After Two Postponements, abC Art Book Fair Returns This Weekend, Jul 24-26

In another win for Beijingers desperate for life to return to some kind of normalcy as well as art lovers starved of cultural events, the abC Art Book Fair has finally gotten the green light to celebrate its fifth edition this weekend, Jul 24-26.

After two postponements and a saddening but not altogether surprising reduction in the number of attending exhibitors, this year's fair takes place at Beijing Times Art Museum in Haidian and will feature the usual excellent selection of art, books, and various merch from international publishers that fans have come to expect. As the organizers state with a sense of renewed purpose, "Although this offline abC Art Book Fair Beijing is long overdue, it is still necessary."

Despite the downsizing, the weekend will welcome 86 local exhibitors and 17 international publishing houses organized around the theme, "Books of the world, unite!" As such, there'll be more than 300 international art publications to browse through, with a particular focus on works from Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. Additionally, a screening room will highlight ten short independent animation films in collaboration with Beijing-based animation collective and festival Feinaki.

There will also be workshops and talks throughout the weekend, discussing the latest developments in bookmaking, documentation, distribution, and copyright protection in the international scene, culminating in the inaugural "abC Art Book Award" for those who have done distinguished work in the publishing sector over the past year.

The fifth abC Art Book Fair runs Friday to Sunday, 12.30-8.30pm at Beijing Times Art Museum. To attend, you must register for a time slot via abC's dedicated mini-program, which can be found via this link. For the full talk schedule, click here. Tickets cost RMB 70.

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Images courtesy of abC Art Book Fair