Craft & Conceptual Art: Reshaping the Legacy of Artists’ Books
Curated by Megan N. Liberty and organized by Center for Book Arts, this exhibition reconnects artists’ books to craft by creating a meaningful link between conceptual art and craft, historically placed at odds.
Craft practices are rooted in a material-specific approach; the same is true for artists’ books, which are medium-specific artworks in book form. The critical issues of craft theory, such as the relationship between the vernacular and the contemporary and anti-establishment and grass roots activities are shared with the book arts, an established discipline of craft arts. Yet the legacy of artists’ books, a subset of book art (which also includes altered books and book sculpture) is often traced back to conceptual art—dominated by white male artists, the dematerialization of the art object, and ephemeral art practices, negating artist books’ earlier connection to the book arts and its place in craft history.
Traveling here from San Francisco Center for the Book, this exhibition ties artists’ books back to craft, reshaping our understanding of craft history and its influence on conceptual art. The curatorial research methodology is archival, with the goal of a cross-disciplinary show that uses archival materials to present a revised timeline of book art, conceptual art, and craft, alongside artworks from various collections including Center for Book Arts, Harvard, Pace Prints Pace Gallery, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Library, and Minnesota Center for Book Arts.
Get the Craft & Conceptual Art Catalog
Visit the exhibition during our open hours, Tuesday–Saturday, 10am–5pm and Thursdays until 7pm.
Free and open to the public
WhereMCBA Main Gallery
WhenAugust 26, 2023–October 21, 2023
ReceptionFriday, September 22; 6–8pm
exhibition tourCenter for Book Arts, New York | January 13, 2023–March 25, 2023
San Francisco Center For the Book | April 15, 2023–June 18, 2023
Minnesota Center for Book Arts | August 26, 2023–October 21, 2023
About the Curator
Megan N. Liberty writes about artists’ books, ephemera, and archives. She is the Art Books section editor at the Brooklyn Rail and co-founder of Book Art Review.
Her writing appears in Artforum, art-agenda, ArtReview, Art in America, Brooklyn Rail, Frieze, Hyperallergic, and elsewhere. She lectures about artists’ books widely at conferences and in classrooms. She is currently a Visual AIDS Research Fellow, pursuing further research on Reginald Walker, and was a 2019–20 AICA/USA and Creative Capital/The Andy Warhol Foundation’s Arts Writing Workshop participant. She has an MA in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, and a BA in English from Dickinson College, PA.
Photo by Oswaldo García
Exhibiting Artists
Harriet Bart* | Barton Lidice Beneš | Helen M. Brunner | Frances Butler | Sas Colby | Betsy Davids | Agnes Denes | Mirtha | Jacqui Holmes | Berwyn Hung | Gerald Jackson | Susan E. King | Alison Knowles | Suzanne Lacy | Ellen Lanyon | Gordon Matta-Clark | Richard Minsky | Louise Neaderland | Yoko Ono | Benjamin Patterson | Howardena Pindell | Liliana Porter | Ed Ruscha | Lucas Samaras | Carolee Schneemann | Clarissa Sligh | Barbara T. Smith | Keith Smith | Michelle Stuart | Melody Sumner (Carnahan) | Sylvia de Swaan | Cecilia Vicuña | Reginald Walker
*local artist
Upcoming Exhibitions
