The Dublin Art Book Fair TBG+S, Dublin, 21 Nov-1 Dec, 2019

Temple Bar Gallery + Studios presents Dublin Art Book Fair 2019 (DABF), the only art book fair in Ireland, now taking place over ten days from 21st November to 1st December 2019. DABF is sponsored by Henry J Lyons and supported by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature.

The ninth edition of Dublin Art Book Fair platforms creative and cutting-edge publishers, big and small, Irish and international, and is a centre for the contemporary artist book. Browse a vibrant mix of books on art, architecture, visual culture and select fiction, enjoy a coffee and engage in a free programme of talks, tours, workshops and discussions in a relaxed and stimulating environment.

This year DABF is guest curated by Dr Kathleen James-Chakraborty, Professor of Art History at University College Dublin. In a series of talks, workshops, open studios, book launches and panel discussions, the theme, Art & Architecture: Learning from the Bauhaus will consider how the twentieth-century’s most innovative and influential school of art, craft, design and architecture continues to influence a hundred years on. Contributors include Martino Stierli (Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, Museum of Modern Art New York); Grant Watson (London based independent curator and researcher) and Kerry Meakin (Programme Chair, Visual Merchandising & Display, TU Dublin). There will be an interdisciplinary panel discussion featuring visual artists, architects and designers on the influence of Bauhaus on their own practice; a series of artist-led workshops taking inspiration from Bauhaus ideas, including colour theory, printmaking and wallpaper design, alongside open studios with artists at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios.

Over the opening weekend, DABF presents Publication Scaffold a wide-ranging and digressive series of events, performances, installations and discussions hosted by artists Sean Lynch, Michele Horrigan and curator Jo Melvin. Highlights include the launch of John Hutchinson’s new publication, ‘Countercultures, Communities and Indra’s Net’ and a debut performance by Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty. Emanuele De Donno will reveal the inner workings of Viaindustriae, an expansive publishing and research initiative based in Foligno, Italy, while John Carson’s sprawling psychogeographic artwork, Evening Echoes, presented at Temple Bar Gallery + Studios back in 1995, will be reprised.

A big feature of Dublin Art Book Fair is the artist book, offering an affordable way to collect art while also being a great way to give a gift of art. The Artist Book Section at DABF will feature an array of artists’ books from all areas of contemporary art and design, published and independently made, as well as four specially commissioned artist books by Chloe Brenan, Catriona Leahy, Richard Proffitt and Tamsin Snow. Recent artists’ publications in the Artist Book Section will include Dragana Jurišić & Paula Meehan’s ‘Museum’, Susan MacWilliam’s ‘Modern Experiments’ and Catriona Leahy’s ‘The Aesthetics of Disappearance’.

Book launches at DABF will include TBG+S studio artist Niamh O’Malley’s publication based on her recent solo exhibition at RHA Dublin, with readings by Niamh O’Malley and writer, Claire-Louise Bennett, whom she commissioned to write for her book. Artist, Orla Barry’s new publication ‘Shaved Rapunzel, Scheherazade and the Shearling Ram from Arcady’, based on her acclaimed touring exhibition ‘Breaking Rainbows’ shown at TBG+S in 2016, will be launched at DABF.

#DABF19