What happens when artists no longer see the book as a vehicle for a story, but as an independent artistic medium?
AAIP (Artists as Independent Publishers) is an international exhibition project that brings art schools from different countries together around the artist’s book and artistic publishing. The project was initiated at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen and travels between the various partner institutions. In 2026, the exhibition brings together work by students from six art schools: Hochschule für Künste Bremen, HfG Offenbach, Kunsthochschule Kassel, Sint Lucas Antwerpen, School of Arts, Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien and Durban University of Technology in South Africa.
The artist’s books in AAIP emerge from a range of disciplines, ideas and working methods. Graphic design, photography, visual art, text, printmaking techniques and experimentation come together in publications that continually explore and redefine the book. Some works remain close to the traditional form of the book, while others push its boundaries, approaching the book as an object, installation or spatial experience. Previous presentations have featured works made using both traditional and experimental printing techniques, as well as book objects in materials such as metal and textiles.
The artist’s book is more than a finished product. It is a way of thinking, making, organising and communicating. By publishing their own work, artists gain control over image, text, material, form, edition and presentation. The book thus becomes an independent artistic form in its own right, as well as a space where different ways of looking and making come together.
AAIP makes this encounter an explicitly international one. Students and artists from different educational contexts share their research and demonstrate the many different ways in which the medium can be approached from different places and disciplines. The exhibition therefore offers not only an overview of contemporary artists’ books, but also a platform for exchange between emerging artists and art schools.
For the Antwerp edition, this international exchange comes together at the Showroom of Sint Lucas Antwerpen.
Practical information
AAIP – Artists as Independent Publishers
12–15 October 2026
Location
Showroom, Sint Lucas Antwerpen
Van Schoonbekestraat 143
2018 Antwerp
Opening hours
Monday 12 October: 10 am–5 pm
Tuesday 13 October: 10 am–5 pm
Wednesday 14 October: 10 am–5 pm
Thursday 15 October: 10 am–2 pm
The exhibition is free and open to the public.
Artists: Hochschule für Künste Bremen, HfG Offenbach, Kunsthochschule Kassel, Sint Lucas Antwerpen, Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Durban University of Technology
