Roxanne Li
Bookworms who can't get enough of the written word can now find a way to experience books beyond the visual senses.
Presented by Tai Kwun Contemporary, Booked: Hong Kong Art Book Fair will launch its fifth edition from now until May 1 with an unprecedented multimedia experience that combines visual, auditory and even olfactory senses to bring artistic enjoyment to Hong Kong.
Featuring more than 80 artists, publishers, organizations and booksellers, local and overseas, this year's book fair will give shows on building approachable artworks in book form and introduce installation programs.
"The topic of this edition's book fair will focus on visual arts and publishing," said project director Daniel Ho Sze-hin.
"The fair will represent many smaller organizations and independent artists and go back to artists' books themselves - not only about art, but how people use the form of art."
For the first time since 2020, Booked is bringing in many regional exhibitors back to Hong Kong, including Printed Matter, Nieves, Three Star Books, Self Publish, Be Happy, Afterall, Jakarta Art Book Fair and Jiazazhi.
Among the unusual exhibitors are Nieves, a one-man publishing house from Switzerland, and Jakarta Art Book Fair, which brings a lot of publications from Indonesia. Display Distribute and Reading Room will bring a special selection of books from Lumbung Kios and Lumbung publishers, previously featured in Documenta 15.
"We are making our fourth appearance at Booked and will be presenting four new projects including recently published works by Brazilian-Dutch artist Rafael Rozendaal and American conceptual artist Liz Deschenes, as well as books and new typed paintings by Italian artist Raffaella della Olga, who will also be present at the fair," said a spokesman for Three Star Books from Paris.
"In addition, we will be showcasing a new set of original prints and a stencil book by renowned Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija, Once Upon A Time."
Artist books will be a huge draw, predicted another publisher, Printed Matter from New York. "The origin and history of artists' books was an aspiration to democratize the form - making art widely accessible and as multiples, instead of one precious art object," said its spokesman. "We hope the offerings at our table will encourage visitors to start collecting these artworks-in-book-form, or perhaps to expand their existing collection."
One new element in the book fair would be sounds, said Ho, highlighting a special project, Sounds Like Print.
Cocurated by Ingrid Chu Pui-yee and Edward Sanderson and coorganized with Ho, the project discusses the connection between sounds and print. It will hold a special display of sound art and experimental music.
The project is going to "explore how the visible and the audible overlap as what we hear and listen to are recorded in print, in the packaging around sound and music, as well as magazines, zines and flyers, and how printed matter can trigger or generate sounds," said Ho.
"When you normally go into a museum or art center, you can see paintings or sculptures which you cannot touch, but books are tangible arts," said Ho, addressing how sounds and music were combined to allow visitors an approachable way to feel the art of books.
During the project, a seven-hour non-stop piano performance presented by Samson Young will be featured as his Furniture Music artwork that will bring an immersive experience to viewers.
In addition, interactive installation art programs will provide people with different access, including those who have physical disabilities, to see, hear, touch and feel the art.
Talks, workshops and performances are also on the list. Among them, BASE - Florence Lam and Pang Jing - will present an on-site performance by walking through the fair and interacting with books in a variety of acrobatic ways to tell their "female bodily knowledge."
During the book fair, artists will "not do normal things, but try to make us viewers reconsider," Ho said of a secret presentation.
"Everyone will discover and find something they already knew and things they didn't know from the book fair."
