The Classroom
Codes, with C Magazine
C Magazine editors Joy Xiang and Maandeeq Mohamed mark the launch of C Magazine's latest issue #155 with a discussion about the ways in which artists and writers continue to explore codes as a way of reimagining the future. Drawing on critical writing and art practices of Matt Nish-Lapidus, Jon Corbett, Coco Zhou, Denise Ferreira da Silva, and Valentina Desideri (among others), they will explore codes as ethical, social, political, and legal boundaries, as the holder of secret meanings, as human-machine interfaces, and as forces of (and against) rebellion. Presented by C Magazine.
Organizing Power: Unionizing for Arts Workers
All working people have rights, whether we work at an art museum, a bookstore, or a school. Nationwide, arts workers have begun to unionize—they’ve enhanced their rights and improved their workplaces. But it can be difficult to know how to get started. Organizing Power is a series of Risograph-printed booklets which provide tools for union formation tailored to arts workers. Join artist Jessalyn Aaland and worker-organizers Jillian Grant, J Raul Guzman, Jessi Jones, Olivia Leiter, and Emily VanKoughnett to learn how arts workers successfully formed unions at Academy Film Archive, the Academy Museum, MOCA, the New Children’s Museum, and Skylight Books. Presented by Current Editions.
I See More Clearly in the Dark, with Vanessa Holyoak
This program features a reading and screening by Vanessa Holyoak in celebration of her latest novel, I See More Clearly in the Dark—a treatise on darkness as an urgent, vital recalibration for the late capitalist surveillance show. I See More Clearly in the Dark chronicles the experiences of a narrator as she wanders a dystopian near-future drained of life-sustaining darkness. The government has decided to wipe out national forests to install brilliant, homogenous resorts in which citizens are obliged to live under conditions of total illumination, with the forest’s expansive darkness remaining only as a memory and haunting source of imagination. Holyoak will share about the new publication and her practice of constructing uncanny, minimalist environments that allude to the cognitive overload of the present. Presented by Sming Sming Books.
Feminist Futurists, with Mashinka Firunts Hakopian and Anuradha Vikram
This program centers a reading and discussion between X Artists’ Books speculative fiction authors Mashinka Firunts Hakopian and Anuradha Vikram. Hakopian will read their publication The Institute for Other Intelligences (2022), which presents a transcript from a future convention for machine intelligences to discuss the human biases and omissions encoded in their training data. Vikram will read from Use Me at Your Own Risk (2023), a novel comprising five intricate narratives that take place in 2046, a near-future where both automation and climate collapse are more advanced. A conversation between the authors will follow. Presented by X Artists’ Books.
Clarion Series, with Nikita Gale, Harmony Holiday, and Janelle Zara
This conversation between Los Angeles-based artist Nikita Gale, author Harmony Holiday, and journalist Janelle Zara falls under the rubric of Clarion, a publication series that is developed in tandem with exhibitions at 52 Walker. Gale, Holiday, and Zara will share about their contributions to Clarion and their interdisciplinary practices of performance, poetry, and research. Presented by David Zwirner Books and 52 Walker.
Dancehall Queen. Erotic Subversion / Subversión Erótica, with Carla Lamoyi and Racquel Bernard
Carla Lamoyi and musicology scholar Racquel Bernard will discuss Dancehall Queen. Erotic Subversion / Subversión Erótica, a bilingual (English/Spanish) book published by the Mexico-based FIEBRE Ediciones and The Dancehall Archive and Research Initiative (DHA) of Kingston, Jamaica. This publication is an investigation of the musical and cultural scene developed around Dancehall Reggae and the rise of the Sound Systems within the popular neighborhoods of Kingston. It also focuses on the Dancehall Queen phenomenon: a style, aesthetic, and, eventually, dance competition performed by women amidst a cultural moment dominated by heterosexual men. Presented by FIEBRE Ediciones.
