TABF2023には、北欧5カ国のアートブックシーンを牽引する5名のキーパーソンたちがセレクトしたアーティストブックやZINEが並ぶ4日間限りのブックストア「Nordic Art Book Store」がTABFに登場します。ここではキュレーターたちに、それぞれの活動やセレクション、自国のアーティストブックの特徴などについて話を聞いてみます。スウェーデンのキュレーションを担当してくれたのは、マルメという都市でアーティストブックのフェアを運営する「マルメ・アーティスツ・ブック・バイエニアル（MABB）」です。スウェーデンのアーティストブックの歴史やブックデザインなどについて話を聞いてみました。
―Please briefly describe your practice.
MABB was started in 2018 to address the need to increase visibility for artists' books in Sweden and to provide a platform for artists and publishers to sell their work. Up until then no such platform existed in Sweden. So far MABB has been arranged twice, with the third installment coming in May 2024. Each MABB has featured an extensive seminar programme, with the aim to provide background and context and to further discussion about artists' books as an independent art form. We have also involved art institutions and libraries in a discussion about the dissemination of artists' books in Sweden. The fairs have featured many international stall holders and attempted to involve Swedish book artists and publishers in a wider discussion of the art form in Europe and the world.
* Anders, would it be possible for you to send Kana some images?
―You touch on the importance of the role of the library to collect and preserve as one of your programs for MABB 2022. Was this a special focus for 2022 or a central topic underlining your practice as a book biennial? Why?
Yes, it was central to the 2022 fair. At the 2018 fair both we, as arrangers, and some visitors noted the absence of representation from the library world. In 2022 (originally planned for 2020, but cancelled due to the pandemic) we wanted to focus on the role of libraries in preserving and visualizing the unique properties of the artist's book. Due to the special circumstances of library acquisition in Sweden, artists' books tended to "fall between the cracks" and disappear into the wider library collections. This problem has since then been addressed by a project at the Gothenburg University Library.
―Having reviewed all curators’ lists, we noticed that only Sweden has books dating back to the 60s. Correct me if I’m wrong but would you say that Sweden has had a longer involvement in the making of art books? If so, would you know the reason why?
I'm not really sure if that is the case. Surely there are pioneers from the 60s in Denmark too? In fact, one of the early pioneers of the artist's book in Sweden, CO Hultén, worked closely with Danish artists like Asger Jorn and was, I think, inspired by his work with books. Some pioneering artists' books in Sweden are also loosely associated with the Fluxus movement, which were pioneers on a worldwide level. For them book publication was a natural part of making art available to a mass audience. Swedish artists, inspired by Fluxus, simply followed in their footsteps and published books as part of the wider project of democratizing art.
―We are especially interested in the book design of the publications in your selection. We see that many of the books are either self-published or from a publishing label owned by the artist–all of them with very unique book designs. Do Swedish artists often collaborate with book designers or would this be intrinsic to the artists’ experiment with new media, shapes, concepts for a book as part of their personal practice?
Since there is no money in artists' books in Sweden and grant systems aren't really adjusted to artists' book publication, I would say that artists' books rarely are made in collaboration with designers. There are of course exceptions to this rule. Some artists' book publishers, like for instance Rojal and Hundörat, are partly run by book designers, but for the most part I would say artists design the books themselves from the point of view of the artist, rather than that of the designer. Sometimes the role of designer and artist converge, like for instance in Olle Essvik's work and Olga Nycander's book.
―You listed many contemporary artist books and zines for our Nordic Art Book Store. Are there any characteristics you noticed among the art books in Sweden through the process of this selection? Have you found any other similarities/differences with the other four Nordic countries?
It's difficult to make generalisations like this, but I would say "the ghost of Fluxus" is still alive in Sweden. Artists' books are more often than not relatively cheap to buy, simply designed and more reliant on an artistic idea than flamboyantly designed. Of course there are exceptions to this rule. Text based work is fairly common and has been a trend the last few years. There is a convergence between artist and writer, evident in the work of people like Pär Thörn, Leif Holmstrand and Peder Alexis Olsson, among others. There is also a small community of artists who have been trained as book artists and/or book binders and whose work is exquisite in this sense. Perhaps not so evident in our selection. Then there are a few mavericks who work with the book as an object and as a vessel for history and spirituality. Marja-Leena Sillanpää is prominent among those.
―A quick message for our Japanese audience please!
We would like to thank the arrangers of TABF for inviting us to curate the Swedish selection. It has been a pleasure and an interesting process which has helped us identify trends and common traits in contemporary artists' book production in Sweden. Thank you! We hope you, the audience, will enjoy browsing the Swedish selection, and of course we would love to welcome you to MABB 2024, May 24-26, at a time when Malmö is normally its most welcoming and beautiful self!