UCL Artists’ Books Symposium: Structures/Infrastructures
- Region: All Regions
- Type: Symposium
- Cost: Free
This symposium proposes to investigate the formal or informal infrastructures and networks which sustain (or, perhaps, inhibit) the production, preservation, curation, distribution and analysis of artists’ books in Britain now. We are actively seeking contributions not just from academics and doctoral students working in the field, but from all those involved in the artists’ books and small press ecosystem, from retailers to publishers to librarians to artists. This symposium is supported by a grant from the Association for Art History.
While John B. Thompson (2012) and Dan Sinykin (2023), in the literary field, have explored the economics and infrastructures of the anglophone publishing industry, small press publishing (in general) and artists’ books publishing (more specifically) have received scant focus in these systematic studies. This symposium hopes to reverse this trend, highlighting not simply definitional questions or analyses of specific texts, but taking a broad account of the networks and infrastructures which characterise, animate or circumscribe artists’ books in Britain and beyond in the twenty-first century. Possible topics to be explored could include, but are certainly not limited to:
- The relationship between national funding bodies and artists’ books
- Issues of curation and preservation
- The relationship between artists’ books and informal coterie networks
- The interplay between artists’ books and radical publishing traditions
- Issues of canonicity and ‘prestige’
- Artists’ books and the art market/gallery system
- Alternative distribution strategies
- Ephemerality
- Changes and/or challenges presented by the practicalities of book art (printing, paper and so on)
- The connections between artists’ books and institutional or special collections libraries
- Sustainability, broadly conceived
- The economics of artists’ books distribution and retailing
We are seeking 200-250 word abstracts for proposed 15-20 minute papers, accompanied by a short biographical note of 100 words. Proposals for more innovative presentation and discussion formats are also actively encouraged. These should be emailed to killian.beashel.23@ucl.ac.uk by 11th April 2025. Proposals for panels or roundtable discussions should be submitted by this same date, along with brief biographical details of the proposed participants. Please attach these abstracts, proposals and biographical notes in .docx or .pdf format to the email.
With assistance from the Association for Art History, a limited fund for travel expenses is available. If you wish to avail of this, please include in the body of your email a brief explanation of your reasons for applying for this fund. Those without institutional affiliation, and doctoral or early-career academics without access to departmental travel funding, will be prioritised though all those for whom travel costs are a financial burden are welcome and encouraged to apply.