CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 9/25/2017

Artbook @ MoMA PS1 debuts new 2,000 square foot space at 2017 NYABF

On September 21, Artbook @ MoMA PS1 opened the doors to a larger, newly designed location on the first floor of the museum, featuring dedicated space for programming organized in collaboration with MoMA PS1.

Coinciding with the New York Art Book Fair, September 21-24, 2017, the space's opening events included signings with Christian Wassmann, Debi Cornwall, Katherine Bernhardt, and Sascha Braunig, and magazine issue launches with BOMB and Osmos. Artbook @ MoMA PS1 also hosted a celebration for the new facsimile of Depero's Bolted Book published by Designers and Books.

Also during the fair, internationally recognized artist's book maker Jan Voss was the featured artist hosted by the new Artbook Atelier within the space. A unique print shop, the Artbook Atelier will continue to commission artists to design "unlimited" limited editions that will be produced "on-site and on-demand" for finite periods of time. Customers will be able to request commissioned prints by the yard on a variety of papers. Each edition will be printed on demand for one year, after which Artbook Atelier will declare and cap the edition size.

As part of MoMA PS1 and the community, Artbook has a special bond with Greater New York and Long Island City in particular, and continues to welcome neighborhood residents and families. Ongoing programs developed with the museum's curatorial team will make Artbook @ MoMA PS1 a hub for the community.

In the fall, Artbook @ MoMA PS1 opens its new children's book area, where kids will have a space of their own to play and discover new and classic children's titles. A cozy maze of low shelves housing a world of books recognizable to children as their own, this space will become an ongoing focal point of the new store. An adjacent area with comfortable seating will be filled with lush greenery provided by The Sill, a plant shop on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

In the winter, Artbook @ MoMA PS1 will unveil another new section: a world-class selection of rare art and photography books that will complement its acclaimed offering of titles on contemporary art, theory, and visual culture. Continuing our decade-long partnership with the museum, we will continue to stock titles from publishers large and small, and from imprints based locally as well as internationally.

As visitors return to Artbook over the months and years to come, they will discover that the space looks a little bit different each time. In fact, Artbook @ MoMA PS1 has been specially designed to encourage fluidity in its layout, enabling this dynamic environment to accommodate different kinds of events, panel discussions, workshops, and experimental programming. With its carefully-conceived, flexible configuration, the new space embraces and supports MoMA PS1's mission to serve as a catalyst and an advocate for new ideas, discourses, and trends in contemporary art.

Both a world-class art bookstore and an inviting public space for museum programs, Artbook @ MoMA PS1 welcomes international, American, and local visitors; artists as well as students; and readers steeped in art theory alongside people coming to contemporary art for the first time.

"We are thrilled to be partnering not only with the curatorial team at MoMA PS1 but also with the Long Island City community, Greater New York City, and local artists," says founder Skuta Helgason. "We look forward to becoming a hub for book-focused events, artist-centered programs, and community partnerships. It makes our day when we see someone browsing the shelves and discovering an artist for the first time."

"It is so important to give books, their covers, and their content a physical and visual presence in a space beyond the internet. Once a year, MoMA PS1 is completely filled with books for the New York Art Book Fair, but with the newly expanded book space, Artbook @ MoMA PS1, we can offer a dedicated home for books and related programs throughout the year," added Klaus Biesenbach, Director of MoMA PS1 and Chief Curator at Large at the Museum of Modern Art. "Visitors can browse and experience this environment of inspiration, discovery, surprise, and discussion, looking over the surfaces of books displayed generously like a landscape, open them and go deeper into their content, and even participate in programs - which is more than what is possible at any other space in New York City. We are filling an urgent need in the creative community."