Prairie Art Book Fair Logo, Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber, 2018, Acrylic on panel.
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is extremely excited to present our inaugural Prairie Art Book Fair September 7-9, 2018. As a means to acknowledge the critical relationship between contemporary art and publishing with a regional focus on the Prairies, the weekend will showcase over twenty-nine exhibitors and present numerous events with highlights including collaborative hole punch drawing with Winnipeg born artist Micah Lexier; a talk connecting DIY tattooing and artist multiples by Maxine Proctor (Director and Co-founder of the Toronto Art Book Fair and Managing Editor of BlackFlash Magazine), and a workshop with key presenter Jeff Khonsary (Co-Founding and Artistic Director of Fillip and Director of New Documents) on alternative book fair models, looking at the economics and social space of the book fair model itself.
Explore diverse and accomplished publications from over twenty-five publishers, artists, and galleries ranging from zines, catalogues, artist editions, fiction, poetry, criticism, and periodicals.
A complete list of exhibitors and events are listed below.
6:00pm-8:00pm: Opening reception and launches presented in conjunction with the opening party of the Prairie Art Book Fair.
Fillip and Plug In ICA launch The Invention and Conclusion of the Eye by Toril Johannessen. This publication is part of Fillip's Supplement series and is a manuscript for an audio play by Toril Johannessen presented as part STAGES: Drawing the Curtain produced by Plug In ICA, 2017.
Plug In ICA launches Exhibition Notes: Entering the Landscape, which marks the first in a series of publications proposed as quick compilations, and archival gestures that capture the exhibition and publication as part of the research process and not its end goal. This publication is linked to the exhibition Entering the Landscape presented at Plug In ICA in the fall of 2017 featuring the work of Pia Arke, Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, Jaime Black, Lori Blondeau, A.K. Burns, The Ephemerals, Melissa General, Rebecca Horn, Katherine Hubbard, Maria Hupfield, Simone Jones, Tau Lewis, Amy Malbeuf, Meryl McMaster, Ana Mendieta, Natalie Purschwitz, Dominique Rey, Jamie Ross, Xaviera Simmons, Ming Wong and Alize Zorlutuna.
A reading by local queer femmes to celebrate the launch of the second volume of the zine, on the theme of luv letters. Whiney Femmes is a submission-based collection of art and writing by queer femmes of all genders. Whiny Femmes is a space to honour the multiplicity of femme lived experience and is an attempt to foster a space of sharing, tenderness, resistance, and healing. This annual publication is edited by Christina Hajjar (she/her) and Jules Hardy (they/them).
This project invites viewers to take on the role of "hole locator" and walk away with a unique collaborative artwork for $5 per punch. Lexier is an artist and curator born in Winnipeg and based in Toronto. Lexier works in sculpture, installation, photography and text-based work and his practice revolves largely around conceptual acts of enumeration and demarcation.
Jeff Khonsary will talk about alternative book fair models, including a discussion of projects he has worked on including Motto Storefront and Acid-Free Los Angeles Art Book Market. His discussion will explore of the economics and social space of the book fair itself. Khonsary is a Vancouver and Los Angeles-based editor, curator, and designer. He is Co-Founding and Artistic Director of Fillip, a Vancouver-based publishing organization, and Director of New Documents, a book imprint focusing on books by artists. He holds a BA from the University of California (Berkeley) and a MA from the University of British Colombia. In 2018, he founded and co-organized the Acid-Free Los Angeles Art Book Market. He is the Guest Curator of the Vancouver Art Book Fair.
For this talk, Maxine Proctor will explore the relationship between tattooing and artists' multiples by sharing a selection of contemporary artists, projects and practices. Through the dissemination of language, imagery, and traditional cultural practices these artists circumvent institutional norms, foster communities, and cultivate colonial resistance. The art of tattooing has a rich history that circles the globe as well as a wide range of disparate cultural associations. Once again, the tradition of tattooing is shifting to meet the needs and aspirations of a new generation of artists and ideologies. Proctor is the Director and Co-founder of the Toronto Art Book Fair as well as the Managing Editor of BlackFlash Magazine.
4:30pm-5:30pm: Reading by Hannah Godfrey: Not For The World Would I Compare It To Anything presented by Parameter Press. The series of stories and essays in Not For The World Would I Compare It To Anything describe experiences of being alone, being present, and transience, and how this in turn effects fundamental needs, such as the ability to feel at home, to rest, and know oneself. hannah_g is a writer, contemporary storyteller, inter-disciplinary artist, mixtapelaptop DJ, and designer. She is interested in collectivity, place-making, and recollection. She is the Director of aceartinc. and the editor of the gallery's in-house annual publication, PaperWait.
6:00pm-7:00pm: Reading by Jennifer Ilse Black: Small Predators presented by aceartinc.
In this vibrant debut published by ARP Books, Jennifer Ilse Black combines prose, lists, and structural experimentation. Small Predators follows a collective of student activists as they cope with the aftermath of a violent political demonstration carried out against their university by a member of their collective. Black achieved her B.A. and M.A. in English, Film and Theatre from the University of Manitoba, where she studied for 10 years working in feminist, queer, and anti-racist collectives, and serving terms on the campus students' union council and executive. She was a student at aceartinc's. Cartae Open School 2016-17, where she studied healing and meaning-making through the ritual and labour of textile artistry.
MONOTEXT is a tri-annual publication by BLINKERS Art & Project Space featuring an image and text by an artist, writer, artist + writer, writer + writer, etc. The evening will include a performance at 8:00pm by Kristiane Church & Marijana Mandusic as part of Blinkers current exhibition Telepathic Episode and a post performance BBQ. Blinkers is committed to assisting in the exhibition of works that are ambitious in scale and concept, experimental, new works which represent the current moment in Canadian contemporary art through all mediums including video, sound, painting, photography, sculpture, installation, and new media.
We offer our sincere thanks to Paula Mitchell and Arnold Leventhal for their generous support of our book fair. Thank You!
Plug In ICA extends our gratitude to our artists, generous donors, valued members and dedicated volunteers. With special thanks to our Director's Circle. You make a difference!
For more information or for media inquiries please contact: Erin Josephson-Laidlaw at erin@plugin.org; (204)942-1043.