Berny Tan
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Editor’s Note: SAM Design Collection is a new initiative that examines expanded creative practices at the intersection of contemporary art and design. Part of our scope includes the exploration of this convergence within the realm of printed matter. This led to a special programme collaboration with the Singapore Art Book Fair (SGABF) on the occasion of its 10th edition, which took place at SAM in October 2024. Following the fair, the SGABF team organised a tour of key nodes in the local art book fair scene for our speakers, selected international exhibitors as well as SAM residents. This essay by curatorial assistant Siobhan Tang documents this tour. — Berny Tan, Curator, SAM Design Collection
Anyone familiar with the characteristics of an art book fair can describe its typical arrangement with ease: independent publishers and creatives stand behind neat rows of tables, which have been transformed into mini storefronts and exhibition spaces for their catalogue of publications. Visitors strolling past the tables pause for a moment to gingerly select books from these displays and flip through their contents. Some visitors enter a state of thoughtful contemplation as they browse, while others excitedly share the book’s contents with a companion. The exhibitor behind the table looks on with a friendly demeanour, open to any questions or comments from the curious visitors. As an art book fair enthusiast myself, I’ve always found this interaction between visitor and exhibitor fascinating. Oftentimes, one would see these two parties leaning over a table from opposite sides, sharing a moment of casual conversation amidst the noise and crowd. The inconspicuous presence of the table seems like a sort of divider, delineating two different realities—the creative familiar with the craft of making artist’s books/the audience with an appreciation of the craft, the internal community of artist’s book makers/the external public looking in, the knowledgeable seller/curious buyer. While valuable in connecting these realities, the interactions that occur organically across the table cannot transcend their own brief and transitory nature. For most visitors, the wider network of independent spaces, publishers, and creatives that make up art book communities might seem inaccessible to them. For most exhibitors, the hectic whirlwind of “boothing” for a weekend often translates to hours spent behind a table. Even their conversations with other exhibitors might be as transient as their exchanges with visitors. What if it was possible to cross over the table—a metaphorical and literal symbol of boundaries—and bring exhibitors closer to other exhibitors and visitors closer to the ecosystem that is the local art book community?
SGABF 2024 and SAM Design Collection
From 25 to 27 October 2024, the 10th edition of the Singapore Art Book Fair (SGABF) was held at Singapore Art Museum (SAM), marking a significant achievement in the fair’s history. As an alternative platform for commerce and presentation, the art book fair offers an opportunity for independent publishers, artists, and book makers to distribute their publications to a wider audience. The fair’s longevity therefore signifies not only the enduring presence of a local art book community, but also the growing public interest in the book medium. To commemorate this milestone, SAM Design Collection partnered with SGABF to co-present three panels as part of SG Art Book Dialogue, the fair’s series of programmes. The panels moved through the art book ecosystem from a macro to micro perspective:
- The keynote event, “Organising an Art Book Fair: A Roundtable Discussion” gathered representatives from abC, which formerly ran the abC Art Book Fair, and which now runs the Open M Art Fair in China; Printed Matter, the New York City-based non-profit organisation and bookstore which runs the NY and LA Art Book Fairs; Tokyo Art Book Fair, which started in 2009 and is currently the biggest art book fair in Asia; and finally, SGABF itself.
- “Practising (Beyond) Print: Multidisciplinary Design Studios in Conversation” featured the founders of Seoul-based Corners and Bangkok-based Studio150 in discussion with moderator Gideon Kong of local studio gideon-jamie.
- Finally, “On the Same Page: Artists’ Books as a Site of Intersection” brought together independent practitioners—artist Claudia de la Torre (Berlin), designer Darius Ou (Singapore), and curator/researcher Oscar Salguero (New York).
With such an international roster of guest speakers and exhibitors present for this milestone edition, a post-fair tour was proposed as a gesture of appreciation for those who had flown in from all over the world. Held on the Monday after the fair’s conclusion, the tour’s premise was ostensibly simple: introduce local independent spaces and bookstores to international exhibitors. However, the tour proved to be a vital moment of consolidation, reflection and (re)evaluation of the landscape of Singapore’s art book community. The international exhibitors and guest speakers had the rare opportunity of crossing over that persistent boundary of the table and into the local businesses and independent spaces that make or distribute art books. On the other hand, I joined the tour as an art book fair enthusiast, happy to gain a more intimate glimpse at these significant spaces as well. By recounting the exchanges and dialogues that occurred throughout the day, this tour documentation serves a simple purpose: from one fair visitor to another, I hope to provide a more comprehensive reflection of the tangible spaces and intangible relations that make up our art book landscape.
