2023 – art book in China-abC

第八届 abC艺术书展·北京
The 8th abC Art Book Fair Beijing

2023.6.15 - 6.18

HERE WE READ ↓

Things in the spring of 2023 are more urgent than ever to grow and stretch.

In its eighth year, abC has accompanied China's independent culture and art along its growth as it has blossomed from a seed. "How to maintain abC's pioneering and uniqueness?" is the question we always hear. Yet we ask ourselves: what is the unchanging core of abC?

The theme of the 8th abC Art Book Fair is "DIG IN & GROW UP," exploring downward and inward. Under the sun and beneath the earth: the driving force of submerged groundwater, the intelligent network of mycelium, the pathos and vigorous energy brought about by the crustal movement..... We invite multi-dimensional expression of artists to explore the theme with us and bring invisible objects back into the limelight.

"DIG IN & GROW UP" also reveals the core of the independent spirit abC loves and insists on. We continue to focus on artists' books, handmade books, and book art, and go straight to the origin and solid structure of the book as an artistic language. At the same time, by tracing the history and development of Zine and connecting different cultural scenes, the unceasing vitality of the D.I.Y. spirit is demonstrated.

地表之下 Under Ground

策划选书 Curated Selection by

art book in China

Things are bred in the concentrated darkness of the underground, and it invites us to find them. The "Under Ground" curated selection turns your gaze to your feet and delves into the unseen and forgotten - the interior of stones, the depths of the soil, the surge of underflow, the dance of roots... and frozen time. The stone is considered to be a non-living body, while the natural variations of the landscape on its surface identify the intervention of life - the land is filled with all kinds of interactions. Some people are naturally curious about these solid secrets, and the more we see and the longer we ponder them, the more the lines between natural and unnatural, life and non-life, and even past and future become blurred. We may wake up with a jolt when we burrow into the ground - it is the land that introduces us to each other, and it is the land that prophesies the future.

“地恸”摄影书展 The Sorrow of the Earth Photobooks

策划选书 Curated Selection by

shashasha （日本 JP）

The Sorrow of the Earth Photobooks Curated Selection is presented by shashasha, a renowned art bookstore in Tokyo, in collaboration with abC Art Book Fair. shashasha selected 12 photo books on the 10th anniversary of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami from both artistic and documentary perspectives to record the emotional stories of the aftermath of the disaster through the eyes of photography. As a pioneer of photobook creation in Asia, artists of this selection have a unique perspective on disaster and the vitality and warmth of human beings against nature. No matter where or when we are, the pain of geological disasters will always lurk in people's memories. It is undoubtedly a nightmare for humans, but also a moment of awakening to the community of destiny, marking the inherent cohesiveness of human civilization that extends beyond countries, races, and beliefs.

“森林之子”摄影作品选 “Mushrooms from the Forest” Selected Works

艺术家 Artist

本间隆 Takashi Homma（日本 JP）

Inspired by the Ed Ruscha series "Coloured People", Japanese photographer Takashi Homma visited forests on three continents to search for radioactive mushrooms. The mushrooms—gathered in Scandinavia, Fukushima, Chornobyl, and Stony Point—were photographed in front of a white background, with occasional photographs from the forests and views that Homma encountered during his hunt. The forest is one of Earth's most primal habitats; in the modern age, it is us who maintain and care for the forest. The forest and human beings live together as shelters and protectors of each other. The mushroom becomes a pure witness to what remains after wars and catastrophes.

肥沃的想象，92% 水的容器 Fertile Imaginaries, a Vessel for 92% Water

艺术家 Artist

戴娜·凯西 Dayna Casey（澳大利亚/荷兰 AU/NL）

策展单位 Curator

cusp.卡斯普多特

What to preserve, what to transform? The seeds, the rind, the juice: an unfolding, unended digestion of the political entangled narratives of the watermelon within fossil and racial capital. Initially a performative installation. The watermelon was used by climate denialists and key figures from the fossil fuel industry to frame climate change as an ideological conspiracy, instead of addressing its scientific reality. A warning against a trojan horse of communists disguising as environmentalists: green on the outside, red on the inside. A warning of a threat of change to maintain and preserve the now.

By acknowledging this necessary radical systemic change, the watermelon became a catalyst to broad associative thinkings in this project. Acknowledging the racial connotation of the watermelon in the U.S. context—although initially a Black empowerment symbol after which appropriated by the right—it became a framework and metaphor to help think through, to take the time to sit with, and digest these simplified right-wing political narratives and their histories. Ultimately expanding beyond them and thinking otherwise. The seven scattered texts are connected to and resulting from the seeds, the rind, the juice, all what has been left out from only the outer and inner of green on the outside, red on the inside. Expanding the imaginary and building upon this eco-communism. What can happen at a smaller, more complex and fluid scale? How to live with (non)fertility in toxic and destructive presents and futures?

回声声声回 resOOOnance

艺术家 Artists

214, 杨依霖 YANG Yilin, 张文心 ZHANG Wenxin

联合呈现 Co-presenter

自然关系 THE KNOT Community

The experience of exploring a cave is difficult to recreate, and this project attempts to build a nested illusionary space through the overlapping perspectives of three cave exploring partners. It contains a retrospective of long-standing human memories, a psychic projection of all living things and a mythical imagination of the inorganic world. From text, photography, video to music, different symbolic mediums translate each other in the space, echoing back in the gap between language and non-language.

