About

The second edition of the BookBauFestival, hosted by the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG Karlsruhe), will take place from January 31st to February 2nd, 2025. This festival will bring together students from our and other universities and protagonists from the international and national artists' book scene, to present their diverse range of artists' books to an engaged visitors.
The BookBauFestival will focus on the themes of economics, sustainable production, and the exhibition/collection of artists' books. During the three days, workshops for children and adults as well as talks by protagonists of the scene are planned and are open to all. From HfG, the initiatives BookBoi*, KLAK, the student publication Schwarm as well as the magazines UMBAU take part. The joint library of ZKM and HfG exhibits a selection of historical books.
The BookBauFestival was conceived in an interdisciplinary way, involving students from the seminar “artists’ books with photography” led by Prof. Susanne Kriemann, associate teacher Hangyan Chen as well as participants from the seminar “BookBauScenography” led by Vera Gärtner.

ProgramFriday 31.01.2025

  • Festival OpeningArt Book Fair
    17:00–20:00Lichthof 3&4
  • It’s time to grow upWorkshopBookboi*, bring your own book
    17:00–19:00Living Library Space
  • The Family AlbumReading and SharingLiteratursalon with Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju, moderated by Paolo Caffoni
    18:00–19:00Lichthof 4

Saturday 01.02.2025

  • BookBauFestivalArt Book Fair
    12:00–19:00Lichthof 3&4
  • Kids BookBauStammtisch
    12:00–19:00under Lichtbrücke
  • It’s time to grow upWorkshopBookboi*, bring your own book
    14:00–17:00Living Library Space
  • The Family AlbumWorkshopA Writing and Drawing with Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju
    12:00–15:00Room 115
  • Economy and sustainable productionReading and SharingMark Pezinger Books
    12:00–12:30Lichthof 4
  • A book a day keeps publishers in playReading and SharingSpector Books
    12:30–13:00Lichthof 4
  • Independent publishing: a footnoteReading and SharingBackBoneBooks
    13:00–13:30Lichthof 4
  • Students lead presentationReading and SharingABK Stuttgart, Uni Siegen, HBK Braunschweig, HfG Offenbach, HfG Karlsruhe
    13:30–14:30Lichthof 4
  • Bookstop Bookshop BuchhausRound TableeinBuch.haus, ABA Air Berlin Bookstop Alexanderplatz, Limestone Books, moderated by Susanne Kriemann
    15:00–16:00Lichthof 4

Sunday 02.02.2025

  • BookBauFestivalArt Book Fair
    12:00–18:00Lichthof 3&4
  • Kids BookBauStammtisch
    12:00–18:00under Lichtbrücke
  • It’s time to grow upWorkshopBookboi*, bring your own book
    14:00–17:00Living Library Space
  • Selfpublishing — collective sharing sessionReading and Sharingmalenki.net
    12:00–12:30Lichthof 4
  • Making, Meeting, Exchanging around art books in ChinaReading and SharingabC_art book in China
    12:30–13:00Lichthof 4
  • Reading and SharingEveryedition
    13:00–13:30Lichthof 4
  • Reading and SharingMonroe Books
    13:30–14:00Lichthof 4
  • Literarische MiniaturenReading and SharingKLAK
    14:00–14:30Lichthof 4
  • Publishing as artistic practiceRound TableNomad Papaya Books, 51 Personae, Bazar Artbooks, moderated by Céline Condorelli
    15:00–16:00Lichthof 4
  • BookBauFestivalEnd
    18:00Lichthof 3&4

HfG Publishing Platforms

MUNITIONSFABRIK – The university’s magazine


From university newspaper to art magazine to scientific publication: looking back at the history of Munitionsfabrik (“ammunition factory”) the university’s magazine has taken on a large variety of different publication types and formats. It was founded during the winter semester of 1997/98 by Adam Seide as a transdisciplinary platform for experimental design and publishing. Since 2004 Munitionsfabrik has been edited and published by changing student groups. Visit Website


Bookboi*


Bookboi* is a student initiative of the HfG Karlsruhe, which has set itself the task of providing a platform for publications created at the university. On the one hand, the platform functions as an archive for student publications, which are produced in a small number of copies at the university, and on the other hand as an exhibition space and communication of current projects at fairs or university events. A constantly changing selection of exhibited works offers focused insight into current projects. Visit Website


