Artport's Art Book Fair

May 3rd - May 6th, 2023

The first and largest artist book fair in Israel is back!

Over 400 books by more than 200 artists, 20 events that include conversations, panels and book launches, alongside 4 art performances about books, fanzines and other surprises, in a weekend dedicated entirely to books and art.

The first artist book fair in Israel was held in Artport since 2015 and immediately attracted thousands of visitors and shoppers for a weekend of books and art. The fair raised great interest and led to a flourishing in the field of artist books throughout the country.

Many of the books in the fair are unique standalone objects that extend the artist’s practice, some are a continuation of an exhibition, and some summarize a period of time, but all open a window to a new world that exists between the pages. Photography, painting, printing and illustration, hard leather bindings alongside pages stapled together, words woven into images, images that become a story, page-turning that becomes a journey – the art book fair is an exciting and sensational experience.

The selection ranges from books that were painted and hand-bound to those that were printed in a printing house, in workshops, or were made at home, using copiers, from editions of a thousand copies to one-off, unique, special books. The “White Gloves Room” will be dedicated to rare and valuable artist books that were handmade in different printing techniques, independently or in workshops (such as Harel Print Workshop in Tel-Aviv and the Jerusalem Print Workshop). These books are so delicate and precious, that in order to browse them, gloves must be worn.

Alongside the books, the fair will hold talks and panels on artist books featuring artists, curators, editors and designers, launch events for new books, different performances dealing with artist books created specifically for the fair, a ‘White Gloves Room’ featuring special editions, alongside a fanzine workshop where artist booklets will be produced and printed during the fair.

The fair is being held in collaboration with Magasin III Jaffa, and its artists bookstore, Magasin III Jaffa Books.

Back to the fairs

Events at the fair

Wednesday, May 3rd

10am – 5pm – Photo shoot for Madaf Website, a new collaboration between Leafing.co.il, ArtPort and Mevo’ot: The Joav BarEl Ideas Fund. Open to all artists participating in the book fair. Photography: Yair Meyuhas, Shiraz Grinbaum and Mika Nachtailer
3pm-10pm Fanzine workshop
12pm – 10pm A date with a poet. The poet Orit Gidali in a personal meeting with visitors and writes them a personal poem – a private spell, a blessing or a parable
8pm Launch of Ran Slavin’s artist book ‘Shapeshifter’

Thursday, May 4th

3pm-10pm Fanzine workshop
4pm-9pm A date with a poet. The poet Orit Gidali in a personal meeting with visitors and writes them a personal poem – a private spell, a blessing or a parable
5pm Children’s Storytime – Dani Karavan and a workshop with the wonderful illustrations of Izhar Cohen
6pm-9pm HOW DO YOU SHORT CIRCUIT CONTROL: Prologue to Lee Nevo’s artist book
7pm Artists books as a way of life: Zvi Tolkovsky in conversation with Naama Haneman
8pm Root of Two: Maya Dunietz artist book launch alongside an acoustic solo show

Friday, May 5th

10am-12pm “Live” track of podcast-style interviews:
The artist Maya Sharabani dreams of publishing an artist book and embarks on a research mission. She is a guest in the fair’s living room and interviews artists who have published artist books
10am-12pm The Sparkling Whisperer: Anyone who purchases a book by Hila Lulu Lin Perach Kfar Biram is entitled to
receive a personal whisper
of
a selected song
from the book!
10am-4pm Performer Keren Katz in a mesmerizing work technique, will shrink and summarize artist books of various sizes and give visitors gifts as a souvenirs
10am-4pm Fanzine workshop
12pm Ronit Porat’s artist book launch, with the participation of Hadas Maor and Avner Shapira
1pm Elad Rosen’s artist book launch ‘PLOMBIR’, alongside a conversation with Elad Yaron and a guided tasting of Soviet ice cream.
2pm-4pm A date with a poet. The poet Orit Gidali in a personal meeting with visitors and writes them a personal poem – a private spell, a blessing or a parable

Saturday, May 6th

10am-4pm Performer Keren Katz in a mesmerizing work technique, will shrink and summarize artist books of various sizes and give visitors gifts as a souvenirs
10am-6pm Fanzine workshop
11am How to publish? A panel featuring independent artist book publishers
10am-6pm A date with a poet. The poet Orit Gidali in a personal meeting with visitors and writes them a personal poem – a private spell, a blessing or a parable
12:30pm-2:30pm The artist Maya Sharabani dreams of publishing an artist book and embarks on a research mission. She is a guest in the fair’s living room and interviews artists who have published artist books
3pm Books outside the cover: Vardit Gross in conversation with Noa Manheim, Eitan Eloa and Hagar Cygler about books that break the limits
4pm Sketchbook: a book that is the substance and spirit of a journal
3pm-6pm HOW DO YOU SHORT CIRCUIT CONTROL: Prologue to Lee Nevo’s artist book