TOKYO ART BOOK FAIR 2024

The 14th edition of TOKYO ART BOOK FAIR (“TABF”) is set to be held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo from November 28 (Thu) to December 1 (Sun). Around 300 publishers, galleries, and artists from Japan and abroad will gather to showcase their art books and zines during the TABF.

This year’s “Guest Country” will be Germany. “Guest Country” is our annual project, in which we introduce the publishing culture of one country or region. We invite a variety of bookmakers who are spearheading the German art publishing scene at the moment, starting from the artist Stefan Marx, who has had steady popularity in Japan; the Berlin Art Book Fair “Miss Read”; the long-established publisher Walther König; and Steidl famed for their beautiful publications. Related to this, we also offer a book selection space curated by the aforementioned Marx; Michalis Pichler, the artist who runs “Miss Read”; curator Tenko Nakajima; bookstore Do You Read Me?; and creative agency Studio Yukiko, offering a glimpse into the contemporary German independent publishing scene.

Ahead of the upcoming exhibition, “Ryuichi Sakamoto | seeing sound, hearing time”, which opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo on December 21, there will also be a “Sakamoto Library Extension”, presenting his collection of books; and special booths by New Balance, Hanatsubaki, BEAMS CULTUART and THREE. This year again, we plan to offer a diverse range of talk shows, workshops, book signing sessions, live performances, and the community project “Neighbors.” We aim to create a platform where we can locate the possibilities of the ever-evolving art book culture together with all participants at the fair. We look forward to seeing you at the TABF 2024.

EXHIBITORS

Click below to see the list of approximately 300 publishers, galleries, and artists participating this year.
https://tokyoartbookfair.com/en/exhibitors/

GUEST COUNTRY vol.8 GERMANY

Begun in 2015, “Guest Country” is our annual program in which we introduce the publishing culture of one country or region. So far, we have featured Switzerland, Brazil, Asia (China, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore), the United States, the Netherlands, France, and five Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland).
For our 8th edition this year, we feature Germany, where Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press was born in the 1450s. Famous for its advanced printing technology and diligent craftsmanship, Germany has a rich contemporary art scene and has over the years embraced innovative expression and culture of diverse communities. TABF will offer some exhibitions that explore the rich and varied landscape of the German art publishing scene, which cannot be summed up into a phrase.

Stefan Marx, Die Hefte
Stefan Marx is an artist based in Berlin, Germany. Attracting the attention of many from all over the world, his amusing and intelligent drawings, which capture everyday life through his excellent powers of observation, are widely seen through diverse media such as books, canvases, billboards, skateboards, T-shirts, album covers, etc. Marx is an active participant in art book fairs and regularly publishes artist books through publishers like Hatje Cantz and Nieves Books and via self-publishing as well, making him an important artist in the international independent publishing scene.
In this exhibition “Die Hefte”—meaning “booklet” in German—Marx will present a collection of around 90 artist books that he has produced to date, as well as a zine that compiles his oeuvre published by TABF. Also on view will be “Liberty Flower Shop,” a collaborative project between Marx and artist Liberty Adrien. Enjoy an artist's book that looks like a bouquet, with illustrations featuring hand-cut flowers screen-printed, then bound with ribbon as desired.

MISS READ posters & from 2009-2024
MISS READ: The Berlin Art Book Fair & Festival 2024 takes place annually in Berlin. In 2024 it hosted over 340 exhibitors from more than 50 countries, consolidating its position as one of the largest and most diverse global art book fairs with an unparalleled breadth of international representation.
Founded in 2009, MISS READ is dedicated to building a community and creating a public meeting place for discourse around artists’ books, conceptual publications and publishing as artistic and political practice.
A new poster of Miss Read is created every year by another artist: Miss Read posters have been created by Aziza Ahmad, Natalie Czech, Maira Fragoso Peña, Karl Holmqvist, Åse Eg Jørgensen, Achim Lengerer, Michalis Pichler, rakete/Erik Steinbrecher, Jay Ramier, Cia Rinne, and Lawrence Weiner.
Besides posters, the exhibition “MISS READ posters & from 2009-2024" will feature a handful of video interviews conducted by Miss Read with protagonists in the field of publishing as artistic practice, and also books published by Miss Read. Among them will be "Decolonizing Art Book Fairs" and "Publishing Manifestos", part of which is being translated in Japanese on the occasion of Tokyo Art Book Fair 2024.

Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König Archive
Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König is a publishing house founded in 1968 by Walther König—who used to run a bookstore selling books on art, architecture, film, fashion, and photography—and his brother Kasper König. The publishing house, which has been a close companion to the evolution of contemporary art in the form of publishing, has been trusted by many artists, including Martin Kippenberger, Gilbert & George, Gerhard Richter, On Kawara, Lawrence Weiner, Wolfgang Tillmans, and many more. This presentation is a rare opportunity to encounter more than 100 books from their archives in chronological order, which traces the publisher’s history and its relationship with artists.

Steidl Book Culture
Based in Göttingen, Germany, and regarded as one of the world’s best printers and publishers of visual books, Steidl has conceived, edited, designed, printed and published all its books in-house since its foundation by Gerhard Steidl in 1969. TABF is delighted to present the site-specific exhibition “Steidl Book Culture, 2006–23”, displaying all the visual books produced by Steidl in these years – around 1,100 titles in total. Including books by renowned artists such as Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Nan Goldin, Robert Frank, Karl Lagerfeld, Dayanita Singh, Joel Sternfeld, Juergen Teller, Jim Dine, Roni Horn, Ed Ruscha, and many more, the exhibition offers a rare look into the history of contemporary bookmaking assembled in one space. Come and hold these books in your hands: experience with all your senses Steidl “multiples” – faithful embodiments of the artist’s vision; lasting, carefully crafted, reasonably priced, democratic art objects. The exhibition will also include a showcase related to “Japan 8 – Steidl Book Award Japan”, the eight winning photobooks of the award hosted by TABF in 2016.

「Japan 8 – Steidl Book Award Japan」
Reconstruction. Shibuya, 2014–2017 by Satoshi Hirano |Gold Rush Alaska by Gentaro Ishizuka | A Distant Shore by Toru Komatsu | B, drawings of abstract forms by Toshiaki Mori | YKTO by Tomoyuki Sagami | Friction / Tokyo Streets by Tatsuo Suzuki | Thereafter by Toshiya Watanabe | When Takumi Met the Legends of the World by Takumi Hasegawa | Supported by SIGMA

Doitsu Art Buchmarkt
The exhibition “German Book Store,” which offers a glimpse into the contemporary art book scene in Germany, will be a showcase of art books and zines selected by the artist Stephan Marx; Michalis Pichler, the artist who runs the Berlin Art Book Fair Miss Read; the curator Tenko Nakajima; the creative agency Studio Yukiko; and the bookstore Do You Read ME? This selection, made from different vantage points of innovative creatives, will create an opportunity for visitors to experience the diversity of German art books and zines.

Curators

Michalis Pichler
Michalis Pichler is an artist primarily operating independent from the commercial gallery system, and a founder and director of Miss Read and Conceptual Poetics Day. He has published numerous bookworks,invented recto-verso collage and uses canvases as pages for art works (and vice versa).
Previously edited books include Books and Ideas after Seth Siegelaub (Sternberg Press/CBA, 2013), Publishing Manifestos (MIT Press/Miss Read, 2019), Decolonizing Art Book Fairs (Afrikadaa/Mosaiques/Miss Read, 2021), Coup de Dés (Collection) (Spector Books/CBA, 2024).