ZINES from BOOKS

策展人 Curator

Peter Willis (英国 UK)

呈现单位 Presented by

BOOKS, Peckham

展陈合作艺术家 Installation Artists

王超 + JSND

ZINES from BOOKS displays 50+ zines currently or recently stocked at BOOKS, a secondhand book and zine shop in Peckham, South-east London UK. The selection is representative of the diversity of the DIY, self and artists publishing ecosystem of which BOOKS is a part, both in London and across the world. It is a small taste of the thousands of publications BOOKS has stocked over the years and continues to stock, a brief glimpse into an ephemeral moment of publishing activity.

A book? Is a book.Is a book!

策划呈现 Curator

art book in China

We have no intention of defining what an artist's book is . In this boundless enclave, pages are considered as unlimited exhibition space, everything is not restricted to paper, the use of material, the interpretation of structure and form, as well as the perception of space-time sequence are gradually poured, reclaimed, and reorganized in physical reading experiences.

In the curatorial context of "A book? Is a book. Is a book!", book can be seen as idea, as content itself, and even as autonomous artwork, which is varied and self-contained, inspired by work concept and growing again with all components of book. The artist's books presented are worldwide collected by the curator team of abC Art Book Fair. Here we see the possibilities of book encounter from all directions, general understandings got renewed and iterated, and notes on books unfold one after another.

垂直时间 Vertical Time

艺术家 Artists

Gerard Ortin (西班牙 ES)，David Panos (英国 UK)，Rob Heppell (英国 UK)

策展人 Curator

Rob Heppell (英国 UK)

联合呈现 Co-presented

RHVO, art book in China

An exhibition of video work by Gerard Ortin, David Panos and Rob Heppell.

Visual technologies designed to automatically map the natural world filter out the chaotic aspects of reality in order to quantify and qualify situations in terms of their exploitability. Specific perspectives are created to visualize and control industrial and social situations. In order to make nature readable to industry, these new perspectives make up emergent languages.

What are the psychological effects of these new languages of capital? How do we create new perspectives and what myths inhabit them?

Uncanny shatter-zones of future collapse into the present, mirages become concrete, transparency is constructed by polishing invisibility.

Three video artists explore perspective as a tool within contemporary labour and ephemeral languages of visual inquiry. Gerard Ortin’s film Agrilogistics explores the alien vistas of automated cameras within industrial agriculture. David Panos’ work The Dark Pool explores the ultra-abstraction involved in labour as a theoretical substance. Rob Heppell explores folklore in the contemporary creation of an unnamed city.

从 D-22 到 XP：2006 - 2015 北京地下音乐场景回顾展 From D-22 to XP: A Glimpse of Beijing Underground Music Scene in 2006 – 2015

策划呈现 Presented by

兵马司唱片 Maybe Mars Records

When it comes to the golden age of Beijing's indie music scene, D-22 is a name that can not be ignored. XP is the last flush of experimentation before the gold fades away.

The exhibition uses these two small, even somewhat dim, and dilapidated music venues as coordinates to present a unique slice of Beijing and China's underground music history over the decade 2006 - 2015.

D-22, established in 2006, was initially intended to provide a platform for local musicians to be whose work can be showcased at their fingertips, encouraging them to try out any exciting ideas. D-22 is open to all musicians who are eager to express themselves. Almost every week, fresh and inspiring young people walk in to push the boundaries of Chinese rock, folk, and experimental music with highly creative ideas.

With D-22 as a breeding ground of local creativity, Beijing's music scene became more and more prosperous. By 2012, the D-22 had become so well known the aspirations during which it was founded have been fulfilled. So, Michael Pettis, the founder, decided to shut it down and open up a brand new, more experimental scene.

The XP Club opened a few months later in Di‘anmen. Different from D-22, XP focuses more on experimental music scenes. The "Sleepless Nights" (Zao Mian Ye) series, which was scheduled to take place every Tuesday at D-22, is also back in action. Thanks to its equally convenient location and high level of inclusivity, XP has also become the venue of choice for many young bands on tour. In addition to the fresh faces of musicians from around the world, other well known musicians such as Motorpsycho, Iceage, Kid Millions... also performed for the Beijing audience here. Though just as the club was about to make a profit, for many reasons, XP ceased operations abruptly in 2015. This part of history also stops here.

The collection is largely drawn from the long-held archives of Michael Pettis, the founder of both venues, and includes posters, prints, and merch by various artists and designers from the D-22 and XP eras, as well as a selection of video recordings and photographs by Matthew Niederhauser.

沿着连结的小径——「闲逛者小报」阅览室
Endless Paths, Entangled Pages——Reading with tabloid flâneur

策划呈现 Curator

闲逛者小报 tabloid flâneur

tabloid flâneur is a Chinese zine, with each issue weaving through a common thread, selecting and translating pieces of writing from different fields and embodying artistic practice in various forms, transcending boundaries and mediating interconnections. Founded in 2020, tabloid flâneur has published 10 issues. Along the thread of each issue, the selected writings that transcend time and space, disciplines and fields echo with each other, opening the paths of mind in a relaxing manner, while the invited artworks unfold the sensibility in another dimension through the unique visual language of zines. Although each issue has its own thread, these threads entangle with each other, through which the awareness of ecology and feminism grows together with the care and curiosity for life, concerning the critical thoughts beyond established orders, as well as the mystery and potential within the everyday.

A flâneur transcends, crossing the boundaries among different languages, fields, species, genders, space and time, and even life and death; a flâneur flows, concerning the body and its intimate relation with mind and sensibility; aflâneur encounters, embracing the deep resonance beneath every coincidence; a flâneur chills, sharing at leisure our common life experiences. “Endless Paths, Entangled Pages” is a reading space curated by tabloid flâneur, presenting books and catalogues entangled and extended through the threads of the past 10 issues. Welcome to read with tabloid flâneur, strolling along the endless paths, among the entangled pages.