Jacqueline Butler

The first Manchester book art fair, held at MMU’s Holden Gallery, features around 40 stands of book publishers many of whom are exhibiting outstanding and inexpensive artists’ books that you can buy.

Tom Sowden, an art researcher from MMU’s Righton Press, which is hosting the event, said: ‘Lots of people are priced out of the art market, so new artists’ books are a real alternative. Usually produced in small editions, some are now very sought after, particularly ones from the 1960s.’

Inexpensive artists’ books were an important part of several avant-garde practices that attempted to democratize access to art, such as the Dada and surrealist movements of the 1920s. In the 1960s, Yoko Ono and the Fluxus Group, and latterly the Pop Art figures Warhol and Ruscha produced well-known artists’ books.

As part of the fair, MMU’s Library is opening its own collection of artists’ books to the public, and there is a series of talks taking place each day between 12noon and 4pm. Look out for the talk by Mermaid Turbulence, a great artists’ press.

The fair is free and runs from 11am until 6pm, and the last day is Saturday 30 September.

• Holden Gallery, MMU, Grosvenor Building, Cavendish Street, Manchester M15 6BR.
• For more information, contact Tom Sowden t.sowden@mmu.ac.uk , 0161 247 1895

For more about Art and Design at MMU, go to www.artdes.mmu.ac.uk

Nesta Fitzgerald