EXHIBITION DATES: 19 June – 15 August, 2026

OFFICIAL OPENING: Friday 19 June, 6pm

COST: Free

Details

Curated from an open call, this exhibition showcases the breadth and creativity of book artists from Canberra and the surrounding region. Featuring unique works across diverse media, scales, styles and techniques, in work by artists for whom bookmaking is a dedicated practice and those who explore the form as part of a broader artistic repertoire.

A defining aspect of an artistic nature is defiance, non-compliance or refusal to play by the rules; a rejection of constraints. Perhaps a better characterisation is a preference for being unpredictable; or an insatiable appetite for the new and novel, an impulse for discovery, if you will?  

This contrary impulse that both drives and informs art practice, results in an astonishing variety of creative responses and expressions. Artists books, as a genre of art making defies definition for this very reason.  

When we think of “books”, pages come to mind, print runs, cover art and the concept of an overarching narrative, but these are constraints that individual artists may choose to dismiss, when making their own artist’s books.  Unique objects or limited editions, Artist made books are artworks in their own right. They may engage with literary subject matter or be musings on the traditional form and conventions of the book. Artists books are however, always surprising. 

Bibliographic idioms pepper our language and expressions like, “Don’t Judge a book by its cover”, “Throw the book at someone,” or “Read between the lines,” have well known and explicit meanings and are ubiquitous in general use. We can all appreciate the anticipation that comes with a new book. We experience expectation as it opens to reveal the journey from front to back cover. The joy and fascination of encountering new facts, stories, poems or pictures, has long made the book a centre piece of the gift economy. 

Fold Stich Bind aims to entice and tantalise viewers, while challenging conventional notions about the “book”; what it is and what it can be.