Halifax Art Book Fair

About

Halifax Art Book Fair (HABF) and conference will take place on April 13th 2024 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Masked visitation hours 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

   Halifax Art Book Fair is a gathering for art publishers and art book enthusiasts. There is a significant art book history in Halifax that has largely gone unnoticed - HABF wants to bring Atlantic art books out in the open and foster a space for new friendships, connections and ideas.
  This fair is book focused. Our mandate prioritizes artists' books, catalogues, monographs, periodicals, zines, or related printed material. Visitors can also expect programming about the art book and its surrounding concepts.
The HABF team is Andrew Hill, Marite Kuus, Neil Kehler and Nick Chapman. The team can be contacted through email and Instagram.
Alek Green is the fair’s technical director, providing audio and visual support.

The Fair acknowledges the generous financial support from Atlantic News and Visual Arts News.

  The fair takes place in Mi'kma'ki, on the unceded and stolen territory of the Mi'kmaq people. We are grateful to live, work, learn and play on these lands.

10:30 — 11:30
Poetry reading
Andrew Neville will read from his collection Outside Graceland, published by Folly House in 2023.
Members of the Halifax-based poetry collective Po3ms will read from their selection of chapbooks and zines.

11:30 — 12:30
everyone you know: Conversation on Art Photography and Photobook Making in the Age of Selfie
Fanny Desroches is an artist interested in the mundane, visual imperfection, and the practices humans engage in when observing others, in the virtual and analog worlds. Dr. Anton Lee specializes in the history and theory of photography, focusing on the geopolitical contexts of European and Anglo-American countries from the early 20th century to the present. In conversation, they will explore selfhood through the selfie.

12:30 — 1:00
Some Signs
Joe Cobden is an actor and filmmaker based in Montreal and Halifax. His presentation invites us to celebrate the disappearing small business signage in our country. These are the jewels of our cities, literal signposts throughout our evolving lives. These are the signs of the times.

2:30 — 3:30
Found Film Binder
Nico B. Young is an artist based in Los Angeles. Found Film Binder is a documentary project about his discovery of a stranger’s personal photo archive. Young scanned hundreds of 35mm film negatives from a binder he found in a second hand store to uncover the story of a young person’s life from 1993-2002.

3:30 — 4:30
The Artist Multiple as Unbound Book
Dave Dyment is an artist and curator based in Sackville, NB. He runs a daily blog on the subject of artists’ editions: artists’ records, bookworks, multiples, ephemera, et cetera.

4:30 — 5:30
DIY Print Culture and Mobile Art
Onya Hogan-Finlay is an interdisciplinary artist and co-founder of OK Sea Salt based in Mi’kma’ki.
Clare Lagomarsino runs Combos Press based in Hudson Valley, publishing books and zines on LGBTQ+ communities and food.
Michael McCormack is an intermedia artist, curator and educator based in Kjipuktuk. He created The Suitcase Art Gallery Space Research Institute (SAGSRI) and The McCleave Gallery of Fine Art in the early 2000s.
In conversation they will discuss DIY mobile art and zine/print culture.

5:30 — 6:30
$10 holes and other multiples
Micah Lexier is a Winnipeg-born, Halifax-educated visual artist now based in Toronto. About his talk, the artist offers, “I’ve made a lot of multiples over the years, too many for me to count, but if you come to the talk I’ll show you a few of my favourites. And if you stick around after, I’m selling holes for $10.”

7:30 — 8:30
Listening Session
Dr. David Barclay is Associate Professor at the Department of Oceanography at Dalhousie University. Join him on a guided listening session of his recordings from the Mariana Trench.

Location

The inaugural edition of the Halifax Art Book Fair (HABF) and conference will take place on April 13th from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., free admission, at the All Nations Church, 2535 Robie Street (corner of Robie and Charles).

The building has an accessible entrance with a wheelchair ramp and accessible washrooms. There will be a small exhibition on the second level of the building that is only accessible via stairs; there will be a printed catalogue about the exhibit available free of charge.

The building has a small parking lot for 6 cars as well as plenty of street parking on the surrounding streets (Charles St, Willow St and Davison St).