Other Exhibiting German Publishers
Sorry Press / Volker Renner / Edition Taube / Happy Potato Press / Lubok Verlag / OUTER SPACE PRESS / windpark books / Maximilian Fischer / Cillian / Hua Wang / A—Z Presents / open book society / Local Gr0up / Profundo ediciones / Stefan Marx & Liberty Flower Shop

EXHIBITIONS

Sakamoto Library Extension
Ryuichi Sakamoto, a famed bibliophile, once said, “It was my dream to become a used bookstore owner someday.” In 2017, he began devising a book-related project called the “Sakamoto Library” to share his books with others. In September last year, a library space of the same name “Sakamoto Library” opened in a venue in Tokyo, where visitors can encounter books once owned by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
In this occasion, we present the “Sakamoto Library Extension,” where we will showcase Ryuichi Sakamoto’s books, ahead of the upcoming exhibition “Ryuichi Sakamoto | seeing sound, hearing time” to be held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo from December 21 (Sat). The “Sakamoto Library Extension” will reproduce Ryuichi Sakamoto’s reading space with books he enjoyed in his later years and furniture that he used, as well as sell original items and some used books from the collection. This will be the first occasion that Sakamoto Library will exhibit outside their venue. What did books mean for Sakamoto Ryuichi? This is a rare opportunity for visitors to vicariously experience the many books that imbued Sakamoto with inspiration and creativity.

Planning: Sakamoto Library
Cooperated by: Kab Inc.

Nieves Zinematic Universe
Founded in 2001 and based in Zurich, Switzerland, Nieves is an independent publishing house that specializes in artists’ books and zines. As a pioneer in the art book scene known for embracing the zine format, Nieves has collaborated with a diverse range of artists—from established figures to emerging talents—including Kim Gordon, Masanao Hirayama, Rita Ackermann, Stefan Marx, Ari Marcopoulos, Misaki Kawai or Geoff McFetridge to name just a small fraction. In 2004, the imprint launched the Nieves Zine Series, a collection of A5-size, staple-bound, black-and-white photocopied zines. Though produced in small print runs, the series has significantly influenced the international independent publishing community, in part by providing artists who use books as a form of artistic expression an accessible medium for their practice, while also reaching a global audience.

This year at TABF, we will present an exhibition to celebrate the release of the 400th zine in the Nieves Zine series, featuring works by Stefan Marx and Masanao Hirayama. The exhibition will include a display showcasing the covers of all 400 zines, along with physical copies from the series, each unique despite sharing the same format. We invite you to enjoy this opportunity to explore zines created by artists in complete freedom, unfiltered by external influences.

SPECIAL BOOTH

New Balance
The New Balance booth will present a launch of their latest issue #10 of “NOT FAR”—a free magazine produced by TOKYO DESIGN STUDIO New Balance—ahead of the rest of the world. There will also be a special satellite event at T-HOUSE New Balance (Nihonbashi Hamacho), a concept store located near the venue, the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

BEAMS CULTUART
BEAMS CULTUART is a project launched to promote BEAMS’s cultural activities related to art, entertainment, and design on a global scale. This booth will feature art books by “TOKYO CULTUART by BEAMS,” a regular participant in the TABF, and other BEAMS-related cultural labels, culminating in an expression of their respective worldviews collected in one place.

Hanatsubaki 2024 Edition — CARE
2024 marks the 100th anniversary of Shiseido’s PR magazine “Hanatsubaki,” counting from its predecessor “Shiseido Geppō (‘Shiseido Monthly’),” which began in 1924. For this milestone year, Shiseido invited the French creative director Clarisse Demory for the first time in the creation of their upcoming issue: Hanatsubaki 2024 Edition. The theme of the 2024 Edition is “CARE.” In this age of information overload and busy lifestyles, Hanatsubaki explores the importance of care from multiple vantage points. At the exhibition, works by photographers who participated in this special issue will be on display. Please stop by for a chance to enjoy and immerse yourself in the world of Hanatsubaki as well as to receive the latest copy of the magazine.