The Classroom
On the second floor of 950 S. Raymond AveTwo or Three Things, an ongoing lecture series
Roughly every three months, THE QUARTERLY REPORT selects seven contributors and asks them to provide material of what they are thinking about when they are not working. Each issue involves individuals from a variety of fields, composed of (but not limited to) artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, designers, scientists, travel show hosts, and even auto-shop mechanics. Two or Three Things is an ongoing lecture series that expands upon the periodical and presents these experiences in front of an audience. For the 2025 LA Art Book Fair, the lecture will feature artists Hilary Pecis and Andrew Schoultz, who will discuss topics ranging from running through the wild, urban nature of LA and the beautiful failures and triumphs of skateboarding. Presented by THE QUARTERLY REPORT.
Form, Function, and Flavor: Architecture and Restaurant Design
This panel explores the intersection of architecture and restaurant design, inspired by the zine, The Vanishing Table, debuting at LAABF 2025. Moderated by Joshua Oduga (Central Server Works/Opposite People), the panelists include architects and food historians. The discussion delves into the cultural and urban significance of restaurants as ‘third spaces,’ examining their role in shaping communities in Los Angeles. Topics include design principles, the impact of closures, and the future of dining spaces. Presented by Central Server Works.
KIRKI QHAÑI – Container of Andean Poetics, with Alejandra Salinas, Aeron Bergman, Elvira Espejo Ayca and Max Jorge Hinderer Cruz
INCA Press founders and directors, Aeron Bergman and Alejandra Salinas, will be in conversation with Bolivian artist, poet, and director of the National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore in La Paz, Elvira Espejo Ayca, and Bolivian-German writer, curator, and philosopher, Max Jorge Hinderer Cruz. Together, they will read from and discuss Espejo Ayca’s recent INCA Press publication KIRKI QHAÑI – Container of Andean Poetics. KIRKI QHAÑI is a collection of essays and poems/songs translated to English, situating Aymara ancestrality and Andean poetics within ongoing decolonization projects. The book is a beautiful archive of Andean traditions and a powerful call to address urgent futures. Presented by INCA Press.
A *Co-* Program for Graphic Design, with David Reinfurt
Celebrating David Reinfurt and collaborators’ new Inventory Press book, A *Co-* Program for Graphic Design, Reinfurt and company will present some of the polyphonic approaches to design history and teaching that make up the book as a forty-minute performance with audience participation. Presented by Inventory Press.
Components, with Ricky Swallow and Conny Purtill
Celebrating the launch of sculptor Ricky Swallow's catalogue, Components, Swallow and designer Conny Purtill discuss the highly collaborative and detailed design process along with their shared love of small books. Published on the occasion of Swallow's recent solo exhibition of the same name, Components includes eighteen plates alongside rarely exhibited works on paper, an index of sculptural fragments, and an essay from Alex Bacon. Presented by David Kordansky Gallery.
A remembrance of Gary Indiana
A tribute to the work of the late writer and artist Gary Indiana with readings by friends, peers, and admirers. Presented by Apogee Graphics & Semiotext(e).
The Stage
On the roof of 950 S. Raymond Ave
Presented in conversation with Zorthian Ranch & Living Earth, Sunday's solar powered stage performances are a love letter to Altadena's legendary Zorthian Ranch. Throughout the day we'll be sharing stories, recordings from the ranch, heart affirming live performances from local musicians, and raising material support for rebuilding a legacy where art has long been a tool for environmental stewardship and social liberation since the 1940s.
Marc Merza & Emma Palm
Tara Zorthian
Leti
Zekkereya El-magharbel & Aaron Shaw
The Growth Eternal & Aaron Raays
Reading Room
The Reading Room is a new incarnation of the longstanding exhibitor section, Friendly Fire, which featured select politically-minded and social-justice oriented publishers. Friendly Fire made a commitment to highlighting the intersection of grassroots struggles and histories of print publishing, which this Reading Room also attempts to underscore.
For LAABF 2025, the Reading Room features a curated installation of multimedia artwork by artists from Los Angeles, China, Iran, and Mexico and a non-circulating collection of thematically relevant artists’ books drawn from an open call to all LAABF exhibitors. We invite visitors to slow down and spend time with the material you find here. On display are many different approaches to documenting the times we live in. In contrast to the rapid speed at which visitors move through the Fair, the Reading Room offers an alternative space to engage in close reading, critique, and reflection.
