The Classroom
On the second floor of 950 S. Raymond Ave11 AM – 12 PM
Chicana in Print, with Angel Diaz and Anna Nieto-Gomez
On the occasion of the Project Space, Chicano in Print, this program brings together Anna Nieto-Gomez, a Chicana writer and activist, and Angel Diaz, curator and librarian at University of California, Santa Barbara, to discuss the lasting impact of the Chicana movement as captured in the historic newspapers featured in the exhibition. Presented by Chicano in Print.
12–1 PM
How to wrangle a wild and emotional visual artist into fairy tale form? with Clare Crespo and Lisa Wagner
Designer Lisa Wagner and artist Clare Crespo will discuss the editorial process of balancing words and images in Oralee, a new children’s book for adults in fable form, published by Hat & Beard Press. In order to develop the graphic design of the publication, Wagner gave Crespo the following prompts: Write some spells, a song, stay away from tropes, write multiple drafts, and explore the etymology of the name Oralee. What resulted is a sprawling artwork that explores owls, night pollinators, blooming botanicals, and much more. This program will feature a conversation between artist and designer, with an emphasis on production and collaboration. Presented by Hat & Beard Press.
1-2 PM
Covers 2: Heresies, with Anya Gallaccio, Melinda Guillén, Lorena Mostajo, and Aurora Tang
Covers is a feminist zine project by Melinda Guillén, in collaboration with Lorena Mostajo of Taller California, that focuses on the recirculation of, and critical responses to, art-historical documents from a number of artist-founded publications. The second installment of Covers responds to the seminal feminist magazine Heresies, namely Issue #13: Earthkeeping / Earthshaking: Feminism & Ecology (Vol. 4, No. 1). This conversation recenters urgent questions about feminist methodologies by artists, writers, and activists, in order to learn from the past and help shape our collective future. Presented by Taller California.
2-3 PM
BOOKS ARE DEAD, with Alan Sobrino
The book, as we know it, is terminally ill and soon will disappear. What does it mean? What can we expect of the future? Which books will survive? Can we save the book? This program will discuss the last days of the printed book. Presented by Errant Press.
3-4 PM
Someday Is Now: The Art and Legacy of Corita Kent, with Juliette Bellocq and Andrea Bowers in conversation with Ian Berry
This program celebrates the second edition of Someday is Now: Corita Kent, a comprehensive monograph on the work of Corita Kent, copublished by DelMonico Books and Tang Museum at Skidmore College. After years out of print, the publication returns as a vibrant showcase of prints and ephemera spanning all phases of Kent’s career, reaffirming her significance as an artist, educator, and social justice advocate. Someday is Now: Corita Kent is enriched by select writings by Kent herself, interviews with former students and collaborators, and reflections from a wide range of contributors in the field. This program brings together a panel of artists and curators to discuss broader themes in the publication, offering commentary on Kent’s artwork and its everlasting impact. Presented by D.A.P.
4-5 PM
Publishing Possible Worlds, with Richard Hart, Suparna Choudhury, and Michael Jones McKean
Future Wunderkammer is a series of small-format philosophical books developed by the Future Humans program at the Berggruen Institute. Inspired by the early modern cabinet of curiosities, the project gathers artists, scientists, philosophers, and writers to imagine speculative “relics” from possible futures of life. Designer Richard Hart (Public/Official) joins Suparna Choudhury and Michael Jones McKean to discuss the development of the series—from shaping interdisciplinary research and artistic collaboration into short experimental publications to designing the books themselves as conceptual objects. Presented by Future Humans, Berggruen Institute.
5-6 PM
Memories That Smell Like Gasoline, with Matt Lipps, Amy Scholder, and Paul Mpagi Sepuya
Description: In celebration of the re-issue of David Wojnarowicz’s Memories That Smell Like Gasoline, Nightboat Books presents a conversation moderated by the book's editor, Amy Scholder, acclaimed producer and editor, and renowned photographers Matt Lipps and Paul Mpagi Sepuya. David Wojnarowicz (1954-1992), one of the most provocative artists of his generation, explored memory, violence, and the erotism of public space—all under the specter of AIDS. The conversation will touch on bookmaking and production, the intersection of photography and books, and explore crossovers with queerness and the legacy of AIDs.
