By Keyang Pang
LOS ANGELES—Printed Matter announced today that the 2018 edition of its LA Art Book Fair has been cancelled. The organization cited the unavailability of the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA and the tragic and unexpected passing of the Fair Curator Shannon Michael Cane as the reasons for the cancelation.
“Over the years, the LA Art Book Fair has grown to become one of the art publishing world’s largest gatherings—a community-driven celebration of innovation and creativity, as well as a rich educational forum for engaging with all facets of art book publishing,” executive director Max Schumann said in a statement. “We are greatly disappointed that we are unable to mount the Fair in 2018. The LA Art Book Fair will definitely return in 2019 with renewed energy. ”
Founded in 2013, Printed Matter’s LA Art Book Fair is a global gathering for the distribution, investigation, and celebration of artists’ books and art publishing. Free and open to the public, each year approximately 40,000 book lovers, collectors, artists, and professionals from the art world and other creative industries visit the fair over the course of its four days. A nonstop schedule of public programming engages fair-goers with panel discussions, readings, sound performances, interactive workshops, and curated exhibitions.
The LAABF was developed in response to an international renaissance in creative publishing. In the midst of the ongoing proliferation of digital media, there has been a remarkable resurgence in artists’ publishing activity along with flourishing public interest. Printed Matter’s Art Book Fairs offer a space where art publishers from around the world—including independent presses, commercial distributors, rare book dealers, university presses, zinemakers, leading gallery imprints, photo-book publishers and activist collectives—can all gather under one roof and present their projects and goods to the public.
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