BKABF

BROOKLYN
Virtual***
ART BOOK FAIR
2020

Postponed until
June 25-28th

In solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives, V-BKABF has been postponed three weeks and will now take place from Thursday June 25th through Sunday June 29th.

Our grief and rage at the continued police violence against Black lives, and the police killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, David McAtee, Jamel Floyd, and the many other known and unknown names, is immense, and we are called to show up for the struggle at hand to support its momentum. Our hope in postponing was to make space for the urgent calls to action of the moment and give our community time to process and respond.

On June 3rd we held a town hall meeting to assess some of the needs and insights of our vendors and programming participants. Having heard from our community, we have decided to shift the fair to June 25th-29th. While pausing the fair, Endless Editions has been able to help organize free printing for liberation work, focusing on the needs of people and organizations directly supporting the Movement for Black Lives. If you are or know organizers/activists who are in need of these services right now (for flyers, posters, pamphlets) email us at worldprintcoalition@gmail.com with the subject line Solidarity Printing Inquiry.

Info

Endless Editions and the Brooklyn Art Book Fair have long maintained that independent publishing holds great power to support community, fight for equity, and radical thought.

The original concept of Brooklyn Art Book Fair was to create a “fair” model that directly compensated vendors rather than charging them fees. We had an idea to pay vendors to participate in the fair to alleviate the financial burdens of presenting their work to a public for sale. This concept was born out of the frustration of getting accepted into fairs, and then having a financial barrier to participate. We wanted to equalize the playing field, and elevate new independent publishers and artists to get them much needed financial backing (not to mention provide “exposure” but without any costs).

Full Exhibitors List

Programs
& Event
Previews

Some Writers Have Two Heartbeats: A Cinematic Addendum
By Black Chalk & Co.
Available for duration of fair.

This innovative cinematic experience blurs the lines between fiction and documentary, looking forward and backward in time, resulting in a wholly novel film told in an essayistic mode. The film features a mélange of images, text, and narrated by sampling voices of Zimbabwean writers unearthed from the past. It is a collaboration with seven artists, filmmakers, photographers and filmmakers from different countries including Jamaica, Kenya, the United States and Zimbabwe. It was conceptualized as an experimental film project in response to the book, Some Writers Can Give You Two Heartbeats. Each contribution submitted (1.5 minutes to a maximum of 3 minutes) was edited into a longer piece to combine with the work of six other artists / filmmakers who also received a prompt. All contributions were then added to the sequence using the “exquisite corpse” format. The film premiered at the Brooklyn Public Library as part of the Beautiful Words Are Subversive exhibition curated by Black Chalk & Co. a fugitive collective deeply invested in both lost and extant archives.

Directors/Producers: Tinashe Mushakavanhu and Nontsikelelo Mutiti (Black Chalk & Co.); Editing: Simon Benjamin and Nontsikelelo Mutiti; Contributors: Simon Benjamin, Tapiwa Gambura, Yusuf Hassan, Masimba Hwati, Kresiah Mukwazhi, Tenjiwe Mutiti, Lucia Nhamo; Audio clips from BBC World Service, Moonlight Films, Radio Netherlands, and Zimbabwe Broadcasting Services; Time: 17 minutes

Creating Community in a time of COVID: Zinefest Organizing
Moderated by NYC Feminist Zinefest
Friday, June 26th. 6:30-7:30PM EST.

Zinefest organizers of feminist/POC-centered events across the East Coast will share from their experiences. We'll discuss the joys (and challenges) of finding physical event space; encouraging diverse representation of applicants/tablers; and adaptations to the new, all-digital realm. With a focus on accessibility, the panel will focus on practical guidelines that can lead to a more inclusive, community-centered zine world. The panel will feature Paul John from BKABF, Jonas Cannon from Midwest Perzine Fest, Aurora Diaz from The Bettys Zinefest, Jordan Alam formerly with Barnard Zine Library and Feminist Zinefest, and moderator Pooja Desai from Feminist Zinefest.

Link to RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/110211870672

Link for Live Transcription: https://thisten.co/ivgvl/2x4IUP6pzvuApf4kpGi5XN7aD8Mh1SiJQDe1t7jL

Text Based Performance / audience participation ritual With Poncili Creacion
Saturday, June 27th. 7:00-7:45 PM EST.

Poncili performs an improvised set of puppetry inspired by the texts received in the chat, which are read aloud as they are posted. Tune in to witness an exquisite corps in the making with the option become part of it a click away.

Link to RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/110290630244

Link for Live Transcription: https://thisten.co/pxlqe/B3iDDIUPrIO9GdemR7op1B7LCI0RehWz4OThR3Xt

SCREEN ZINE WORKSHOP AT QUEER.ARCHIVE.WORK
Saturday, June 27th. 2-3:00 PM EST.

