Fondazione ICA Milano presents, from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 September 2022, the second edition of the festival and prize Books & Others, an annual project dedicated to artists’ books and visual culture offering visitors an insight of the rich and varied Italian art publishing scene.

Twenty-seven Italian publishers, focusing on the contemporary, have been invited by Fondazione ICA Milano to take part in the event, presenting up to five publications each: Bruno, Centro Di, CURA., DITO Publishing, Fondazione Prada, GAMeC, Hangar Bicocca, Humboldt Books, Johan&Levi Editore, Kaleidoscope, Krisis Publishing, Lenz Press, Lettera22, Mousse, Museion, NERO editions, Palazzo Grassi, Ronzani, Rorhof, Self Publish, Be Happy, Silvana Editoriale, Skira, Union Editions, Veii, Viaindustriae, Witty Books and Yard Press.

Catalogues, biographies, essays and artists’ books are thus presented in an exhibition display conceived and designed specifically for the spaces at Via Orobia 26 by the students of ISIA Urbino Publishing Graphics course led by Francesco Valtolina in collaboration with Edizioni Brigantino. The volumes presented as part of Books & Others, which can be freely consulted during the festival, will become part of Fondazione ICA Milano library, where they will be available to the public for consultation, study and research purposes. A section dedicated to sale and purchase of independent publications and publishing projects is managed by two of the Italian most interesting bookshops: Bruno (Venice) and Commerce (Milan).

The cultural program of Books & Others includes the second edition of the prize dedicated to artists' books and visual culture. The prize is aimed at identifying a selection of titles among those in competition considered of particular value and interest and published in 2021 in Italy. The jury in charge of the evaluation is composed of four experts in the field: the interdisciplinary artist Dafne Boggeri, co-founder of Sprint festival and book fair; the publisher, researcher and curator Chiara Figone (Archive Books); the director of the Centro Pecci di Prato Stefano Collicelli Cagol; the visual artist and lecturer Luca Trevisani.
The previous edition of the festival, in 2019, had seen the awarding of the prize to the volume "Global Tools, 1973-1975. Quando l’Educazione coinciderà con la Vita", edited by Silvia Franceschini and Valerio Borgonuovo for NERO Editions. 

The workshop "Rereading the Archive", led by Saul Marcadent in collaboration with Compulsive Archive activates the Festival few days in advance. Spread over three days, from 6 to 8 September 2022, the course invites participants to explore the theme of publishing as a permeable language by coming into contact with authentic documents. Reading them according to their own research key, it identifies in the festival a moment of restitution and presentation to the public of the materials produced during the workshop by the participants. The workshop is realised thanks to the kind support of Favini Srl.

Finally, the second edition of Books & Others dialogues with the two exhibition projects inaugurating the new season of Fondazione ICA Milano. The exhibition Die Bücher by German artist Annette Kelm welcomes the visitors on the first floor. The show unfolds through a narration in photographic images, whose center is the book-object. At the same time, the project room hosts the solo exhibition MY SKIN-CARE, MY STRENGTH by Costanza Candeloro, which explores the theme of the relationship between society and digital technologies through expressive languages such as sculpture, photography and installation. The exhibition opens with the performance "The Cocktail Party Effect", which will take place on Friday 16 September at 7.30 pm.

Annette Kelm's exhibition is accompanied by the publication of a volume specifically dedicated to the project. Published by Buchhandlung Franz and Walther König, Cologne, is presents contributions by Udo Kittelmann, Nicolaus Schafhausen and Mirjam Zadoff. The publication will be presented in the presence of author Mirjam Zadoff and artist Annette Kelm on Saturday 17 September at 6.30 pm.

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Books & Others
From 16 September 2022, from 15.00 to 20.00
Saturday 17 - Sunday 18 September 2022, from 13.00 to 21.00