98. The postdigital book(work): surveying contemporary artists’ publishing

Since the early 20th century, artists have used books to engage with audiences directly, outside of the gallery space. Often, they have asked readers/viewers to reflect not only on the publication itself, but also on the way it has come into their hands. In recent decades, artists’ publications have explored the entangled, two-way relationship between printed books and digital media. Technology has transformed how artists make and distribute publications, and how they understand them. Amid the explosion of digital ‘content’, what is a book today and what can it do?

This panel proposes to explore artists’ publications after 2000, a period under-researched and unmapped, but highly significant in terms of widespread production and reception, adoption of digital technologies and development of new artistic networks and communities of practice, in the UK and internationally. Key themes would include new media and new materiality in artists’ publications, particularly the use of digital technologies and processes in intermedial practices, the evolving role of artists’ publishing in contemporary art, and expanded notions of the artist’s book.

Paper proposals are invited in response to these themes, forms and contexts, as micro-histories, case studies or sample surveys.

Themes: artists’ publications, digital media, contemporary art

Lead Convenor: Gustavo Grandal Montero, Tate, United Kingdom

Co-convenors: Karen Di Franco, Chelsea College of Arts/UAL, United Kingdom

John Timberlake, Middlesex University, United Kingdom

To submit a Paper to this Session, please follow the guidance on our website and complete the AAH 2027 Call for Papers Proposal Submission Form.