Over the course of four days, Printed Matter’s LA Art Book Fair offers dozens of opportunities for engagement, with conversations, workshops, performances, and other artist-led programs.
Programs also include an Opening Night celebration, the first ever Reading Room, exhibitor awards, activations across ArtCenter’s many departments and studios, and curated exhibitor projects.
This long-running program provides space for artists, writers, designers, and publishers to highlight new releases at LAABF and fosters dialogue around important themes in artists’ book publishing. LAABF 2025 participants include Kanthy Peng, Ibi Ibrahim, Jasmine Benjamin, Alex 2tone, and Devin Troy Strother, among many others. The LAABF 2025 Classroom is organized in collaboration with David Senior, Director of Library at SFMOMA.
The Stage
The rooftop of the Fair will feature a lineup of music, poetry, and performance organized in collaboration with Living Earth. This year’s Stage programming is produced in conversation with local organizations dedicated to trans liberation and ecological justice: TRANSA and Red Hot, No Canyon Hills, Altadena Seed Library, and Zorthian Ranch. In light of the environmental devastation from the January fires, the Stage will dedicate intermissions in the music lineup to platforming calls to action led by community members and activists.
The Shannon Michael Cane Award
This award is granted to emerging artists (artists, artists’ book publishers, or collectives in the early stages of their careers) who would be first-time exhibitors in a Printed Matter Art Book Fair. Each recipient is granted a complimentary table and an unrestricted stipend. Exhibitor applications were reviewed by a panel comprised of the founders of the Shannon Michael Cane Memorial Fund and Printed Matter staff. This year’s winners are Amalgam (Rhode Island), JahJah Press (Connecticut), AZETAguía (Nicaragua), and Makan Press (New York).
Volume Grant
This funding opportunity is for artists and publishers who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color. Recipients are granted a complimentary table at the Fair and an unrestricted stipend. This grant supports the ongoing creative work happening in marginalized communities through assistance with production, travel, and other necessary expenses. This year’s winners are Cahyati Press (Indonesia), HUMOBOOKS (Argentina), The Book Society/mediabus (South Korea), and Roots to Fruits (Netherlands). This year’s LAABF Volume Grant jury included Maia Asshaq, Elizabeth Karp-Evans, and Januar Rianto.
Support for the LAABF 2025 Volume Grant is generously provided by the LAABF Committee.
The ticket edition for LAABF 2025 is a tire shaped stressball by artist Mario Ayala. The work complements a new tow sign screenprint produced in support of the Fair and riffs on vehicular motifs found across Ayala’s artistic practice. The text imposed on the wheel, “Picture Me Rollin',” is a reference to a classic California song by Tupac Shakur. In tandem with this ticket edition and new screenprint, the second floor of 950 S. Raymond Ave will feature a selection of past tow sign paintings by Ayala.
Exhibitor Projects
These special publication-focused projects are presented by select Fair exhibitors, hosted by Printed Matter. This year’s projects include a space to sit, read, and meet with Martino Gamper’s Arnold Circus Stool by Dent-De-Leone; radio programming from a 9’ by 9’ office space by Dalé Zine Shop and Orange Radio & Homebody; a rotating exhibition of oversized bumper stickers displayed atop a car roof in the dubious lineage of "World's Largest" roadside attractions by Written Names Fanzine’s Alex Lukas; an expanded installation of recent publishing projects by Three Star Books; and a fictional archive and auction by Werkplaats Typografie.
Reading Room
The Reading Room is a new incarnation of Friendly Fire, a program initiated in 2011 to highlight activist and grassroots-focused Fair exhibitors. The inaugural edition of this new program proposes an analysis of migration and borders as an entryway into thinking about the politics, ecology, and diaspora of the art book fair. Drawing from the over 30 countries represented at the Fair, the publications, artwork, and programming in the Reading Room will showcase the many ways in which publishers navigate the illogic of borders and propose ways of practicing transnational solidarity. In contrast to the rapid speed at which visitors move through the Fair, this program offers an alternative space to engage in close reading, critique, and reflection. For LAABF 2025, the Reading Room will feature Cráter Invertido / Taller XD, falgoush, Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA), and Squeeze Sour with öö(uh uh), among others.
Extracurricular Activities
Throughout the Fair weekend, ArtCenter’s South Campus will activate their many departments to offer programming that engages with the artists’ book format. Activities will include risograph workshops in the Makerspace; printmaking workshops in Archetype Press, California’s largest letterpress printing facility; student exhibitions in the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography (HMCT), the graduate art galleries, and printmaking studios; and much more.
Office Hours
Taking inspiration from the educational context of LAABF’s new venue, Office Hours are held in the ArtCenter Library & Archives. These tutorials will be led by artists, publishers, and Fair partners and offer different types of professional advice in the fields of law, library acquisitions, and photobook publishing.