BOOKED: Hong Kong Art Book Fair

Tai Kwun Contemporary’s BOOKED: Hong Kong Art Book Fair is returning for its fifth edition from April 28 to May 1, 2023, with local, regional, and international exhibitors joining in person. Extending across JC Contemporary and F Hall in Tai Kwun, this latest edition launches “Sounds Like Print”, a project exploring the intersection of “sound” and “print”. 

For the first time since 2020, BOOKED: is welcoming exhibitors from outside the city physically back to Hong Kong, including Printed Matter (New York), Nieves (Zurich), Three Star Books (Paris), Self Publish Be Happy (London), Afterall (London), Jakarta Art Book Fair (Jakarta), aBC (Beijing/Shanghai), Jiazazhi (Ningbo/Shanghai), alongside local exhibitors such as This Bakery, Kan Tai Wong, YeP YeP, Asia Art Archive, among many others. Additionally, Display Distribute and Reading Room will respectively bring a special selection of books from lumbung Kios and lumbung of publishers, previously featured in Documenta 15. Once again, a number of special interventions will be presented, this time by artists, photographers, and publishers—Kurt Tong, Samson Young, Nieves, and o!sland—along with a range of talks, workshops, and performances. BOOKED: Hong Kong Art Book Fair underscores Tai Kwun Contemporary’s dedication to providing a platform for creative practitioners and publishers who are invested in books as a medium of artistic and intellectual expression.

Launching in conjunction with BOOKED: is Sounds Like Print, a project of Tai Kwun Contemporary’s Artists’ Book Library, which delves into how “sound” and “print” overlap through formats produced in multiple and with the potential to circulate. The central vitrine, primarily sourced from the archive of Dr Edward Sanderson, presents a visual slice of the sonic culture and experimental music scenes in Mainland China and Hong Kong, while several thematic “Notations” explore the “do-it-yourself” ethos resounding among independent art and sound publishers. Also featured are artists Samson Young (Hong Kong), Dave Muller (Los Angeles), and mmmmor studio (Düsseldorf/Hong Kong) whose installations echo this dialogue between “sound” and “print”. Curated by Ingrid Pui Yee Chu and Dr Edward Sanderson, and co-organised with Daniel Szehin Ho, Sounds Like Print will be unfolding with evolving displays, performances, and conversations over the coming months.

Tai Kwun Contemporary’s BOOKED: Hong Kong Art Book Fair is organised by Daniel Szehin Ho, Ingrid Pui Yee Chu, and Louiza Ho, with Eunice Tsang, Felicity Wong, Gary Kwong and Christy Hui.