Passion and community sustain Singapore Art Book Fair

The annual event just held its 10th edition and brought in art book fair organisers from across the globe for the first time

- Christie Chiu

It started as a modest event, held in a quiet corner of Gillman Barracks in 2013 with just 30 exhibitors and 1,000 visitors. It took a month to throw together.

These days, what Ms Renee Ting called a "haphazard" affair back then has more than 100 exhibitors and attracted 4,500 visitors in 2023. It also takes her a year to organise the annual event.

The Singapore Art Book Fair is now widely regarded as the largest and leading art book fair in South-east Asia, and it toasted its 10th edition from Oct 25 to 27 at the Singapore Art Museum.

The 2024 iteration also brought in the organisers of some of the largest art book fairs in the world, including those of the New York and Los Angeles Art Book Fair, Tokyo Art Book Fair, and abc art book from China.

It featured a wide selection of artists' books, zines - self-published, small-circulation booklets - as well as monographs, contemporary art editions, and other printed ephemera from 104 local and international exhibitors.

It was testament to the dedication and drive of its founder, Ms Ting, who had racked up $30,000 in debt while planning the Covid-19-hit 2020 edition.

An experimental and interdisciplinary genre, art books are works of art that take the form of a book.

The independent fair's decade-long run has been touted by many as an affirmation that ground-up art initiatives can thrive in Singapore - an outcome no one is more surprised by than Ms Ting.

"Hopes? No hopes," she replied when asked what her dreams for the fair were when she started it while working full-time at an independent art book store.

But somehow, along the way, the fair grew from a chore to "check off a box" into a fervid devotion she was willing to juggle seven freelance jobs for two years to support financially.

TURNING THE FAIR INTO A GOING CONCERN