SCREEN ZINE WORKSHOP will be hosted by Paul Soulellis at Queer.Archive.Work, a non-profit reading room and risograph publishing studio in Providence, RI. The workshop begins with a tour of Queer.Archive.Work's experimental publishing library, including the recent assembling of 110 artists and writers in Urgency Reader 2: Mutual Aid Publishing During Crisis. Then, workshop participants will put together a one-of-a-kind, spontaneous ZOOM ZINE: taking advantage of Zoom’s collective screen-share function, you'll use your own desktop as a display portal to be shared with the group. Contribute a single image or word, a poem, a video, or an entire landscape of material—anything that can fit onto your desktop. Wild creativity encouraged! Each desktop will become a printed page in SCREEN SHARE, a collaborative publication to be compiled during this one-time-only event, risograph printed at Queer.Archive.Work, and mailed to all contributors.

Link to RSVP (space is limited!): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/106451236514

Link for Live Transcription: https://thisten.co/rk9d3/tr8KTklw2MHeHXrE1Mbg9iNDHK5RIEsonSh36MYa

The Bathroom: A Guided Exploration With Facility
Available for duration of fair.

Many of us are spending more time at home these days; some of us are navigating a drastically changed public sphere. Now's a good moment to examine our surroundings a little more closely, to expand the imaginative space around us. Facility, a magazine about bathrooms, invites you to create some writing or art in response to their bathroom-centric prompts; while these are phrased as writing prompts, feel free to respond using whatever medium you like. You can respond to any of these prompts — or to all of them! You're invited to submit your responses to Facility (anonymously if you like) — they'll be collected in an upcoming publication.

A Discussion on the short story ‘Just Don’t Never Give Up On Love’ by Sonia Sanchez
Saturday, June 27th. 5:30-6:30PM EST.

Join Olaronke Akinmowo, the Creator/Director of The Free Black Women's Library for a special discussion on the themes and concepts illustrated in the short story "Night Women' by Edwidge Danticat, and a fun free write session on the points it inspires. Watch the video-reading on BKABF.INFO prior to joining the conversation!

TFBWL Short Story Time Series is a series of videos featuring the reading of amazing classic and contemporary short stories written by Black women. Each video comes with information about the writer, the story, as well as writing prompts, discussion points, activities, rituals and journaling questions to inspire deeper understanding, expansive thinking, creative writing and self-reflection. This is a community engagement strategy meant to further amplify the brilliance, diversity and imagination of Black women writers.

Link to RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/110340445242

Link for Live Transcription: https://thisten.co/qkvmz/uCTzRSC6wnNSIxz6UOWzPyaaAhq5nrJyiyoIX0CB

QTV: Closets
Hosted by Studio HH
Available for duration of fair.

QTV: Closets is a MTV Crib's artists' quarantine edition. And instead of Mariah Carey, we have Jennifer Vanilla. In just 45 minutes you will get exclusive tours of artists' closets here in quarantined Brooklyn, NY (also in Baltimore and Oakland). Have you been feeling extra close to your closet lately? Have you even been missing your friend's closets? Have you been wondering: what's behind the closet doors, when staring at masked faces? Then this treat is for you.

Access to QTV: Closets includes a suggested 5-$25 donation to Emergency Release Fund. Your donations will help this organization post bail for medically vulnerable people held in New York City Jails and provide comprehensive post-release support (shelter and food).

Closets featured are: Ethan Philbrick, Ned Riseley, Jennifer Vanilla, Anna K Crooks, Malcolm Peacock, Flora Wilds, Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo.

How To Book Panel
Moderated by Small Editions
Sunday, June 28th. 5-6PM EST.

Celebrate the launch of How To Book; a forthcoming title by Small Editions. Including advice from 17 members of the indie artist book community, HTB walks artists and future publishers through bookmaking from inspiration to circulation. Bring all your publishing queries to this intimate bookmaking Q&A with contributors Be Oakley of GenderFail, Holly Meadows-Smith of Irrelevant Press, and self-publishing artist Sarula Bao.

Link to RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/110345634764

Link for Live Transcription: https://thisten.co/eks8h/jMoqINVHRShbDzWm8IoZk8ep5v1ePErXTgosqbRh

Radical Visibility: A QueerCrip Dress Reform Movement Manifesto
With Rebirth Garments
Available for duration of fair.

Feeling confident in one’s outward appearance can revolutionize one’s emotional and political reality, thus, Rebirth Garments and the Radical Visibility Zine works in tandem as a way to nurture a community of people who have often been excluded from mainstream fashion and provide a platform for people to confidently express pride in the intersections of their identities.

Rebirth Garments challenges beauty standards that center cisgender, heterosexual, white, thin, able bodied/minded people, by using the ideology of Radical Visibility as a guide and centering queer and disabled people of all sizes, ethnicities and ages. Radical Visibility is an unapologetic refusal to assimilate, a claim to our bodies, and a celebratory insistence on highlighting the parts of us that society typically shuns. Rebirth Garments embodies Radical Visibility through the use of bright colors, patterns, and innovative designs that accentuate instead of hide our bodies.