On September 20–22, MoMA PS1 hosts the annual New York Art Book Fair, the largest of its kind in the world. Among the event’s 170 international exhibitors are a group of first-year graphic design graduate students, who collaborated on a publication about “creation, destruction, endings, beginnings and teeny tiny sunglasses.” The project, documented at the Instagram page @HigherCalling.club, was produced in a workshop class taught by Nicole Killian, professor of graphic design.
Killian herself presents work this weekend, under the name Nico Fontana. In both her teaching and publishing, Killian seeks to showcase queer perspectives and artists. For the book fair, MoMA reached out to the designer to ask about her work and experiences at previous events.
The work she creates, said Killian, “are books to be read over and over.”
“I am thinking about mobile messages—a contemporary tablet, language made visible. I am also thinking about the publishing of objects that exist as moveable language, activated when read, passed, held, handled. These objects exist as: wearables, secrets, freak flags, and other forms. I’m invested in how our language travels and is manipulated.”
In addition to Killian and the students in her class, Be Oakley (MFA ’18), founder of GenderFail, is presenting work for the fair; and merchandise from the international design conference Tasmeem Doha is available at the Water with Water table. Tasmeem is a biennial event organized and hosted by VCUarts Qatar, which last occurred in March 2019.
For more on the NY Art Book Fair organized by Printed Matter, Inc., visit the NYABF website.
Image from the HigherCalling.club website.