This weekend, the printed New York Art Book Fair returned to MOMA PS1, a homecoming back home and welcomed by weird and marvelous books from five boroughs. This art book is a New York institution that brings together galleries, publishing imprints, rare book dealers and weird magazine makers. (I bought a book from the main message on Thursday, and Robert Gober recorded his changes to a painting with a fixed camera between 1982 and 1983 – Fantasy stuff. We met Lesley A. Martin, executive director of printing affairs.
After a while, the fair returns to MOMA PS1 in the wilderness, and when the size and influence of the PS1 year expands, the PS1 year is usually remembered as the period of the fair’s formation. How do you view the legacy of that era, shaping the work in 2025? Now, what is the most important thing for you to bring it back to that space?
The last NYABF in MOMA PS1 was in 2019, after a decade of transfer from Chelsea to PS1, after more than a decade of incredible growth in independent and artist book publishing. This is also the concept of the Art Book Fair itself is a key part of the international phenomenon and artistic landscape, and the print Nyabf is the mother of all Art Book Fairs. So, for many of us, coming back is a bit like going home, and they cut young publishers and artists’ book lovers during that time. As an organization, both printed matter and PS1 emerge from similar moments (both founded in 1976), in which artists and art audiences advocated a radical rethinking of what art is and how we experience it – a natural fit. I think we’re all tempted to see how the PS1’s fair translates into 2025: How radical, sexual, and sometimes chaotic gatherings bring together a surprisingly wide range of creative expressions that can fit into museum walls. This is unique when institutions of all sizes are subject to enormous, omnidirectional pressure and institutional criticism. Art organizations, exhibition spaces, libraries, archives…we all monitor and measure the performance of work that audiences may challenge.
We are very grateful to Connie Butler and the PS1 team for hosting us with a shared commitment to the artist community and the spirit of providing us with the procedural freedom needed for the fair. And, we are very excited that under the leadership of new expo director Maia Asshaq, we can build a new path and partnership, which is right. Apparently, 2025 is a unique and different moment – along George Floyd and most recently after October 7. Actively target support from various voices and art organizations in the center; reduce civil rights; and relax on freedom of speech. The list continues, and the bet is indeed very high now. We believe that print and art book fairs are advocates of the necessity and urgency of providing a platform for artists’ voices dedicated to providing a creative opposition of authoritarian and oppressiveness to gliding.
When Thurston Moore did some great experimental noise on the speakers on the PS1 on opening night, people were cringing for a year. What are your best memories from past versions in PS1 or elsewhere?
I value critical thinking, expression of solidarity, new academic scholarships and having serious conversations – all the things I just talked to. But if I don’t admit that some of my favorite moments in the past include some more fanatical, ridiculous moments, kind of like the one you described, I’d lie. For example, Peter Sutherland and Maia Ruth Lee’s “Zine Tornado” installation in the yard in 2016. Strong followers – The goal is to grab as many pages as possible and then assemble you into your own magazine. This casual, playground-like style (very suitable for PS1) is really refreshing when the art market starts to take itself really seriously. Plus, the fair has always been a place of stumbled upon, inspiration and community. People feel comfortable interacting with each other in ways that won’t happen at traditional art fairs like the Armory. “Art Stars, Art World Veterans, Art Students and Future Art Stars are all hanging out and talking about their projects. Kevin Beasley, Laura Owens, Wade Guyton, Jonas Wood, Jonas Mekas, Kim Gordon, Miyako Ishiuchi, Arthur Jafa, Alec Soth, Alec Soth, Adam Pendleton, Jenny Holzer, Jenny Holzer and many others have been involved in or participated in exhibitions or production projects. The DJ setup you remember most likely started in 2014, and I would like to point out that JD Samson from Le Tigre performed in front of Thurston Moore, who worked with Jamie Nares. What a lineup!
The fair has also been a place for relationships that have been consolidated year after year. This year, prints are really honored Jason Polan: Post OfficeIt’s a new book by artist Jason Polan who sadly passed away in 2020, but he has established fair relationships with other artists at the fair and certainly at the fair, he has established relationships with printing affairs, and he has even continued those relationships by emailing people’s art. He is an incredible artist and community builder, and his spirit continues to inject into the fair, including awards created in collaboration with Jason’s family, who have provided unrestricted grants to two publishers who engage in Jason’s humor, glory and community-focused exercises to achieve their own sense of humor, glory and glory.
The printed material fair always balances the chaotic spirit of magazine culture with the participation of major publishers and institutions. How do you browse all kinds of interests and build a fairness that suits everyone?
It is a balanced act, but it does reflect the ever-evolving nature of the artists, the core of their practices and the changes in these practices over time. Prints and NYABF aims to be home to a wide-ranging artist publishing community where everyone can find their own space within a wider tent. Today, there are nearly 300 publishers at the fair – if they all share the same book, then monotonous! The artist’s writings are essentially flexible, utilitarian, practical and open interpretations – architectural materials; magazines; news editions; painting-printed posters; print-on-demand projects; artist magazines; formal limited edition books – they all appear and have a place at the fair. One thing they have, frankly, is that Max Schumann, a former director of Printing Matter, and as an organizational printing material always emphasizes a key aspect of our mission: democratic accessibility in the form of books – providing art to all. Whether it’s the $5 Zine or the $500 limited edition, you can find something you’ll fall in love with and go home at NYABF.
How do NYABF fans continue to support artists, publishers and communities throughout the year?
This is a simple question: buy books. Buy books from artists; buy books directly from publishers or artists directly from bookstores; and buy books from people who are committed to digging out rare publishing history that survives time and geographically, and talk to us now. Participate in an arts organization that relies on your maintenance and participation!
Your work as an executive director is relatively new. What topic or urgency do you see most intensely from the print publishing community? Looking ahead, what do you hope this fair will become under your leadership?
Obviously, this is a critical moment in maintaining the space, and artists can express themselves freely and thoughtfully, which is an increasingly necessary fact. I am very convinced that printing substances are found on the exhibition table in a more abundant context through special project rooms, reading rooms and archive displays that you will find at the fair, as well as at the Printed Matter Project Space in Chelsea. So importantly, we have been committed to the show now like it is: “Afuera! Publishing Queer Liberation”, as well as the incredible NYABF installation of archival materials from the Detroit Printing Cooperative or a presentation at the Fair Courtyard of PS1. We play such an important role in exploring the exploration that artist books can and have played in the circulation of ideas that will continue to root us; push us forward; challenge and provide connection points, so much pulls us apart. These are all essential principles for us to establish and push us forward as we approach our fiftieth anniversary. The material team of printing is very dedicated to these ideas, just like artists, artists and bookmakers, as well as thinkers, curators and organizers of programming and our fair. If we can continue to maintain the artist’s book community outside the mainstream centers published today and continue to have an impact on the lives of artists and audiences in moments full of cynical, suspicious, alienated and disorientated, I feel like I will do my job.
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