Browsing the City
Basheer Graphic Books
The tour began at Basheer Graphic Books, an independent bookstore specialising in art, architecture, and design titles. Located on the fourth floor of Bras Basah Complex, the bookstore is beloved by generations of local artists and designers. As the guide for the day, artist Lai Yu Tong, began with his formal introduction of the place, a few wandering hands broke away from the group to flip through the glossy magazines that lined the shelves at Basheer’s entrance.
Basheer Graphic Books has been operating within Bras Basah Complex for more than three decades. It stands out for its curated selection of books, which range from local zines with a limited print run to luxuriously bound art and design catalogues from Europe. Regardless of whether a visitor is a student or a professional with years of experience, Basheer has been a welcoming source of knowledge, a window into what others were creating all over the world. From past visits to Basheer, I fondly recall owner Abdul Nasser’s openness in accepting book requests from customers, no matter how rare or obscure the titles are. The bookstore is, therefore, an important resource hub that has served and nurtured the local art book community.
A critical element to Basheer’s uniqueness also lies in its location within Bras Basah Complex, which is informally known as 书城 (shū chéng) or the ‘City of Books’. Since the 1960s, the vicinity around Bras Basah Road had been populated with bookstores and stationery shops, attracting students who were in need of new school supplies and textbooks. While the shophouses of yesteryear no longer exist, the commercial and residential complex continues this legacy in its own way: on the first floor, one can see second-hand books and past year examination papers on display, while POPULAR bookstore, the largest tenant in the complex, occupies units on the second to fifth floor.
Challenges such as changing consumer habits, rising rental costs, and the ever-looming threat of the death of print have undeniably altered the larger network of local bookstores, which makes Basheer’s survival all the more commendable. In his brief introduction of the bookstore, Yu Tong mentioned that Basheer Graphic Books is one of the few independent bookstores left standing in Singapore. Larger bookstore chains have also closed their shutters: just a month prior in September 2024, Times Bookstores announced the closure of its last outlet, marking the end of 46 years of operation in Singapore.
Such fluctuations are not unique to Singapore. The topic of survival resonated with international tour participants, especially those who are independent publishers or managing independent bookstores themselves. As our time at Basheer concluded, many walked away with a Basheer-branded plastic bag in hand; a gesture of support, or a testament to Basheer’s universal appeal.
READ: BOOK? By Atelier HOKO
The next stop in the tour was located in the Central Public Library building across the street from Bras Basah Complex. READ: BOOK?, organised as part of Singapore Design Week 2024, was a temporary exhibition by independent research lab Atelier HOKO that examined the act of reading and our interactions with the book form.
Located on the linkbridges on the 7th to 10th floor, Atelier HOKO utilised the long and narrow spaces by designing long tables that ran along either side. These tables displayed books in various formats, sizes, and shapes, but their contents were not the main focus—rather, it was the physical form and design of a book, and how our interactions with its physicality could affect the act of reading. With simple prompts that include picking up books of different widths or using a small fan to flip the pages of a book, the exhibition was a fun, interactive experience that encouraged learning by exploring and observing.
Besides the obvious connection between the exhibition’s subject matter and the topic of artist’s books, the visit to READ: BOOK? also served to highlight Atelier HOKO’s ongoing research publication series Science of the Secondary. With its first issue Apple published in 2013, Science of the Secondary is one of the most consistent and long-running artist book publications in Singapore to date. Regular patrons of Basheer and SGABF would have seen a new issue (or two) of Science of the Secondary published each year and recognised its minimalist yet impactful covers. As suggested by its title, the publication focuses on an inquisitive examination into the conditions and sensations that human beings are not conscious of in their day-to-day interaction with things and the immediate surroundings. Using a research methodology that is led by curiosity and observation of the everyday, Science of the Secondary exemplifies an unconventional practice that uses the artist’s book medium to straddle boundaries between art and design. Their practice also extends into organising interactive exhibition projects, just as READ: BOOK? was an exhibition developed alongside the 16th instalment of Science of the Secondary: Book.
In this city, we grow accustomed to loss: each day an older establishment makes way for a new building, and smaller, ground-up initiatives fail to survive the speed of the country’s capitalistic growth. This makes the enduring presence of bookstores such as Basheer and projects such as Science of the Secondary an even more significant feat.
SHRUB
Continuing on this contemplation on survival and endurance within the city’s changing landscape, we proceeded to the independent bookstore SHRUB, which was located in Golden Mile Tower. A piece of iconic brutalist architecture built in 1974, Golden Mile Tower stands in the weary shadow of its boarded up neighbour, Golden Mile Complex. As the tour bus drove past the two buildings, Yu Tong delved further into their history, as well as the uncertain fate of Golden Mile Tower. Caught in an ongoing collective sale exercise, Golden Mile Tower represents the perpetual dilemma our land-scarce island state faces: develop the future or preserve the past?
