Art & the Book

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.

In an era where libraries and free-to-access spaces are disappearing, and where the book’s monopoly has faded in the face of new digital media, artists’ books have shown a determined ability to last, remain experimental and transmit a unique aesthetic experience. For its summer season, the Warburg Institute will dedicate its programme to artist’s books, across an exhibition display, book fair, series of public talks and bookshop residencies. 

Since the 1960s, artists have made books as artworks, changing the book’s relationship with art. Propelled by the development of widely and cheaply available technologies for reproduction like the photocopier, artists have employed initiatives like mail art and zines to disseminate artworks to large audiences, creating publications with inherent social and political possibilities. Artists’ books and presses have since carved new territory independent from the exclusive hierarchies of commercial publishing and galleries. The recent rise of libraries established by artists underlines the continued desire for playfulness, community and access to all.

The display in the Warburg will showcase works by contemporary book artists from Biblioteka’s and Bunker Basement’s collections. Curated sections of books from the 1960s to today will emphasise the breadth of library practice, photography books, new publishing technologies, and innovative plays with production and format used by artists. 

Over the course of the season, a pop-up space to browse and buy books will open in the gallery, inside Edmund de Waal’s permanent artwork library of exile. This space will play host to a revolving programme of independent bookshops from around the UK, including Public Knowledge Books, Reference Point, and Village Books.

During 20–21 June, the Warburg will host the inaugural Biblioteka Art Book Fair, welcoming approximately 50 independent publishers to the gallery and auditorium. Over two days, publishers, book dealers and artists will convene from around the UK including London, Manchester, Bristol, Warrington and East Sussex, and from countries including France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Austria, USA and Singapore. 

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. More details of these will be announced shortly.  

Art & the Book is curated by Arnaud Desjardin (The Everyday Press aka Bunker Basement) and Hlib Velyhorskyi (Biblioteka). 

Thursday 22 May: Opening of Art & The Book
On Thursday 22 May, join us for the opening of Art & The Book.

5 - 6.30pm

Talk: Two New Archives of Artists’ Books

With Ami Clarke (bannerrepeater), Lozana Rossenova, Jan Steinbach (edcatnet)


6.30 - 8.30pm

Opening drinks

Free entry. All welcome.


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