New York Art Book Fair celebrates 20th anniversary: over 300 exhibitors at MoMA PS1

The New York Art Book Fair has opened the doors of its 20th-anniversary edition, gathering more than 300 exhibitors from around the world in the spaces of MoMA PS1 in Queens. Organized by the nonprofit Printed Matter, the fair runs through the weekend and remains the most important international meeting for independent publishers, artists and art-book lovers, Hyperallergic reports.

On opening night, attendees were handed plastic drawstring pouches decorated with lenticular prints of the character Tweety Bird — an accessory designed specifically to collect the zines and flyers that would be gathered during the fair’s days.

The outdoor zine tent, set up across from artist Precious Okoyomon’s sculpture in the courtyard, explores the themes of politics and queer culture through the overlooked, subversive and playful currents of independent publishing.

Among the participants was also the Book Arts Solidarity Network, where art workers Jenna Hamed, Aya Krisht and Rhonda Khalifeh handed out flyers for a publishers’ meeting and presented the third annual edition of the publication MAKEREADY: paintings, photographs and reflections by four artists in Gaza and South Lebanon, with the color yellow as a unifying thread.

Hamed described the process as “catharsis” — a way to process an era of “open imperialism and dispossession”. The network, she said, was initially formed as a reaction to the silence of book institutions about the genocide in Palestine.