Critical Conversations and Incredible Book Works: An Examination of History, Canon and Critical Analysis in the Field of Artist Books

Over the last six decades, the book arts and the artist book have been expanding their influence both internally, within libraries and museum collections, as well as beyond institutional and disciplinary boundaries due to their unique capacity to engage with and question metanarratives.

Their unparalleled ability to initiate innovative exploration of even canonical art works and authors, and their capacity to interrogate knowledge formation in fields such as history, art history, literature, printing, critical theory, artistic praxis, book making, etc., distinguishes this field from any other.

Despite the ability of book works to raise questions regarding any subject that could exist within a library's collections, the history of art has rarely engaged with the liminal space that is the homeland of book art. This session promotes the need for critical discourse around the artist book and book art from multiple perspectives.

We invite papers about any aspect of book arts criticism and analysis, including but not limited to: art historical analysis, literary analysis, book arts production praxis, theoretical questions, exhibition and access, questions of cultural and racial hegemony, gender, activism, and other topics that explore the spaces betwixt visual, textual, and critical practice in the evaluation of the book arts.