Image, Text, Abjection, Beauty, with Whitney Hubbs, Emma Kemp, and Vanessa Roveto
This experimental reading and slideshow event will place works from ITI Press’s latest publications in dialogue. Recent photographs by Whitney Hubbs and writings by Emma Kemp and Vanessa Roveto ask us to consider the blurring of love, humiliation, and humor that animates the work of these three Los Angeles artists. Set to a slideshow of Hubbs’ self-portraits, Kemp will read from her text Days, published with Hubbs’ images in ITI Press’s new BLIND DATES AND REUNIONS Series. Roveto will read from THE VALLEY, A VOID, the inaugural book in the new collaborative series Novella, co-published by ITI and SPBH Editions (Self Publish Be Happy). The presentations will be followed by a freewheeling conversation, and hopefully some laughing and crying. Presented by Image Text Ithaca.
Plaza Stage
Presented in partnership with Floating and dublab, with programming by Chulita Vinyl Club, International Anthem, Leaving Records, RVNG, and KCHUNG.
DJ sets by Chulita Vinyl Club
KCHUNG Morning News
Bob Baker Marionette Theater
Lionmilk
Lucky Dragons
Exhibitor Projects
Printed Matter presents a symphony a work in progress (pt. II, andante), building on an expansive installation-as-publication first staged by artist and publisher Yusuf Hassan in 2022. For this re-imagined presentation, Yusuf is joined by Kwamé Sorrell—co-publisher of BlackMass—to incorporate a second “slow” movement in response to the first, carrying on the performatory exchange around motifs in music, sculpture, and architecture. With an array of printed pieces, including simple folded sheets, rubber stamp prints, xeroxes, broadsides, and c-prints (as well as video work, sound work, and found objects), the exhibition assembles an improvisatory visual dialog trained on emblems, monuments, diagrams, and language, here understood through the lens of publishing and grounded in the printed form. This exhibition is realized with the generous support of Phil Aarons and Shelley Fox Aarons, with additional support provided by the LAABF Committee. Our thanks to LAXART, Hamza Walker, Kameron McDowell and Tim Fleming for their additional support.
La Tierra Mia - A Chicano Park is a publication and project presented by artist Bob Dominguez that archives memories of Chicano Park in San Diego, which was collectively renamed La Tierra Mia during a standoff in the 1970s. The publication catalogs photos and notes from contributors who have shared a connection to the park over the past 50 years. For LAABF 2023, Dominguez presents photographs and artifacts from this important history, and in doing so, hopes to formulate a story of not only the past, but also the maintenance of history for the future.
poster, performed is a collaborative project by Tricia Treacy + Arzu Ozkal, Wylie Kasai, Steve Bowden, and Mark Zurolo that explores design processes by combining digital media, computer algorithms, and experimental print techniques. The project engages in a dialogue between human and machine generators through the familiar poster format, which has retained its influential role amidst cultural changes brought about by digital printing. Using installation and performance, this project weaves digital content from folders, including submissions from participants around the globe, in order to create a one-of-a-kind computer-generated composite form.
Timeless Art Book Gems is a survey of underground photography and 1960s Japanese art books presented by KOMIYAMA TOKYO, a long-running vintage art book store in Tokyo. The project brings together photographs, zines, and drawings across many different genres from the age of Provoke and Daido Moriyama to 80’s queer magazines, fetish art, and alternative comics. In doing so, KOMIYAMA TOKYO contextualizes contemporary Japanese photobooks within a rich history of subversive independent publishing over the past several decades.
Laurence McGilvery & The Box LA present a special selection of rare and out of print books, catalogues, periodicals, and ephemera. This collaboration between Laurence McGilvery, notable antiquarian bookseller and collector, and The Box LA/Box Editions, a gallery and record/book publisher, engages both forgotten art histories and the work of emerging artists who straddle a similar ethos of risk and experimentation.
Active Cultures and X-TRA present TOTAL LANDSCAPING, a gathering space and series of programs inspired by an ongoing reading group facilitated by the two LA-based organizations. TOTAL LANDSCAPING sets off an investigation of sound, video, and publications in order to explore the contentious spatial politics of Los Angeles. From a survey of land use to a history of publishing in student-led activism, this partnered presentation shares research, records, and resources as exercises in landscaping. Each day gathers around a central theme, explored through activities such as curated conversations and artists readings. Altogether, the project aims to offer tools and opportunities for participant-generated texts and in-the-moment research by way of mapping structures, sites, and power across our experiences of Los Angeles.
