Press Release vol.3

VIRTUAL ART BOOK FAIR
Netherlands Chosen As This Year’s Guest Country!

Though this year’s TOKYO ART BOOK FAIR (TABF) at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo has beencancelled in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the event has been reimagined for November 16 (Mon) –23 (Mon/holiday) as the VIRTUAL ART BOOK FAIR (VABF), whose virtual venue takes inspiration from theaforementioned museum. Since 2015, TABF has annually set a focal point on print culture in different cornersof the world in a recurring facet of the event known as the “Guest Country.” Guest Countries featured so far
have been Switzerland, Brazil, a compilation of 4 Asian countries (China, Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore), and theUnited States, and the program has been adjusted each time to reflect the unique colors and flavors of thatyear’s guest. VABF will inherit this Guest Country system as organizers look forward to welcoming of theupcoming 5​th​ Guest Country: the kingdom of design itself, the Netherlands. In addition to participation by Dutch
publishers and artists, the event will also feature four exhibitions/talk sessions that will unravel the Dutchartbook scene.

EXHIBITION 1：”Best Dutch Book Designs”

Established in 1926, Best Dutch Book Designs (BDBD) are the oldest book design awards in Europe. Theawards cover artbooks, children’s books, cookbooks, and much more made by Dutch or
Netherlands-based designers. This year’s VABF will feature 33 award-winning pieces from 2019,
including Andres Gonzalez’s “American Origami” with design by Hans Gremen and Mariko Kuwabara’s“Burning Love” featuring Ayumu Higuchi.
Support: Stichting De Best Verzorgde Boeken
Related Talk Session: The Best Dutch Book Designs – Thinking About Dutch Book Design
Date/time: November 20, 16:30-18:00
Guests at this talk session will be BDBD representative Esther Scholten, selection committee chairperson
Eelco van Welie (director of NAI010 Publishers), and BDBD selection committee member for the student
category Thomas Castro (curator for the Graphic Design section of Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam). The
panel will discuss topics including the history of book design in the Netherlands and what aspects they
pay the most attention to when judging a book. The role of moderator will be filled by Kiyonori Muroga,
editor-in-chief to website “The Graphic Design Review.”
EXHIBITION 2：”Dutch Artists’ Book: Then and Now”

Photo by Shinji Otani

This is the Dutch edition of “Japanese Artists’ Book Then and Now,” a 2019 title that explores the evolution ofart books in Japan through the words of creators. This year’s event will showcase interview videos with leadersof modern Dutch publishing culture on how they first discovered the print media scene, their raw experiences
and how those experiences led to their current work, and the various print media that inspired them.
Interviewees will share their personal experiences as they discuss the path of Dutch publishing’s extraordinary
progress, the relationship between artists, designers, and bookstores, the unique ideas that the platform of print
media makes possible, as well as the role of creativity at the height of today’s COVID crisis.
Participating Artists & Designers

Armand Mevis & Linda van Deursen（Mevis & Van Deursen）
Christien Meindertsma
Erik Kessels
Experimental Jetset
Hans Gremen (Fw: books)
Irma Boom
Mevis & Van Deursen
Jan Voss (Boekie Woekie)
Karel Martens
Klara van Duijkeren & Vincent Schipper (Studio The Future)
Mark Manders
Roger Willems (Roma Publications)
Ruth van Beek

EXHIBITION 3：fanfare “​Unlearn, Display, Connect”

This exhibition is prepared by fanfare, a design studio aiming to become a platform that builds bridges
between the various categories of graphic design. What does “Dutch design” mean in today’s world wheredigitalization pushes the increasingly vibrant publishing industry beyond culture and borders? For thatquestion, fanfare has arranged their answer in three keywords: Learning, Displaying, and Connecting.
Through these discussions and exhibits, we will explore graphic design in the Netherlands of today.

EXHIBITION 4：Rafaël Rozendaal “Shadow Objects Sculpture Park”© Rafaël Rozendaal

The main venue for VABF is modeled after the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. In the “outside”
area, Dutch artist and pioneer of net art ​Rafaël Rozendaal​has created a park filled with digitalsculptures called “Shadow Objects.” These Shadow Objects, created by carving objects out fromdigital material to leave behind an empty shadow in the negative space, cross the borders between
images, objects, drawings, and carvings. Until now, Rozendaal’s has used a technique that blurs thelines between the digital and the physical, carving a codified metal plate on a computer andpresenting Shadow Objects as physical art. At VABF, however, he is exhibiting his work as alarge-scale virtual installation where visitors can walk around and explore the park freely throughtheir browser in an interactive experience.
Light passes through the open spaces of the objects and casts shadows on the lawn which reflect
the image of the missing objects. In the digital realm, these shadows give a sense of presence to thenon-physical, hypothetical nature of the objects, and with the help of graphics software, masking,backgrounds, and the presence/non-presence of objects themselves can be toggled instantly. This
new work, entitled “Shadow Objects Sculpture Park,” uses missing objects and the Shadow Objects
created in their dark reflections to stand against the tides of information overload and the mass
tumult of today’s online world which we all wade through on a daily basis.
Support: Takuro Someya Contemporary Art

VIRTUAL ART BOOK FAIR
Dates: November 16 (Mon) – 23 (Mon/holiday) ​Core Time: 11:00 - 19:00
Venue: https://virtualartbookfair.com/Organizer: TOKYO ART BOOK FAIR, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo operated by TokyoMetropolitan Foundation for History and Culture
Sponsor: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd., SHISEIDO, inuuniq Co., Ltd., Riso Kagaku Corporation

Grants: Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, DutchCulture Centre for International Cooperation
Support: Creative Industries Fund NL, Dutch Foundation For Literature, Mondriaan Fund, AēsopFor inquiries regarding advertisement, please contact Yok​o Toriumi <​press@tokyoartbookfair.com>