This years’ participants include:
Cráter Invertido / Taller XD (N15) presents an artwork drawing from their recent publication, Marx Esotérico. The work references the imaginary presence of the border—from the specters that inhabit our land to the social mourning of necropolitics in México. An altar accompanies this artwork and honors the possibility of migration, which connects all of our struggles and challenges neoliberal colonial processes. “We take this invitation to contribute to the LAABF Reading Room as an opportunity to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people... Palestine is near! ¡Palestina está cerca!”
Travel bans and restrictions on Iranians have been a longstanding issue, dating back to the U.S. embassy hostage crisis, which have persisted throughout periods of political tension, particularly in the aftermath of 9/11. falgoush’s (K14) installation will serve as a visual and interactive exploration of the Iranian experience at U.S. borders, using artist Shirin Fahimi’s personal experience of being barred from attending her exhibition in 2020—an incident that led to the co-creation of the artist book O Lone Traveller. The installation encourages reflection on the invisible costs of border-crossing while prompting broader considerations of the societal implications of such practices. By incorporating the book as both a reflective guide and a tool for reclaiming personal agency, the installation aims to empower visitors to engage with themes of surveillance, censorship, and resistance, while underscoring the importance of independent publishing in these urgent times of self-awareness and collective action.
Los Angeles Contemporary Archive’s (B13) Fixing Papers Collection explores how people create, enforce, and contest immigration systems. These text-based artworks and ephemera use bureaucratic materials to visualize the shrouded decision-making process and fixed categories that governments impose. In doing so, Fixing Papers hopes to disorganize and unsettle the categories our lives are made to navigate.
The installation by Squeeze sour (K1) + öö (uh uh) (L15) consists of a single large structure, made of smudged Riso-printed pages that invite readers to move through the work by hand. The reverse side of the pages remain blank, gradually collecting visitors’ fingerprints as they flip backwards. The work explores the threshold of book distribution through the lens of visa redistribution—where access, meaning, and authority are mediated by touch, delay, and silence.
Extracurricular Activities
In 950 S. Raymond Ave:
Archetype Press
Open throughout the fair, Archetype Press invites visitors to experience one of the country’s largest educational letterpress studios. Stop by to explore the space, learn about letterpress printing, and create a print to take home.
Printed Dialogues: Design & Printing with Draw Down Books in Archetype Press
Christopher Sleboda and Kathleen Sleboda (Draw Down)—designers, educators, publishers, and disseminators of books, posters, zines, and more—will team up with HMCT Archetype Press for a session exploring the interrelationship between independent publishing, design, and letterpress printing. Discussing their publishing philosophy and guiding a hands-on printing activity will give attendees insight into the intersection of print production and contemporary design practice. Participants will leave with a small printed piece reflecting the collaborative spirit of the occasion.
In 870 S. Raymond Ave:
Riso Dessert Buffet
Participants will collectively create a “buffet table” of shapes, textures, and line work from scraps and tools in the studio. Using a wide variety of available risograph colors, participants will then create a 2-color print with these ready-mades in an edition size of up to fifteen prints. Real desserts will also be served. Taking place in the Maker’s Lab, presented by ArtCenter.
Bookbinding: One Person’s Scraps, Another’s Treasure
The accuracy rate for printing on a risograph is about seventy-five percent, which results in a lot of scrap materials for creative repurposing. In this workshop, participants can use these scraps to make sketchbooks, notebooks, and note pads of various sizes, using a perfect binder, coil binder, or fast binding glue. If time permits, participants can make multiple notebooks. Publications by students and faculty will also be on display for inspiration. Taking place in the Maker’s Lab, presented by ArtCenter.
Exhibitor Projects
Dent-De-Leone presents (PR 5) a space to sit, read, and meet with Martino Gamper’s Arnold Circus Stool. In the porous outdoor space of the Hixon Courtyard, visitors to the Fair will find light, versatile, and stackable stools intended for use both indoor and outdoor. In 2006, the original design functioned as community seating for a regeneration project of the historic East London landmark, Arnold Circus. Gamper’s responsive and flexible design animates spaces to encourage connection and conversation; a seat, a table, and–turned upside down–storage. Selected titles from Dent-De-Leone and more of Gamper’s objects will be on display.