12 PM | Revisiting Charles Jencks’ Daydream Houses of Los Angeles, a talk by Aurora Tang
In the 1970s, architectural historian and cultural theorist Charles Jencks began photographing the exaggerated houses that he encountered driving around Los Angeles. At a time when residential architecture in America was becoming increasingly standardized, Jencks called attention to these fantasy houses that had been modified or built to exude personal character and variation. Daydream Houses of Los Angeles, published by Rizzoli in 1978, includes Jencks’ snapshots of about 60 of these expressive and excessive houses, paired with witty captions and oftentimes, an address, so readers could embark on their own house tours. In this illustrated presentation, Aurora Tang will discuss her ongoing rephotography project revisiting Daydream Houses of Los Angeles, the changing appearance of our city’s residential neighborhoods, and the significance of Jencks’ book today, 45 years after its release.
Aurora Tang is a curator and researcher based in Los Angeles. She has worked with the Center for Land Use Interpretation since 2009, and currently serves as its program director. As an independent curator, Aurora has organized recent exhibitions at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, MOCA Tucson, and Armory Center for the Arts. She is the recipient of an Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Curatorial Research Fellowship.
Offsite Programs
Scaffolding Autonomies, with the Center for Liberatory Practice & Poetry and Kimi Hanauer
ICA LA, 1717 E 7th St, Los Angeles, CA 90021
On the weekend before the Fair opens, ICA LA will host two artist-led workshops. Light breakfast and beverages will be served. ICA LA's exhibitions and Bookshelf Residency project will be on view.
Sunday’s workshop gathers participants to chronicle and rehearse infrastructures for collective care and solidarity that emerge from the encounters of our everyday lives.
Mornings in the Garden: Talks on Bookmaking and Collaboration
Hauser & Wirth Downtown Los Angeles, 901 E 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Hauser & Wirth Publishers and Printed Matter present a series of three conversations in the mornings before the Fair focusing on the ways artists, designers, editors, and publishers work together. These programs will take place each morning at 10 AM in the Garden at Hauser & Wirth Downtown Los Angeles, just a 10-minute walk from The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Fuel up with complimentary coffee and tea service provided by Manuela, the gallery’s onsite restaurant.
Editor Venessa Appiah and type designer Juliette Duhe will discuss the application of generative AI in book publishing and present a collection of bookworks and experiments from Anteism Books that explore the topic. Artist Jason Huff and publisher Adam Lucas of Specific Ideas will discuss their work together on Huff’s book AutoSummarize.
Signings & Launches
O24 No More Internet, Just Dreams! by Emilia García. Presented by Can Can Press.
O28 Launch of H.R. Giger - Necronimicon, reproduced by Crisis Editions.
G21 Signing of Where My Heart Settles Down, by Wang Yingying. Presented by Jiazazhi.
Q20 Launch of THE STUD PIN ARCHIVE AND EPHEMERA 1970-1999, by Chloe Miller/Stud Pin Archives. Presented by LAND AND SEA.
G16 Launch and signing of TE AMO, by Luis Cobelo. Presented by Raya Editorial + La Chancleta Voladora.
G12 Signing of L.A. Vedute, by Thomas Locke Hobbs. Presented by The Eriskay Connection.
J7 Launch of VIVA ARTISANAL INTELLIGENCE, by daniela del mar. Presented by SE IMPRIME.
D Launch of The Anti-Type Book, by Yomar Augusto. Presented by poster, performed.
Q12 Signing of How Close, by Brice Bischoff. Presented by (w)hole.
Q8 Launch of The Horses, by Gareth McConnell. Presented by New Dimension.
F3 Signing of I Can Feel You Dreaming, by Taylor Galloway. Presented By Deadbeat Club.
P34 Launch and signing of A Tour Around Scattered Twigs, by Siumou Chow. Presented by Studio Biped Animation Limited.
K11 Signing of Hell Bent and Family Tree, by Scot Sothern. Presented by THESE DAYS.
P14 Signing of The Boxridge Table, by Orion Wertz. Presented by Antenna Press.
F3 Signing of Big River, by Patrick O'Dell. Presented By Deadbeat Club.
I10 Launch of Semi-Tropic Spiritualists Symbology Divination System, by Semi-Tropic Spiritualists. Presented by Insert Press.
G11 Launch and signing of ein prozess. Presented by Volker Renner.