Tucked away in the building’s quiet corridors is SHRUB, a cosy space delightfully littered with zines, art prints, T-shirts and keychains. The storefront still retains fragments from its locksmith past, which adds nicely to the DIY spirit that SHRUB embodies. As the store could not accommodate our large tour group, we took turns to browse through the store’s curated yet plentiful catalogue. Many broke away from the group to explore SHRUB’s neighbours as well, including a store selling prawn noodles and a traditional cafe selling kaya toast and kopi. Passing by the different storefronts—some shuttered and some intriguing—surrounding SHRUB, I realised that the bookstore’s location within this landmark on the brink of extinction is crucial to its identity. An advocate for a self-taught, experimental mindset towards creation and collaboration, SHRUB’s space is a physical manifestation of its ethos. Sprouting up organically in Golden Mile Tower, SHRUB offers a space for alternative culture to flourish and gather, a platform for smaller, independent creatives to circulate their works. With this informal and exciting approach to supporting zine-makers and artists, SHRUB has helped attract new audiences and makers, thereby expanding the art book community.
This past edition of SGABF, SHRUB’s presence was not at a table within the fair, but rather in a truck parked outside SAM. Exhibiting a catalogue of zines, art prints and t-shirts primarily by younger creators, it represented a subculture eager to create artist’s books and zines despite their limited resources, without judgement or high-brow intellectualism.
Networks of Collaboration
Hothouse
After a lunch break at HJH Maimunah, the tour took a brief stroll within the Kampong Glam district before arriving at the next stop, Hothouse. An interdisciplinary collaboration between art collective INTER-MISSION, design agency Currency and research lab formAxioms, Hothouse operates from a shared space within Aliwal Arts Centre.
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Before entering the office space, we noticed that the Currency team had displayed a timeline of SGABF brochures along the corridor for this occasion. After all, when discussing the fair’s evolution throughout the years, it is important to mention the sustained collaboration between Currency and SGABF. In 2018, the fair embarked on a new creative direction after some concerns that it was veering more towards a craft market than an art book fair. With the daunting task of rebranding the fair’s design, purpose and marketing strategy, the fair worked closely with Currency to build a new visual identity, and has continued this relationship for every edition since. The most striking feature of the office is the curving and twisting tables that make up clusters in each corner, which feels reflective of Hothouse’s eccentric approach to shared experimentation. Once again, the tour participants broke off into their own browsing sessions, with some also striking up a conversation with Melvin Tan, creative lead at Currency and co-founder of Hothouse.
Atop one of these curving tables were various publications and marketing collaterals designed by Currency, including those for Hothouse as well as numerous local arts institutions and programmes. A project that stood out was browsing copy, which consisted of artists’s books by eight local artists. The design and concept of each book was varied, with one incorporating pop-up elements and another taking the form of ring binder. A collaborative effort initiated by curators Selene Yap and Cheng Jia Yun and produced by KHL Printing, browsing copy showcases Currency’s deep engagement with unconventional creative projects. This approach has allowed Currency to establish itself as a key player in the wider arts landscape in Singapore. During his introduction of the space, guide Yu Tong also emphasised that this visit was an insight into how independent practices operate locally.
Allegro Print
Yet another important player in Singapore’s cultural landscape is creative production house Allegro Print, the next stop for the day. Allegro Print sets itself apart from conventional printers by embracing experimental printing projects, establishing itself as a go-to for printing artists’ books and other experimental publications. In recent years, it has also expanded into other services such as the upcycled stationery brand Offcut, online digital print platform Oolors and bespoke wallpaper and interior decor printing service LayerPlay. Just like Hothouse, Allegro’s office space was littered with examples of past projects and collaborations. Walking through the halls of its office, I immediately recognised copies of Rubbish FAMzine and Meantime Magazine sitting amongst the shelves, publications that SGABF visitors would surely recognise. These are just two examples from the list of local projects that have been produced by Allegro Print.
The group sat down with Ho Yeow Liang and Merlyn Tay, founders of Allegro Print, to hear an introduction of the production house and how they expanded into their range of services. The product range that intrigued most tour participants was Offcut, a line of stationery that repurposes waste paper from the print production process. Not only is Offcut a sustainable initiative, but it also often features unique traces of the paper’s ‘past lives’. The triangular notepad on sale, for instance, derives its odd size from the sliced form of Meantime Magazine’s fourth issue. As Yeow Liang explained, the team spontaneously responds to unused space within a print job during the book production process. The design for an Offcut stationery item can potentially be conceptualised in a short period of time so that they may be printed simultaneously with the primary product.