6-7 PM
Techno-Organic, with L. Coats, weepingwillowtree, Samuel Lamontagne, Dem Passwords, Advent Groove, and Ava Blank
This program explores the unique history and cultural impact of the Los Angeles renegade rave. It asks, “What happens outside of the paid warehouse?” Panelists will discuss how ravers, artists, DJs, and organizers create their own forms of sonic resistance through rebellious visual mythologies and alternative spaces that challenge mainstream structures of capitalism. Presented by DesiredFX.
The Stage
In the courtyard between 950 and 908 S. Raymond Aveihppoh
chiky
bunny jr tapes
DJ wax/wane
Heine
inlovingmemoryof.creme
Jaya
groundislava
Reading Room
The LAABF 2026 Reading Room focuses on the politics of sound, drawing inspiration from publishers who use the print medium to explore the relationship between sound, geography, and ecology. The installation features newly commissioned works by a select group of exhibitors, as well as a series of videos and listening stations. Additional Fair participants will contribute titles related to this theme for a collective reference library hosted in the space. A series of custom modular cushions, produced by the multi-disciplinary design studio groupsports, create a non-hierarchical “social floor” for gathering, using reclaimed latex, wool, and fabric from LA County’s post-industrial waste streams. In contrast to the rapid speed at which visitors move through the Fair, this program offers an alternative space to engage in close reading, listening, research, and reflection. Additional tech support provided by Deep Time Press.
In this year’s Reading Room, sound functions as both a sensory medium and a political instrument, tracing how landscapes are shaped by power, memory, and displacement. Works like Aventures LTD.’s cassette edition foreground the circulation of music as a form of intimate, portable archive within diasporic networks, where sound becomes a vessel for belonging across fractured geographies. Metabolic Studio’s interactive sonic map of LA’s Owens River Valley (Payahuunadu) uses wind, animals, and industrial disturbance as testaments to the ecological consequences of human intervention, making audible the otherwise invisible entanglements between extraction, habitation, and environmental degradation. Across the border, Cynthia Magazine pays homage to the genre of Música Regional Mexicana, while Living Earth’s bioregional recordings catalog years of site-specific performances in response to west coast ecologies by a network of artists and activists. From there, F.A.G. Archive’s collection of photocopied facsimiles outline how trans communities endured the HIV/AIDS crisis and what relics they leave behind, both in print and in recordings of poetry readings. In these practices, sound attunes to both social and geological formations, as well as the political conditions that reshape them, like in Khabar Keslan’s account of how a sacred mountain in South Lebanon has been redefined by Israeli militarization and surveillance.
Publishing, in its expanded forms—music, magazine, archive, installation—threads together interdisciplinary projects and makes the relationships between artist, medium, and public more legible. It constructs a shared space of attention around political questions, from settler-colonial land transformations to queer and trans histories, and from post-industrial material reuse to evolving musical traditions. Altogether, the works in this Reading Room frame publishing as a collective, relational act: one that anchors artistic practices in local political realities while also creating international audiences through collaboration and circulation.
Contributions include:
Hand to Hand is a new cassette tape edition by Aventures LTD. (A22). The project draws inspiration from histories of bootleg mixtapes exchanged by family and through travel across the Palestinian diaspora. It pays homage to the preciousness of music as a souvenir, especially for people displaced or in exile. Hand to Hand is a collaboration with UNIBROW SUN and Glue Factory, and is assembled by Sabri Sundos, Michelle Nazzal, and Andrew Miller.
Cynthia Magazine (H29) pays tribute to their latest issue’s cover star, Chino Pacas, whose music is transforming the genre of Música Regional Mexicana.
F.A.G. Archive (I4) presents a visual representation of life-between-the-lines through a display of photocopied archival ephemera. The installation features a living altar dedicated to trans ancestors and victims of AIDS, and includes audio of excerpted poetry readings.
groupsports contributes an iteration of their project, Social Floor: a series of modular cushions offering varying formations for different social functions. Taking cues from the majlis مجلس sitting room, the cushions create a gathering space that’s low to the ground, soft, and non-hierarchical. This edition is inspired by ablaq أبلق, an architectural technique that alternates soft limestone and black basalt used in the Damascus courtyard typology. Designed responsively to materials available in LA County post-industrial waste streams, this set is made from reclaimed latex, wool, and fabric.
Metabolic Studio (D8) presents Payahuunadu Interactive Sound Map, a work that transmits sounds produced by animals, geological phenomena, and human activities recorded by Metabolic Studio around Payahuunadu, also known as the Owens Valley. The listener is able to combine and isolate site specific field recordings as a way to experience the unintended yet pervasive effects of human-made, artificial sounds on the ecosystem surrounding the Owens Dry Lake Bed. The study of sonic landscapes can reveal invisible networks of interdependence throughout the natural world.
