VIRTUAL ART BOOK FAIR

Though this year’s TOKYO ART BOOK FAIR (TABF) at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo has been cancelled in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the event has been reimagined for November 16 (Mon) – 23 (Mon/holiday) as the VIRTUAL ART BOOK FAIR (VABF), whose virtual venue takes inspiration from the aforementioned museum. Since 2015, TABF has annually set a focal point on print culture in different corners of the world in a recurring facet of the event known as the “Guest Country.” Guest Countries featured so far have been Switzerland, Brazil, a compilation of 4 Asian countries (China, Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore), and the United States, and the program has been adjusted each time to reflect the unique colors and flavors of that year’s guest. VABF will inherit this Guest Country system as organizers look forward to welcoming of the upcoming 5th Guest Country: the kingdom of design itself, the Netherlands. In addition to participation by Dutch publishers and artists, the event will also feature four exhibitions/talk sessions that will unravel the Dutch artbook scene.

EXHIBITION 1：”Best Dutch Book Designs”

Established in 1926, Best Dutch Book Designs (BDBD) are the oldest book design awards in Europe. The awards cover artbooks, children’s books, cookbooks, and much more made by Dutch or Netherlands-based designers. This year’s VABF will feature 33 award-winning pieces from 2019, including Andres Gonzalez’s “American Origami” with design by Hans Gremen and Mariko Kuwabara’s “Burning Love” featuring Ayumu Higuchi.
Support: Stichting De Best Verzorgde Boeken

■ Related Talk Session: The Best Dutch Book Designs – Thinking About Dutch Book Design
Date/time: November 20, 16:30-18:00
Guests at this talk session will be BDBD representative Esther Scholten, selection committee chairperson Eelco van Welie (director of NAI010 Publishers), and BDBD selection committee member for the student category Thomas Castro (curator for the Graphic Design section of Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam). The panel will discuss topics including the history of book design in the Netherlands and what aspects they pay the most attention to when judging a book. The role of moderator will be filled by Kiyonori Muroga, editor-in-chief to website “The Graphic Design Review.”

EXHIBITION 2：”Dutch Artists’ Book: Then and Now”

This is the Dutch edition of “Japanese Artists’ Book Then and Now,” a 2019 title that explores the evolution of art books in Japan through the words of creators. This year’s event will showcase interview videos with leaders of modern Dutch publishing culture on how they first discovered the print media scene, their raw experiences and how those experiences led to their current work, and the various print media that inspired them. Interviewees will share their personal experiences as they discuss the path of Dutch publishing’s extraordinary progress, the relationship between artists, designers, and bookstores, the unique ideas that the platform of print media makes possible, as well as the role of creativity at the height of today’s COVID crisis.

■ Participating Artists & Designers
Mevis & Van Deursen
Irma Boom
Experimental Jetset
Erik Kessels
Karel Martens
Klara van Duijkeren & Vincent Schipper (Studio The Future)
Christien Meindertsma
Hans Gremen (Fw: books)
Mark Manders
Jan Voss (Boekie Woekie)
Ruth van Beek
Roger Willems (Roma Publications)

EXHIBITION 3：fanfare “Unlearn, Display, Connect”

This exhibition is prepared by fanfare, a design studio aiming to become a platform that builds bridges between the various categories of graphic design. What does “Dutch design” mean in today’s world where digitalization pushes the increasingly vibrant publishing industry beyond culture and borders? For that question, fanfare has arranged their answer in three keywords: Learning, Displaying, and Connecting. Through these discussions and exhibits, we will explore graphic design in the Netherlands of today.

EXHIBITION 4：Rafaël Rozendaal “Shadow Objects Sculpture Park”

The main venue for VABF is modeled after the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. In the “outside” area, Dutch artist and pioneer of net art Rafaël Rozendaal has created a park filled with digital sculptures called “Shadow Objects.” These Shadow Objects, created by carving objects out from digital material to leave behind an empty shadow in the negative space, cross the borders between images, objects, drawings, and carvings. Until now, Rozendaal’s has used a technique that blurs the lines between the digital and the physical, carving a codified metal plate on a computer and presenting Shadow Objects as physical art. At VABF, however, he is exhibiting his work as a large-scale virtual installation where visitors can walk around and explore the park freely through their browser in an interactive experience.

Light passes through the open spaces of the objects and casts shadows on the lawn which reflect the image of the missing objects. In the digital realm, these shadows give a sense of presence to the non-physical, hypothetical nature of the objects, and with the help of graphics software, masking, backgrounds, and the presence/non-presence of objects themselves can be toggled instantly. This new work, entitled “Shadow Objects Sculpture Park,” uses missing objects and the Shadow Objects created in their dark reflections to stand against the tides of information overload and the mass tumult of today’s online world which we all wade through on a daily basis.
Support: Takuro Someya Contemporary Art