FKA CA53776V2.gallery (PR 6) is a new iteration of Alex Lukas’s dashboard exhibition space, CA53776V2.gallery. The original project was an experimental curatorial platform housed in a 2007 Ford Ranger; programming focused on the intersection of intimacy, touch, and craft on, in, and around the American road. The "space" closed when four of the Ranger's six engine cylinders began perpetually misfiring. For LAABF 2025, Lukas has reprised the project on the roof of a 2023 Subaru Outback. FKA CA53776V2.gallery brings together a curated selection of oversized bumper stickers displayed in the dubious lineage of "World's Largest" roadside attractions. Participating artists include Will Brown, Christopher DeLoach, Mike Devine, Sky Fusco, Brendan Hanna, Jesse Malmed, and Zach Ozma. Lukas publishes under the imprint Written Names Fanzine.
Radio Frequency (PR 7) is a collaborative project by Dalé Zine and Orange Radio & Homebody. An extension of the two publishers’ broadcasting practice, Radio Frequency will pop up in a 9x9 office space in room K and feature music, reading, talks, and more. The broadcast will stream online and into the courtyard.
Three Star Books (PR 2) returns to the 2025 LA Art Book Fair with a series of new projects: STOD by John Armleder, a book of illusions and mirrors; RUG by Gerard & Kelly, a score for a musician and a dancer inspired by their film E for Eileen, composed in eleven tableaux; an intricate collaboration between BlackMass Publishing and Three Star Books— a box of printed poetic elements designed to be manipulated, reimagining the very notion of the book; and a selection of Raffaella della Olga’s latest delicate typewriter books and typed paintings.
Werkplaats Typografie (PR 1) is an alternative educational programme in graphic design. It functions as a research environment wherein participants define the content, aims, and conditions of their design practices. For the 2025 LA Art Book Fair, the Werkplaats Typografie cohort will represent the personal collection of Holly van Houten. Located in the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography (HMCT), the project will take place in a slow auction format, addressing topics like value creation and provenance.
Offsite Projects
Lauren Halsey catalogue launch, presented by David Kordansky
David Kordansky Gallery, 5130 W. Edgewood Pl., Los Angeles, CA 90019
This book documents Halsey's debut exhibition with the gallery and features texts by Elleza Kelley and Lynell George, with a photo essay by Steven Traylor. Signed catalogues and exclusive Halsey merch will be available at the event, and a special selection of Halsey works will also be on view.
Signings & Launches
D26 Metabolic Studio
Launch of Magic Happens: The Women’s Building, with Lauren Bon and Cheri Gaulke.
B32 Some People Press
Launch and signing of a limited edition print by Chris Johanson.
O16 Mattazine Society
Signing of the zine For the Love of Peter Hujar, by Steven Reigns.
F19 Max Pinckers
Presentation of Colour Theory, by Max Pinckers and Victoria Gonzalez-Figueras.
P1 Skylight Books
Signing of Goes Like This & Notes on What's What and What it might be reasonable to do about What's What, by Jordan Crane.
D11 INFINITIF
Signing of ZILCH, by Maxime Le Bon.
D26 Metabolic Studio
Launch of Enchanting the Floodplain, with Richard Nielsen and Douglas Lee.
B18 New Dimension
Trouble Every Day, by Eddie Langham.
C8 Paper Chase Press
Launch of Spiral Bound, by Zach Harris.
G5 SUBER LABO
Book launch and signing of The Joy is in capturing the Journey, by Ray Barbee.
F5 TBW
Signing of There Is No Light At The End Of The Tunnel Because The Tunnel Is Made Of Light, by Ryan Spencer.
H6 Volker Renner
Signing and launch of player & xxl.
B18 New Dimension
Portraits, by Mary McCartney.
M4 Pearl Slug Studio
Launch of Eyes close, the Words Open, by Vanilla Chi.
B4 SALT AND PEPPER
Signing of ID 1986, by Jiro Konami.
G5 SUBER LABO
Book launch and signing of The Joy is in capturing the Journey, by Ray Barbee.
C4 Thick Press
Launch of What If the Idea of Community is a Political Fantasy?, by Chris Hoff.
D11 INFINITIF
Signing of Narcissus. Looking into an artificial well or fountain, by Tim Bruggeman.
G5 SUBER LABO
Book launch and signing of The Joy is in capturing the Journey, by Ray Barbee.