Khabar Keslan Magazine (H28) explores the relationship between the residents of the Bekaa Valley and South Lebanon with Jabal al-Shaykh, the mountain overlooking their communities. The project builds on ongoing research and traces how local perceptions of the mountain are shifting from that of a sacred, life-sustaining landscape to a relationship marked by distance, restriction, and surveillance amidst ongoing Israeli settler-colonial expansion.
Living Earth presents a multi-media exploration of Los Angeles’ bioregions through an archive of outdoor performances. The installation features recordings of live music, an eco-surrealist plein air portrait, film, photos, and other ephemera that expand upon their ongoing collective practice of site-specific gatherings around music, performance, and ecology.
Workshops
In 950 S. Raymond Ave:Ongoing
Archetype Press
Open throughout the fair, Archetype Press invites visitors to experience one of the country’s largest educational letterpress studios. Stop by to explore the space, learn about letterpress printing, and create a print to take home.
2–3 PM
In Other News/En Otras Noticias
This workshop, hosted daily by Chicano in Print (PR 4), invites participants to rearrange and remix historical headlines to create narratives that reflect current issues. Drawing from the legacy of Chicano newspapers, the activity reclaims the front page as a space for community voice, societal critique, and cultural celebration.
Ongoing
Silkscreen Printing Demos. Featuring MiScreen A4
Join RISO Studio Arts (PR 6) for hands-on silkscreen printing demos. Featuring the Miscreen A4 system by RISO Kagaku Corporation—the inventors of the Risograph duplicator—this workshop offers a fast, accessible way to turn your digital image into a silkscreen print. No prep needed: simply upload an image directly from your phone when you register below. Our team will prepare your custom screen ahead of time (approx. 15 minutes wait for walk-ins!) , so it’s ready for you at your scheduled appointment. You’ll receive a confirmation reminder via email or text after registering. Just drop in at the time of your appointment, roll up your sleeves, and print your design onto paper, totes, or tees.
MiScreen A4 is a perfect approach to silkscreen printing that is low-pressure, a little experimental, and open to all skill levels.
Project Spaces
¡Afuera! Publishing Queer Liberation—From the Collection of Archivos Desviados (PR 5) traces the underrecognized network of influences and connections between three activist coalitions of the 1970s: the Gay Liberation Front of New York and the Third World Gay Revolution, two groups that emerged in post-Stonewall New York, and the Frente de Liberación Homosexual of Argentina, Latin America’s first political action group for gays and lesbians. Featuring rare magazines, newsletters, posters, flyers, mockups, and original documents, this survey—previously exhibited at Printed Matter in 2025—marks the first LA presentation of many of these works. Materials are drawn from Archivos Desviados, an ongoing, independent archive project now based in New York and founded by Argentinian-born archivist Juan Queiroz. Presented by Printed Matter.
Bread & Puppet Press (PR 8) presents We Who Are Not Dead Yet, an installation of protest prints that links the anguished imagery of Matthias Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece (1512–1516) to the violence of empire. At its center are the Isenheim Studies—64 masonite relief prints carved by Bread & Puppet co-founder Peter Schumann in 1962 and paired with his 2024 text written in response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The exhibition also includes prints from the 1960s made in response to the war in Vietnam, as well as large poppies printed in the summer of 2025 for the Domestic Resurrection Revolution in Progress Circus and Pageant. We present this work at a moment when the machinery of war continues to widen: the expansion of Israeli military violence across the region, and the U.S.–Israeli assault on Iran that has already dropped thousands of bombs, causing widespread devastation and civilian casualties. These works insist that such violence is not an exception but a constant condition of imperialism.
Chicano in Print (PR 4) examines the design and visual culture of Chicano independent publications from the 1960s and 1970s. The publications on view used Spanish-language mastheads, bold typefaces, and symbols drawn from Mexican history to communicate cultural identity and movement ideology. This exhibition traces how these design decisions created a shared visual language for the Chicano movement, both in Los Angeles and across the country. The aim is to inspire future designers, scholars, and students by highlighting the revolutionary visual work of this transformative era. Presented by Alexandria Canchola and Joshua Duttweiler.
