Artists' books

From creative printing to artist publishing

Exhibition in the Culture House

07.06.2018 - 02.06.2019

The exhibition marks the 200th anniversary of the Nationa­l Librar­y of Iceland, and recently there has been increased emphasis on the unique status of artists‘ books in the National Library‘s holdings. The Library is in the process of developing a special artists‘ books collection within the library‘s special collections department. The exhibition is located on the 3rd floor of the Culture House from June 7, 2018–June 2, 2019.

Brochure

The term “bókverk”(book art or artists´ books) has a multi­faceted meaning in the Icelandic language. Books that fall into that category are diverse in the minds of those who are familiar with the term that was first used in Iceland at the end of the 19th century to describe large-scale publications published in many volumes, with particular emphasis on the printing process, appearance and layout of the book. Since then, the term has been used when describing numbered books, journals, posters and various kinds of ephemera, regardless of their content. The term ranges from handmade self-published prints to mass-produced publisher‘s editions, where costs are inevitably high. Nowadays the term “bókverk” signifies a book by an artist – where the book itself is the artwork, its medium chosen by the artist because of the characteristics that the book has above and beyond other media.

The exhibition focuses on displaying the early history of the artist‘s book in conjunction with artists’ experiments with the form of the book. The works come from the holdings of The National and University Library of Iceland and have all been created in Iceland between the late nineteenth century and the present day.

All the works on show are examples of prints by artists, printers and publishers, and experiments on creative approaches to printing, with a focus on collaboration between artists and writers. The older works on show are linked to book production in the present, where books and other artists‘ works can be seen in various forms.

Exhibitions

Previous exhibitions

16th Century Hymnbooks

Exhibition in the National Library

See more
Eiríkur Magnússon librarian (closed)

Eiríkur Magnússon librarian (closed)

Exhibition in the National Library

See more
Book fair in Prague

Book fair in Prague

Exhibition in the National Library

See more

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