UMBAU – Online Journal


UMBAU is an online journal for the promotion of art, research, and design emerging from Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG).
In 1992, a time of major socio-economic and technological change, the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design was founded as a “digital Bauhaus.” UMBAU, an architectural term roughly translatable as “remodeling” (to take a given structure and adjust it to contemporary situations) addresses this heritage and introduces a moment of destabilization. UMBAU welcomes trans-disciplinary modes of thinking through the situational, the unfinished, and the transitional. Visit Website


MAS


Materialien zu Ausstellungsdesign und Szenografie (MAS) is a publication series by the department of exhibition design and scenography (ADSZ) at the HfG Karlsruhe. It deals with the design of spaces as a critical practice.
MAS is designed as an ongoing collection of materials. The individual issues are regarded as exhibition and performance spaces whose design follows principles similar to those of a museum space or a theatre stage. MAS is concerned with materials that present new contexts and perspectives through their selection, combination, contextualization or commentary, and their designed presentation in print form.


KLAK


KLAK is a publishing platform of HfG Karlsruhe, dedicated to literary format. The booklets contain texts from the fields of prose, poetry as well as concrete poetry. The texts were written by participants in Prof. Dr. Stephan Krass' literature seminar at the HfG Karlsruhe. The issues of the KLAK magazine can be obtained from the literature vending machine in the foyer of the ZKM & HfG.


Seminar “artists books with photography”


Since the 1970s, artists' books have become an independent art form. Over the decades, they have developed into a overwhelming movement led by artists and publishers alike. All formats and possibilities of publishing and print-on-demand can be witnessed.
In the seminar, we look at iconic artists' books that have had a decisive influence on artistic photography, such as Ed Ruscha's "Every Building on the Sunset Strip" or Roni Horn's "Another Water". We then focus primarily on the flood of artists' books of the last decade. We then produce artist's books with photography ourselves and in a collaborative endeavor. Thus we become more and more interwoven with the fascinating world of sorting, forming, conceptualizing, assembling. The seminar takes place each semester and is led by Prof. Susanne Kriemann. Visit Website

Participants

  • Publishers


  • ABA Air Berlin Alexanderplatz
  • abC_art book in China
  • Accidental Interest Books (AIB)
  • Archive Books
  • BackBoneBooks
  • Bazar Artbooks
  • BookBoi*
  • bring your own book
  • Camera Austria
  • Cpress
  • einBuch.haus
  • Everyedition
  • Heidemarie von Wedel
  • KLAK
  • Limestone Books
  • Living Library Karlsruhe
  • Monroe Books
  • malenki.net
  • Mark Pezinger Books
  • Nomad Papaya Books
  • ORC
  • RAMSDAM BOOKS
  • Rollo Press
  • ROMA publications
  • Spectorbooks
  • shushushushu books
  • Slanted Publishers
  • Umbau
  • 51 Personae
  • Universities


  • HBK Braunschweig, Prof. Antje Majewski
  • Universität Siegen, Prof. Uschi Huber
  • HfG Offenbach
  • ABK Stuttgart, Prof. Antonia Low, Prof. Lucienne Roberts
  • HfG Karlsruhe, Prof. Susanne Kriemann

  • Karlsruhe Art Institutions


  • Badischer Kunstverein
  • Kunsthalle Karlsruhe
  • ZKM Library

Transport

  • KVV – REGIOMOVE

  • Regiomove shows the
  • positions of all Buses and Trams


  • KVV – Nextbike

  • Bikesharing in Karlsruhe
  • You can use it with the App KVV.regiomove


  • TRAMSTATION HOCHSCHULE

  • Lessingstraße (Tram 5)
  • Arbeitsagentur (Tram 2, S2)
  • ZKM (Tram, 2, S2)


  • FROM TRAINSTATION TO HFG
  • Hauptbahnhof Vorplatz to ZKM – Tram 2


  • BACK

  • ZKM to Hauptbahnhof Vorplatz – Tram 2 Wohlfartsweier

Imprint

©2025 BookBauFestival