Ooga Booga presents Emily’s Sassy Lime: The G.U.S.T.O. B-sides Redux (PR 9), an installation of archival materials from the scrappy mid-90s SoCal band, Emily’s Sassy Lime (E.S.L.). Comprising three high school students, Emily Ryan, Amy Yao, and Wendy Yao, E.S.L. formed their sound mostly over the phone and by snail mail, since the bandmates lived far from each other and initially weren’t old enough to drive. They borrowed instruments, hitched rides, snuck out to shows, and released records on Kill Rock Stars after the label owner heard their song on a mutual friend’s answering machine. Following a recent and more expanded exhibition at Orange County Museum of Art, The G.U.S.T.O. B-sides Redux encompasses ephemera from their extensive collection of “junks”—flyers, letters, photos, films, and other artifacts of Asian girlhood before Y2K. Accompanying the installation is a table by E.S.L. member Wendy Yao, whose Chinatown LA bookstore, Ooga Booga, features the release of new publications from the band members and more.
Ed Ruscha’s Streets of Los Angeles: Artist, Image, Archive, City (PR 2) is a project space organized by The Getty Research Institute that highlights Ed Ruscha’s iconic ongoing photographic documentation of Los Angeles. Carried out over six decades on many of the city’s major thoroughfares, the archive constitutes an unparalleled visual chronicle of both notable and everyday sites in L.A., including popular music venues, neighborhood restaurants, and billboards promoting Hollywood’s latest blockbusters. Ruscha’s photographs of Los Angeles streets from 1965 to today are the subject of a new digital and print publication by the Getty: Ed Ruscha's Streets of Los Angeles: Artist, Image, Archive, City.
Marta (PR 7) presents Vince Skelly's Book Stools in the courtyard of the LA Art Book Fair. The installation exhibits a series of new functional sculptures by the Claremont-based artist Vince Skelly: hand-carved and shaped stools made of California redwood, a material frequently used by the artist. The sculptures are single-title bookshelves that simultaneously act as a perch upon which to read their contents; the books are an intrinsic part of the sculptures that house them. Book Stools marks the gallery's first solo outing with Skelly and its inaugural presence at the Fair as non-booksellers.
RISO Studio Arts (PR 6) presents A History of RISO in Art: an exhibition featuring vibrant risograph prints created from archival photographs documenting the Japanese RISO Kakagu Corporation’s history from 1945 to present day. The corporation invented the risograph as well as other screenprinting technologies such as GOCCO and MiScreen. RISO Studio Arts is an official distributor for their equipment. The presentation reflects on the significant role risograph printing has played in global zine culture, art book fairs, and independent publishing communities. During the Fair, visitors can also participate in hands-on workshops with live risograph and screenprint demonstrations in the Project Space.
Three Star Books (PR 3) and Paint It Black, Torino, join forces for ON SET, a special presentation dedicated to artists’ books. A selection of titles from both publishing houses will be displayed on a large black table, each volume individually illuminated by a dedicated projector. The installation evokes a film set poised for action, where every book appears as a protagonist awaiting their close-up. Participating artists include Ruby Sky Stiler, Daniel Gordon, Jonathan Monk, Simon Starling, Iris Touliatou, and Ambra Pittoni, among others.
Werkplaats Typografie (PR 1) presents Visit Arnhem. An evolving billboard campaign portrays the Dutch city of Arnhem through various local advertisements. Continuously over-pasted, the project forms a shifting portrait of the city, moving between promotion and reflection. In this campaign, we portray the local as global, asking the question: what makes a city?
Signings & Launches
ONGOING
C6 Center for Art, Research and Alliances (CARA)
Launch of Judith Namala: A Novella, by Serubiri Moses.
Launch of The Earth, the Fire, the Water, and the Winds: For a Museum of Errantry with Édouard Glissant.
Launch of Michael Richards: Are You Down?
G7 zug press
Launch and signing of Tragõidia, by Zhu Gaocanyue.
C2 te editions
Launch of te magazine issue 4: Spinal Memory, by te editions.
12 PM
K7 Boundless Bound Publishing
Launch of 传/Chuán – Voices for Distant Worlds, by Feixue Mei.
C7 Nightboat Books
Signing of raw & zero, by imogen smith.
B7 VOID x THESE DAYS
Signing of Sister Moon, by Siri Kaur.
1 PM
B29 THE ICE PLANT
Launch of Walking in Place 3: TOKYO, Walking in Place 2: BERLIN, Walking in Place 1: NEW ORLEANS, by Mike Slack.
