The 2024 Contemporary Artists Books Conference (CABC) focusses on “Artists’ Books as Expanded Literacy.” The CABC planning committee asks: How can the artists’ book expand upon ideas of information and visual literacy, conceptions of language, data visualization, methods of presenting research, and beyond?
Contemporary Art to Read. Literature in Art Context
Gretel Acosta López
Contemporary Art to Read delves into the growing presence of literature within contemporary art and its portrayal as a theme in Latin American and Latinx narrative fiction. Focusing on narrative books by artists, writers, and artist/writers, the presentation highlights the transformative potential of fiction in expanding contemporary art practices.
Tango with Translation(s)
Daniel Mellis
Talks about his recent translation of Tango with Cows by Vasily Kamensky, in collaboration with Eugene Ostashevsky. Printed on the back of wallpaper in 1914, the book is a masterpiece of Russian Futurist typography. He will talk about the process of translating the original while preserving its visual and material qualities; what this ultra-close reading of the original as an object revealed about its making; and what creative possibilities exist for other translations.
“And is that paper nothing?”: Paper-cutting as a Creative Strategy in Select Shakespeare-Inspired Artists’ Books
Agnieszka Zukowska
This paper examines contemporary artists’ books that engage in creative dialogue with select plays by William Shakespeare while employing paper-cutting techniques, such as incising into the page, cutting it open, or pasting cutouts onto it.
The 2024 CABC is supported by Center for Book Arts, with additional support from Deirdre Lawrence and the Grolier Club.