After the informative introduction, we were free to explore the rest of the office space. Starting at the entrance, there is a stockroom brimming with past publications and a room housing the Offcut store, where one can buy Offcut goods as well as purchase high quality papers left over from other projects. Proceeding further into the office, tour participants were greeted by the sight of complex printing machines and stacks of paper waiting to be bound or printed on. Returning to the central area within the office, the team had a temporary display of past publications and projects. With each door leading to a different aspect of Allegro’s operations, our visit provided a comprehensive look into the life cycle of an artist’s book: from its production stage to its completed state as an item for distribution.
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Allegro Print’s position and function within the local art book community is unique, as they operate as a business that supports artists and designers in fulfilling their creative vision. Printing can often be a rigid process, with businesses having to consider the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of each decision. Decisions like printing in smaller quantities or incorporating unconventional features in a book could be reason for typical printing houses to turn a job down. Allegro Print, however, stands out for its openness to smaller quantities and experimental forms. Due to their years of expertise and willingness to support projects that may be deemed ‘financially unviable’ by conventional printers, Allegro Print has forged many meaningful collaborations with local book makers.
Temporary Unit
Just a stone’s throw away in another industrial hub was our second last tour stop, Temporary Unit. This workshop, bookshop and exhibition space is operated by design studio gideon-jamie, which comprises Gideon Kong, who moderated one of our panels, and Jamie Yeo.
The space is divided into two sections: one for browsing and working, and one for exhibitions. In the former, zines and art books for sale are displayed near the entrance, and beyond that, one can find the studio’s Risograph machine and other work-in-progress materials by Temporary Press (gideon-jamie’s publishing arm). The tour participants could also browse through an extensive collection of graphic design catalogues and other design-related reference books in the studio’s library.
At the time, the studio was hosting an exhibition by Neutral Colors, a Japanese independent magazine that utilises a unique approach of mixing offset and Risograph printing. For the past two years, Neutral Colors has been an international exhibitor at SGABF. Not only are their publications well-received by local audiences, but they have also participated in an artist talk as part of 2023’s SG Art Book Dialogue, moderated by Gideon. Through this exhibition, audiences are provided with a glimpse into the process behind Neutral Colors, as the objects on display ranged from test prints, colour swatches and various print offcuts compiled into pseudo-sculptural books. As some members of Neutral Colors were also present on the tour, they were happy to share more about how they arrived at their experimental approach.
During our visits to Hothouse and Allegro Print, we reflected further on the networks of collaboration between art book makers, creatives in design and art, production houses and the fair, and our time at gideon-jamie was no exception. Besides being a frequent exhibitor at the fair, the design studio has supported various artists and writers in publishing their own artists’ books. Under their publishing arm Temporary Press, the studio has collaborated with artists such as Catherine Hu, Ang Song Ming and Yu Tong, as well as embarked on collaborative publications like Street Report, a series about documenting and observing situations on the street initiated with Atelier HOKO, Faiz Bin Zohri, and Cathy Hang. Their exhibition space Temporary Unit serves as a platform to foster connections between local and international designers, just as the Neutral Colors showcase has done so. Like Basheer Graphic Books or SHRUB, this is a space that cultivates an open environment for resource sharing.
Home of the Art Book Fair
SG Art Book Library by Thing Books
After a packed itinerary of bookstores, office spaces and exhibitions scattered across the city centre and industrial areas, the tour came to an end at what may be an unexpected location: a HDB flat. This unassuming location houses the SG Art Book Library by Thing Books—a collection managed by Renée Ting, Director of SGABF, who prioritises art books that may not otherwise find their way into institutional collections. More importantly, the flat is also the space from which the SGABF team operates.
In the cosy interior of the HDB flat, where tour participants were free to browse the library, hosts Renée and Yu Tong spoke about the independent spirit of the fair and its adjacent initiatives. Although the fair is organised by a small, independent team, they never fail to come together each year to plan and execute a new edition. Ultimately, at the core of everything is a love for printed matter. Capping off a day of sharing stories, resources and books, this final stop reinforced the overarching takeaway from the tour. Being independent publishers or art book fair organisers themselves, many if not all tour participants would have resonated with the joys and struggles that were discussed throughout the day. Oftentimes, these projects are the result of the collective effort of close friends and collaborators. In this tour, we also came to share and reflect on the unique challenges posed by our Singaporean context and how they compel the art book community to adapt and improvise. Having to survive in Singapore’s ever-changing cityscape and fast-paced society, many turn to intangible support structures in the community while also giving back to others to ensure shared survival. What results is an ecosystem that operates on every individual’s generosity and sincerity—this is more important and long-lasting than any built space may be.
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