H22 Pharmacy Books
Signing of Tiden er en Flad Cirkel, by Taylor Galloway.
E16 Future Humans
Signing of Future Wunderkammer: Between Organism and Algorithm, by Richard Hart, Suparna Choudhury, and Michael Jones McKean.
D9 Deep Time Press
Launch and signing of Rock Clock, by Sean McFarland.
B21 Immaterial Books
Signing of The Thread of Water: Ethnography, Photography, & Feminist Ecologies, by Julie Patarin-Jossec.
A6 New Documents
Signing of Golden, by Scott West.
K10 Unpress / 紙漿合作社
Signing of Plants as Roadblock as Graffiti, by James Wicks.
2 PM
G10 Mattazine Society
Signing of For the Love of Jobriath, by Kristian Hoffman.
B29 THE ICE PLANT
Launch of Isn't X Beautiful!, by Odette Elix England.
H22 Pharmacy Books
Signing of Land Fall, by Claire Hungerford.
F14 Kamp ABC
Signing of BOYSGROWNTALL Vol 2: Nachtwagen, by Julian Klincewicz.
A17 Inventory Press
Signing of Cura's Garden, by Ben Thorp Brown.
H30 kyklàda.press
Signing of MEDITERRANEAN ICEBERGS, Invisible Connections Underwater, by David Bergé.
G9 Allowing Many Forms
Launch and signing of My Lotto By Malado, by Malado Francine.
B25 SUPER LABO
Signing of Thirty Cuts, by Jim Goldberg.
B7 VOID x THESE DAYS
Signing of 5 Dollars For 3 Minutes, by Cammie Toloui.
3 PM
B28 Loose Joints
Signing of Wet Ground, by Aria Shahrokhshahi.
A23 TBW Books
Signing of Swan Moon's Swan Moon, by Swan Moon.
H22 Pharmacy Books
Signing of Fair Catch, by Madison Carroll.
B2 MAKAN
Launch of Desert Notes, by Samantha Jensen.
C14 Magic Hour Press
Signing of Freddie, by Rory Mulligan.
4 PM
B7 VOID x THESE DAYS
Signing of Fishworm, by Pia Paulina Guilmoth.
B28 Loose Joints
Signing of Like a River, by Daniel Jack Lyons.
H22 Pharmacy Books
Signing of Hand for Scale, by Max Gavrich.
H30 kyklàda.press
Signing of ISLANDS OF EXILE, Hemmed in by the Sea, by David Bergé.
B5 Luhz Press
Signing of TORNADO, by Jackie Furtado and Jennifer Haare.
A23 TBW Books
Signing of Posthume, by Mark McKnight.
J6 Pide un deseo
Launch of Unfolding the self (or an exploration of why making zines), by Estrella Pezo.
A7 Mount Analog
Launch and signing of Until Now, by Daniel Heimbinder. Presented by Mount Analog/ Margins.
B12 Fraglich Publishing / Myanmar Photo Archive
Signing of Alone Together, by Devin Yalkın. Presented by Fraglich Publishing & FiLBooks
5 PM
B12 Fraglich Publishing
Signing of Hayal & Hakikat: A Handbook of Punishment & A Handbook of Forgiveness, by Cemre Yeşil Gönenli. Presented by Fraglich Publishing & FiLBooks.
A21 MACK
Signing of Coming and Going, by Jim Goldberg.
Offsite Programs
1–4 PM
Cyanotype Printing Workshop by Heavy Manners Library
1200 N Alvarado Street
Have you ever wanted to learn how to make cyanotypes? For this workshop, Heavy Manners will be going over cyanotype history, the basics, paper preparation, and experimental methods used in this creative process. All materials will be provided: cyanotype chemistry, paper, transparency film, fabric, textures, and more.
6–10 PM
Paper Trails
Shallow Bath Gallery, 6371 N. Figueroa St
Exhibition opening of work by Samantha Jensen and Sean Stout. MAKAN will also launch a book with Jensen at the opening. The exhibition is open through May 19.
6–9 PM
Identity is Variable
Lore Leimert Park, 4334 Degnan Blvd
Book launch and discussion of personal identity as typography, with Randa Hadi, Silas Munro, Jesse Ragan, and Dori Tunstall.
Ongoing
Bungee Space + Fey Fey Worldwide Pop Up at LTTT 40++++ shop
309 E. 1st Street
Open May 6–17. Hours: Wednesday – Saturday 2–7 PM, Sunday 12–5 PM