Vancouver Art Book Fair

×

Expand

Vancouver Art Book Fair

Vancouver Art Book Fair (VABF) returns to the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre from July 4–6, 2025, with representation from nearly 100 exhibitors from across the country and beyond. This year’s program is produced with Emily Carr University’s Libby Leshgold Gallery, Fillip, Vancouver Art Gallery, and Western Front.

“Reflecting the current global climate, this year’s Vancouver Art Book Fair features an expanded public program that directly engages with pressing issues,” says Sharon Bradley, co-manager of VABF. “Like the rest of the world, the art book sector is keenly aware of recent political shifts and rising tensions surrounding borders, safety, and free speech. This has manifested in various ways, from exhibitors adjusting travel plans to a thoughtful consideration of the content within their publications.”

VABF’s other co-manager, Jonathan Middleton adds, “There are many things that make this event special — the vast bulk of artists’ publications one might experience at the fair can really be thought of as artworks in book form. They are portable, generally affordable, and ideal for sharing. An artists’ book is gallery, sculpture, image, and touring package all in one. This format has deep roots in political activism and experimental practices, including correspondence art, Conceptual Art, and the Fluxus movement. At the fair, visitors will witness an incredible range of production types. At one end you have small-run, DIY zines, often employing photocopiers, risograph printers, or other affordable means of printing. On the other end of the scale, there are elaborately printed and bound museum catalogues and monographs. It’s rare to have this range of works under one roof, not to mention, the opportunity to speak directly with the artists, editors, and publishers that put their ideas and labour into making them real.”

This year’s fair features 29 new exhibitors, including Nothing New Projects (Canada), an independent risograph print and publishing studio based in Ottawa; ODD ONE OUT (Hong Kong), a pioneering gallery focused on illustration, graphic arts, and printmaking; Now Place (USA), a San Francisco-based independent publisher dedicated to championing female and emerging artists from the Asian diaspora; Homie House Press (USA), a sisterhood for underrepresented folx to create and publish in the printed photo book medium; and many more.

Vancouver-based institutions presenting at VABF for the first time include Griffin Art Projects and VIVO Media Arts Centre. And several local artists will present new publications: Hazel Meyer, recently longlisted for the Sobey Award, will launch A Queer History of Joyce Wieland. Paige Gratland will present Queers’ Vernacular, a project supported by the City of Vancouver Public Art Program. Cathy Busby Projects will see the launch of the artist’s 2025 publication I WONDER: ART+CARE+DEMENTIA.

Expanded public programming and panels this year will include a workshop and off-site exhibition by Saskatoon-based artist Rebecca La Marre; a conversation between Freek Lomme of Set Margins’ publishing and designer Kevin Yuen Kit Lo to discuss what feels urgent and necessary in design and publishing; a panel discussion of writers working at the cross section of literature, contemporary art, and arts publishing featuring Lara Mimosa Montes, Sheryda Warrener, Rachel Valinsky, Jacquelyn Zong-Li Ross, and Bopha Chhay; a continuation of a series of conversations on artists’ zines, with a new panel featuring Ivy Zheyu Chen (UPON), Akaa Ling (Now Place), Sophia Zarders and Erica Wilk (Moniker Press); a discussion on collecting and stories related to the Vancouver Art Gallery’s new publication, The Place of Objects, featuring John David Lawrence, Glenn Alteen, and Stephanie Rebick; and a roundtable discussion on criticism and poetics, featuring Joy Xiang of C Magazine and Lauren Lavery of Peripheral Review, among other speakers.

In addition, VABF is working in conversation with art libraries in the region to make it easier for libraries to acquire publications from small and independent art book presses, and will provide a special preview and networking hour for librarians and exhibitors.

Admission is free and open to all. The full list of exhibitors and public program can be found at vancouverartbookfair.com.