Book Fair ✨ Printed Matter Virtual Art Book Fair

by Kelly Kirkland

Printed Matter Virtual Art Book Fair
February 24–28, 2021
"table" at smingsming.pmvabf.org

FEATURED PROGRAMS:

Towards A Self Sustaining Publishing Model, with Marc Fischer, Vivian Sming, Yuri Ogita, and Devin Troy Strother, moderated by Be Oakley
Friday, February 26 at 11am PST - 2–3:30pm EST

https://pmvabf.org/Programs

This panel invites Marc Fischer of Temporary Services/Half Letter Press, Vivian Sming of Sming Sming Books, and Yuri Ogita and Devin Troy Strother of Coloured Publishing to talk openly about the ways they fund their projects. During the prolonged crisis of Covid-19, this panel confronts how we can continue to make our work without governmental, institutional, or large donor funding. Be Oakley of GenderFail will engage the panelists in a conversation about the money we make, the resources we have (and don't have), and how we can make a living. This panel will be a resource for smaller imprints and self-publishers to talk openly about radical forms of supporting each other. Presented by GenderFail.

Contemporary Artists’ Books Conference: Critical Convening on Terminology and Contextualizing Historic Material
Feb 26, 2021 at 2:00pm PST - 5:00 pm EST

How does inadequate, inconsistent, or unclear terminology limit our ability to write critically about artist’s books?  How can and should we recontextualize historical artist’s books? After a brief introduction, we invite you to join the founders of BAR and a group of international guests in this convening as we split into small breakout groups to explore these questions and work on developing recommendations.

Register here!

Panteha Abareshi: I Am Inside the Body
Saturday, February 27, 2021 at 2pm PST

https://pmvabf.org/Programs

Made over the course of the quarantine in the spring of 2020, Panteha Abareshi's I Am Inside the Body documents the artist’s own personal grief and processing of the shifting context of their sick/disabled body in the wake of a global health pandemic. Suspended in a limbo of isolation unregulated by the timelines followed by the able-bodied population, Abareshi turned to a practice of emotional documentation through the form of daily writings, and the contemplation of the diagram as a product of the innate human need to quantify and represent the unknown. This program will begin with a reading from the book by Abareshi, and be followed by a conversation between Abareshi and publisher Vivian Sming around art and ritual as a coping mechanism, isolation, pessimism, and the constraints of the body. Presented by Sming Sming Books.

Suchi Branfman: Undanced Dances Through Prison Walls During a Pandemic
Saturday, February 27, 2021 at 5pm PST

Critical Resistance and Sming Sming Books invite you to a special event, inspired by the new book Undanced Dances Through Prison Walls During a Pandemic (available here). Join us to hear about the on choreographic (dance/movement) work authored inside Norco State Prison during the #Covid19 pandemic in 2020 and some of the organizing being done to advance freedom in the face of the virus.

This virtual event will feature contributors to the Undanced Dances book, a screening of the work in action, and a conversation with artists and organizers. Event speakers include: choreographer/project curator Suchi Branfman, publisher Vivian Sming, filmmaker Tom Tsai, and Alexander Ludington (Critical Resistance). Co-hosted by Critical Resistance and Sming Sming Books.

The program will include a discussion of the book and project with choreographer Suchi Branfman; a screening of Richie’s Disappearing Act, a short film by Tom Tsai on Richie Martinez’s choreographic contribution to the book; as well as an overview by Alexander Ludington (CR Oakland chapter) about the ongoing efforts of Critical Resistance to end the Prison Industrial Complex.

Register on Eventbrite!