About

The first edition of the Arctic Art Book Fair took place November 13-15, 2020, in Tromsø, Norway. The next edition will be announced shortly for 2023.

Free and open to the public, the Arctic Art Book Fair is a multi-day celebration of artists’ and independent presses featuring over 35 local, national and international publishers, as well as a diverse line-up of presentations, readings and artists’ projects. Featured exhibitors produce everything from books, magazines, zines and printed ephemera to digital, performative or other experimental forms of publication.

AABF is organized by Mondo Books and is the first art book fair to our knowledge that brings together producers from all over the circumpolar north; Alaska, Northern Canada, Greenland, Northern Scandinavia and Russia. The fair, which will be hosted by a different arctic country in the upcoming years, hopes to provide a sustainable meeting place and exhibition venue for arctic artistic communities and local audiences from the Barents region. It is also committed to arctic content, with a focus on indigenous perspectives, under-represented voices and emphasizes cross-border collaborations.

What is an Art Book Fair?

It is an event where participants (organizations, publishers, individuals and groups) who work in the field of art set up a table to present their own publications; where they can communicate and trade with the visitors directly. The participants vary from individual artists and art publishers, to collectives and bookshops. It is a rare and ideal opportunity for visitors to find rich and varied artistic expressions in book form, which are often more affordable and larger in edition than other forms of art. Due to the current corona situation, many of the exhibitors will not be present, however, their books and other ephemera will be.

Arctic Art Book Fair is kindly supported by Norsk Kulturråd, Troms og Finnmark Fylkeskommune, Barentskult, Sparebank i Nord Norge, Tromsø Kunstforening and Small Projects gallery.

Contact: Mondo Books (Tanya Busse, Miriam Haile, Linn Horntvedt, Nicolas Siepen) – mondobooks@gmail.com

Web + Visuals: Martijn in 't Veld, Happy Potato Press