BABE is back and bigger than ever for 2015. Spread over 3 floors more than 80 artist bookmakers, dealers and small presses from Bristol and around the world will come together at Arnolfini to show and sell their work.
BABE provides a relaxed and friendly space to meet and chat to artists about their work and buy works of art. Prices start from just a few pounds.
Across the weekend there will be a number of performances, interventions and informal talks.
Organised in conjunction with the Centre for Fine Print Research at the University of the West of England
Informal Tours
Free, meet in the foyer
Saturday 11 April
12 midday Ben Thomas, Arnolfini
Ben is the Programme Assistant for Young Arnolfini and one of the founders of visual arts organisation Fell.
3pm Linda Newington, Winchester School of Art Library
Sunday 12 April
12 midday Angie Butler, UWE, Bristol. Freshly Pressed – introducing letterpress printed artists’ books. Join book artist Angie Butler in a BABE tour session: learn about letterpress printing, get hands on and do-it-yourself, and meet the makers of letterpress printed artists’ books at the book fair.
2pm Tanya Peixoto, bookartbookshop, London
Workshops (in meeting room)
Saturday 11am – 1.30pm
Stephen Fowler’s fabulous kids roller print+book workshop (6+)
Session 1: 11am-12pm
Session 2: 12.30pm-1.30pm
Sunday 11am – 1pm
Guy Begbie’s bookmaking workshop (16+) – £10/£8 Concs, Booking: Box office 0117 917 2300
Surgeries (in reading room)
Saturday
Nancy Campbell – Artist/writer – 11am – 3.30pm, 20 minutes per surgery slot – Booking: Box office 0117 917 2300
Sunday
Simon Goode, London Centre for Book Arts – 11am – 3.30pm, 20 minutes per surgery slot – Booking: Box office 0117 917 2300
Exhibition (in reading room)
AMBruno – Book Acts
A project by AMBruno, in which artist book-makers embody the concept or essence of their book through the medium of film.
The exhibition will comprise of the originating books and corresponding video work.
Project initiated by Sophie Loss.
Readings and performance events in foyer
Foyer screen: Saturday and Sunday
Reassemble. In a series of half hour episodes, experience reassemble’s surreal cut and paste books on DVD
Saturday
Yes Sir I can Boogie! CONTINUOUS MICROPHONE, AMP, SENTENCE ON. A series of live durational public readings around the building, throughout the day, inspired in part by John Baldassari sings Sol LeWitt (1972. Reading material is selected by speakers from the pages of exhibition catalogues, screenplays, manifestos, poetic texts, feminisms, dark pop lyrics, small press publications, big press publications, typos, marginalia etc.
Bristol Art Library – 12 midday – 4pm
The Bristol Art Library is a fully functioning public library housed in a wooden cabinet the size of a suitcase. Created by artist and head librarian Annabel Other, the library’s volumes (all 5” x 4”) were made by artists and practitioners from all areas of the arts and sciences and cover a wide range of subjects.
Performances and readings (Meeting Room)
Saturday
2.30pm, Guy Bigland and Tom Sowden – a reading and performance of Guy’s book Lineman.
3pm, Egidija Ciricaite and George Cullen (Collective Investigations) – codex: between one hand and another. A video and talk on the relationship between the reader, the book and the hand.
3.30pm, Jo Reed Turner – a reading from Soho Sequence pamphlets.
4pm, Otto and Chris Scully – Flat Holm: a show and tell of the making of the book Flat Holm with the artist and poet.
4.30pm, seekers of lice – A new performance with notecards and projections
5pm, Antlers Gallery – Anima Mundi. Tim Lane gives an insight in to the making of his 5-metre long bookwork Anima Mundi. Tim is a Bristol-based artist taking influence from classical literature and world mythologies.
Sunday
2pm Judy Kravis of Road Books reads from Inside Barbara Kitten.
2.30pm Graeme Hobbs, Colva Books – How a man goes missing: An investigation into how a man’s testimony in an extinguished language became, a century on, an anonymous work in a poetry anthology.
3pm, Field Study International invites you to a short Emanation action.
3.30pm Nancy Campbell and Donna Williams – Poems in BSL and English about language learning and extinction.
4pm Pete Kennedy – GBATCH. G…iorgi Ivanovitch Gurdzhiev. B…euys Joseph. A…ngeli Silesii. T…enzin Gyatso. C…arl Gustav Jung & H…ermann Hesse.
And the poem ‘Inside This Clay Jug’ transformed by Robert Bly.