf inside/outsider artist Fred Rinne performing dynamic readings of his infamous Santa Christ and Burning Man unique painted books.

On Friday, November 7, 2003, Booklyn artist and curator Marshall Weber participated in a insightful panel discussion on Collection Development held at the Rutger's Dana Library, as part of the Rutgers University Annual Book Arts Symposium.

Titled "Wherefore Artists' Books: Collecting Philosophies and Strategies" the panel addressed the underlying collecting principles in the practice of building artists' book collections. The panel of distinguished guests was assembled to represent the different approaches taken by museums, academic libraries, and private collectors. The speakers looked at the issues of inclusiveness, institutional mission, access policies, the differences between collecting policies and curatorial acquisitions, and the editorial process behind selection decisions.

The panel included:
- Milan Hughston, Director of the Library at the Museum of Modern Art
- Michael Joseph, Rare Books and Jerseyana Catalog Librarian, Rutgers University
- Sandra Kroupa, Curator of Artists’ Books, Special Collections, University of Washington
- Marvin Sackner, Collector and Co-Founder of the Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archives of Concrete and Visual Poetry
- Marshall Weber, Artist, Curator and Director of the Booklyn Artist Alliance
- Constance Woo, Dean of the Library and Curator of Artists’ Books, Long Island
University, Brooklyn Campus

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