Melbourne Art Book Fair 2017

Discover international and local publishers and practitioners in a weekend of fifty diverse programs including free talks, book launches, performances and over 200 publishers featuring art, design, architecture and photography publications from around the world.

The third annual Melbourne Art Book Fair will explore new territory in 2017 by showcasing art book practices in contemporary photography and typography. From artists’ books, catalogues and monographs, to periodicals and independent publications, visitors can engage with the latest developments in art publishing. The Melbourne Art Book Fair will bring together participants ranging from established to emerging art publishers, artists, writers and designers in the one venue at NGV International.

A full day international symposium on typography will feature globally acclaimed local and international practitioners, the third in a series presented in collaboration with RMIT Design Futures Lab.

Leading international guests London-based Self Publish, Be Happy are curating an Endless Book Club for the Fair where local book groups will discuss key texts and collaborate in an immersive and diverse literary conversation which seems truly endless.

Other events include talks, workshops and activities led by outstanding contemporary artists such as Brook Andrew, Ross Coulter, Zoë Croggon, Patrick Pound, and a range of publishers, writers, designers and printmakers.

Winner of the inaugural Cornish Family Prize for Art & Design Publishing:

Publisher: Analogues
Author: Marc Johnson
Designer: Baldinger Vu-Huu
Title: fecund lacuna / lacune féconde

Finalists of the inaugural Cornish Family Prize for Art & Design Publishing:

Publisher: Uro Publications
Title: Episodic Urbanism
Authors: Peter Elliott and contributors
Designer: Stuart Geddes

Publisher: Monash University Museum of Art
(co-published with Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane and Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin)
Title: Nicholas Mangan: Limits to Growth
Designer: Žiga Testen

Publisher: Self-published
Title: The Gentle Hand + The Greedy Eye: an everyday baroque practice in architecture
Author: Rachel Hurst
Designer: Catherine Griffiths

Publisher: Open Editions
Title: SPECIALISM
Author: David Blamey and contributors
Designer: Jonathan Hares

Publisher: Birkhäuser
Title: House is a House is a House is a House is a House: Architectures and Collaborations of Johnston MarkleeAuthor: Reto Geiser and contributors
Designer: MG&CO., Noemi Mollet and Reto Geiser

The NGV gratefully acknowledges the Cornish family for their support of The Cornish Family Prize for Art and Design Publishing.

An initiative of the NGV in collaboration with the Victorian Government, the annual ten-day program will comprise talks by leading design experts, design-focused exhibitions, tours, panel discussions and industry events held at NGV International and partner venues throughout the city.

Demonstrating that Melbourne is a city defined by design and architecture the Department of Contemporary Design and Architecture embraces an important role to collect, examine and present the most interesting trajectories of design and architecture today.

Members of the Contemporary Design and Architecture department are ambassadors for the work of designers and architects across the allied fields of design.Melbourne Design Week is conceived as a celebration of design excellence highlighting the role of design as a catalyst linking creativity with business, technology and the community, to drive innovation.

Melbourne Design Week offers a strong rationale for independent studios, galleries and businesses to collaborate together, joining with the NGV to present a vibrant array of exhibitions, programs and satellite projects as part of the program.

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The NGV gratefully acknowledges the Cornish family for their support of The Cornish Family Prize for Art and Design Publishing.

The symposium is presented by the RMIT Design Futures Lab with the support of the Ian Potter Foundation and RMIT School of Media & Communication. The inclusion of Self Publish, Be Happy in the event is proudly supported by the NGV Friends of the Gallery Library.

Part of Melbourne Design Week and the Victorian Design Program, initiatives of the Victorian Government.