Art & The Book
- Event type
- Exhibition
- Series
- Art and The Book
- Address
- Warburg Institute, Woburn Square, London WC1H 0AB
- Event dates
- Contact
- [email protected] 020 7862 8949
22 May - 2 August 2025
Gallery Opening Hours:
Tuesday - Friday, 10am-6pm
Saturday, 10am-5pm
No ticket required to visit display or book fair.
Public events will be ticketed, free, and available to book via the Warburg website in the coming weeks.
View the bibliography of all books in the exhibition
Art & The Book explores artists making, publishing, and collecting books. In a season encompassing an exhibition, public conversations, a book fair, and bookshops in residence, Art & The Book draws attention to the recent history of the book as an art object and field of bibliographic experimentation.
Artists’ books, presses and libraries have flourished in recent decades, carving out new territory independent of established literary and art worlds. It is a practice that approaches the book as both a document and work of art – its scale and form encourage grassroots distribution amongst communities of producers, disseminating artworks in personal, democratic ways unique from other art forms.
Art & The Book’s exhibition presents a selection of critical moments from the history of artists’ books, from their modern origins in the 1960s to the work of contemporary artist bookmakers. Alongside their history and practice, the display also explores the work of artists’ book libraries, whose approach to collections and access are drawn from the form’s inventiveness and play.
Throughout Art & The Book, a rotating series of independent bookshops will take up residence inside Edmund de Waal’s permanent artwork library of exile in our gallery. Each week brings a different bookshop from across the UK, offering a curated selection of artists’ books and books on art - many of which are rare or hard to find. These bookshops span a wide range of approaches: some are also publishers, community projects or arts organisations, each bringing their own unique perspective to the space.
During 20–21 June, the Warburg will host the inaugural Biblioteka Art Book Fair. Bringing together nearly 50 international publishers, booksellers and artists, the fair will offer a mix of stands and a programme of talks across both days.
Throughout the season, a series of talks will bring together artists, librarians, publishers, collectors and designers to discuss curating, databases, cataloguing, libraries, connoisseurship, and to exchange ideas for the future of book arts.
Art & The Book is curated by Arnaud Desjardin (The Everyday Press aka Bunker Basement) and Hlib Velyhorskyi (Biblioteka).
Events programme
Discover what's on as part of Art & The Book - some events are now open for booking, with the rest opening soon.
Two New Archives of Artists' Books
Thursday 22 May, 5pm | The Warburg Institute
Cataloguing Against Categories
Thursday 29 May, 7pm | The Warburg Institute
Thursday 12 June, 6pm
Short Course: London Rare Books School - Artists' Books
Monday 16 - Friday 20 June
Thursday 19 June, 6.30pm | The Warburg Institute
Friday 20 June, 2-7pm, Saturday 21 June, 11am-6pm | The Warburg Institute
Artists Making Books - booking to open soon
Thursday 26 June, 7pm | The Warburg Institute
Caring for Artists' Books: Art Librarians - booking to open soon
Thursday 3 July, 7pm | The Warburg Institute
Bookshop Residencies
Throughout the Art & The Book season, a rotating series of independent bookshops will take up residence in our gallery’s library of exile space. Each week brings a different bookshop from across the UK, offering a curated selection of artists’ books and books on art - many of which are rare or hard to find. These bookshops span a wide range of approaches: some are also publishers, community projects or arts organisations, each bringing their own unique perspective to the space.
22–23 May – Record 28
27 May-7 June – Bunker Basement
10–19 June – Reference Point
24–28 June – Public Knowledge Books
1–5 July – Collective Books
8–12 July – BOOKS
15–18 July – Skoob Books
22–25 July – Village
29 July–2 Aug – Presse Books by Forma
To learn more about our exhibitions, news and events please subscribe to the Warburg Institute mailing list.
Gallery Access
- The Warburg Institute is accessible via a permanent ramp positioned to the right-hand side of the main entrance.
- A designated disabled parking space is available immediately outside the Institute.
- Visitors do not need to call ahead, but if assistance is required or if there are any questions regarding accessibility, please contact [email protected]
- Our gallery space has flat access, and our exhibitions are designed to be fully wheelchair accessible.
- A large print format handout is available at reception.
- If visitors wish to bring an assistant, we are happy to accommodate them. Assistance Dogs are also welcome.
- There is a disabled toilet near the entrance to the gallery.
image: M Lissoni, Martyrology, 2022. Image courtesy of the artist
