Founded in 2012 by curator Ali Bakhtiari, one of the only few collectors of artist books in Iran, ABBookness is the first autonomous Middle Eastern project of Artist Book production. “Having been always obsessed with the materiality of the book as an object and at the same time a blank canvas and observing lack of artist book productions in Iran, I decided to create a platform to collaborate with artists in order to produce artist books and holding educational events in this genre.” Says Bakhtiari.
ABBookness’ debut project was an artist book with the late Farideh Lashai, Catching the Moon which was showcased in Dubai’s and Kuwait’s JAMM Gallery and became an instant success, critically and commercially. The success of Issue#0 was a reassurance to Bakhtiari to continue his project avidly until today.
Since 2012, ABBookness has published 1 artist book per year and produced and published many books, catalogues, portfolios and exhibitions.