#mabf

MABF is on again this year. The Melbourne Photobook Collective is again having a stand there.

I have a new publication to sell.

It's my trolley project edited down to a smalll Zine. $18.00 AU. Come down and buy it. I'll be on the stand Friday morning, Saturday morning and all day Sunday.

Every year the NGV hosts the Melbourne Art Book Fair, as part of their Design week series.

This year I am again there along with my counterparts from the Melbourne Photobook Collective.

Here's the stand all setup and ready to go.

This is my newest publication, Trigger Warning.

Trigger Warning is a rumination on the time spent in lockdown and its affects on my creative activities. It is 40 pages inkjet printed on 80gsm paper with 30 images and is staple bound, with a coloured 210 gsm cover that is hand stamped using rubber stamps and ink.

Week 2 of university held no classes because of the public holiday and I did not go to the Melbourne Art Book Fair in NGV because of COVID-19. But I did some research about MABF. The Melbourne art book fair 2020 brings together publishers, artists and designers to showcase some of the world's best art and design publications for discussions, book releases and seminars.

I got interested about The Clearing – A Report From The Future from Alex Hartley and Tom James. They set out to build a radical vision of the future in the grounds of Compton Verney Art Gallery & Park.

(pic from [email protected])

Week 2 - No classes

We had no classes, but one lecture and afterwards we went on a type of self driven excursion to the Melbourne Art and Book Fair (MABF).

I didn’t take photos to capture the moment, but I did however buy this cool poetry book on love.

I also got a cool business card from this awesome photographer. I really like the simplistic design of it and the cool photo it showcases on the back of it.

13.03.2020

After the lecture, I went to the Melbourne Art Book Fair with my friends. I entered a very large exhibition hall with a fluttering heart. I could see many artists selling their art books and displaying them for visitors to read freely. It was a great event to be able to talk to the artists in person.

My favourite part was ‘Kid's Own Publishing’ booth.It was said, “Kids’ Own Publishing celebrates children’s voices and their creative expression through the publication of books authored and illustrated by children for children”. I like the purity of children. Sometimes, children observe things from a different perspective that adults did not notice or could miss. Of course, there are many things to learn from people who are more professional than me, but I think there are also many things to learn from undefiled children. There were spelling and grammatical errors, though, that also increased the appeal of kid’s art books. Looking at their works, I thought about myself when I was young. Even though I wasn't good at drawing, I painted the imaginations that popped up in my head without hesitation. Fear of failure now makes it difficult to draw if it is not perfect. Besides, if I don't like it, I abandoned without completing it. Visiting this art book fair made me inspired and reminded of my lost childhood. If this COVID-19 situation calms down, I am eager to go to art exhibitions or art fair like this.

Reference:

NGV, n.d. Kid’s Own Publishing, NGV, viewed 31 March 2020, <https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/programs-events/art-book-fair/>.

Image:

Abbostford Convent Foundation, n.d. Kid’s Own Publishing, photograph, viewed 31 March 2020, <https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/programs-events/art-book-fair/>.

WEEK 2 LECTURE - WHAT IS DESIGN MADE OF? + MABF

This week in our lecture, we analysed the different ways of communicating and interpreting, as well as the evolution of this tool. We reviewed the almighty Facebook “reacts” and how its variety of emoticons can allow simple communication in response to a post on the platform. We also compared it to other large franchises recreating their own “reacts”, such as McDonalds. In their sample, they used fries and burgers, alongside a happy customer. 

We also brushed on our current project, “Hello My Question is...” by looking into what is design made of and how can we interpret the task to our best ability. We saw examples of making a typeface with grass, bandaids and bulldog clips; calling us as students to see what objects we could use for our own question.

Instead of a tutorial, we were encouraged to visit the Melbourne Art Book Fair at the NGV. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it, however, I looked at the participants in the fair, particularly Zine Coop and saw photographs of their stall at the gallery via Instagram. I love how zines have become more popular to the point that there is a dedicated fair at a large gallery, like NGV. I was first introduced to a zine when I was only 14 in my art class in high school. The thought of anybody being able to make their own ‘mini’ magazine without being published or represented I thought was almost as good as sliced bread. Today, I still think that these creations are AMAZING! and are a great outlet for individuals to tell their own story using image and type. 

~

IMAGE SOURCES:

Image 1: Zine Coop’s collection of zines at Form Society, Hong Kong (January 1st) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6xlHgdAikH/

Image 2: Zine Coop @ MABF (March 13th) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9qzbJrAY4f/ a repost of @unseendictation image. 

This week I went to the Melbourne Book Art Fair in NGV which I was lucky because the day after I went NGV was closed due to the COVID-19. MBAF brings all the creative publishers, artists and designers to showcase some of the world’s best art and design publications. It has more than 100 publishers showcase books, magazines, and zines, etc. For picture 2, it was I taken off a book which is all about 3D photographs. It really surprised me that a 2D paper can have an object that is really authentic. Also, the printing is really good, too. Like the lighting. Moreover, I talked to a designer that design travel, photography books, she told me how fun when she did all the books and really enjoyed it.  All in all, I had a lot of fun at MBAF and saw many interesting books that I never thought about. 

I went to the MABF on Saturday with some friends. It was a good insight into the current low volume book and zine landscape . Around 60+ stalls filled a room in NGV. Each manned by brave introverts representing publishers and book stores from around the world.

Some of my favourite stalls...

Low Tech Magazine - Very cool. Offer a skeptical analysis of the benefits and drawbacks to the development of technology. They also look back at old technologies and embrace their simple and effective solutions. Such as the human powered crane which can haul weights far heavier than the powered cranes of today. They publish large books, or their articles can be read on their blog https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/. Which is hosted on a solar powered server - an ongoing experiment.

Case Publishing - Japan based photo book publisher. Beautiful books with beautiful photos. Wish I had the kind of money to buy up their whole range. I particularly enjoyed the quality and quantity of cityscape + landscape photos.

MSHR - ‘intersection of contemporary art and experimental music’ perhaps not the perfect place to exhibit music but the album artwork on display was extraordinary. There was a PCB with illustrations on it on display which i assume played music somehow...

Book highlights were... 

Darren Glass – A Field Guide To Camera Species Each page had a custom pinhole camera’s characteristics detailed and evaluated. For example; a frisbee camera and a spiralling structure with 9 internal mirrors (which was concluded to be useless). Mind opening stuff.