Book fairs are public and less formal in regards to industry conferencing or networking; while they do serve as an opportunity for publishers and artists to commingle, the nature of book sales is such that there are no sales or rights marketing as with a regular book fair. Instead book fairs are an aspect of artist-run culture and an address to artmaking in the neoliberal era.Book fairs are also a way for viewers to interact with, collaborate, and learn with and obtain artwork outside of commercial art institutions.Given the ephemeral and mass-produced nature of publishing history, “publishing seems to offer,” as within the community. Books and other publishing artifacts such as magazines, posters, and tapes are—in comparison to artworks—relatively free from public and market concerns.
