The ClassroomNow in its seventh year, this curated series of informal conversations, workshops, readings and other artist-led programs is also an informal venue for artists, writers and publishers to feature new releases and present their publications. Participants include: Hal Fischer, Experimental Jetset, Christian Patterson, Public Movement Delegate: Alhena Katsof, Carmelle Safdie & Sophy Naess, Johanna Drucker, Jeffrey Schnapp, Felipe Mujica & Johanna Unzueta, and many others. The Classroom is organized by David Senior, Museum of Modern Art Library. See the full Classroom calendar here.

Contemporary Artists’ Books Conference (CABC)The eighth annual Contemporary Artists’ Books Conference presents two full days of lively debate on emerging practices and issues within art-book culture. Session topics include recordworks, archives in photobooks, criticism, activism, and instructional works. This year the CABC will also experiment with an open mic format called Show and Tell.

This year’s conference will feature a keynote address by the artists Walead Beshty and Liam Gillick on the occasion of the publication of the volume Ethics in Whitechapel’s Documents of Contemporary Art series (MIT Press 2015), which was edited by Beshty, and for which Gillick was a contributor. With this volume as a backdrop, they will discuss both their work and critical writing in relation to the broad network of relations that contemporary art traffics within, and the centrality that systems of distribution and the social field have come to play in its reception. See the full CABC calendar here. XE(ROX) & PAPER + SCISSORS, and The Small Press Dome

A lively selection of international artists, zinesters, and small presses will represent independent publishing at its most innovative and affordable in the MoMA PS1 courtyard. Select exhibitors include: FIST (California); Commune (Japan); Knuckles & Notch (Singapore); Pau Wau (New York); Hundöra Press (Netherlands), among many others.

Friendly FireThis diverse group of politically-minded collectives and presses focused on the intersection of art and activism, includes: Visual AIDS (New York), Black Lives Matter (USA), World War 3 Illustrated (New York), and others. Curated by Printed Matter’s Max Schumann.

Focus: PhotographyA curated cross-section of photo-based artist’s books and magazines, this year’s Focus: Photography includes: Aperture Foundation (New York); Mack Books (London); X-Magazine & Einstein Studio (Japan); RVB Books (France); Little Big Man (New York); Mörel (London); Trolley Books (London), and more.

EXHIBITIONSPrinted Matter, Inc. proudly presents an exhibition of zines and ephemera by popular artist-trio Paper Rad, curated by Paul Bright, in celebration of the release of PPP – The Zines of Paper Rad. Although perhaps best known for their influential website paperrad.org, the three-member, New England-based collective also produced hundreds of handmade books, stencils and posters throughout their 10+ years working together. Delema Books and Bright Lyons will exhibit a selection of Zines, clothing and other printed ephemera created by Paper Rad between 1997 and 2009, most of which has not been seen publicly until now. The collection, assembled by Paul Bright over a ten-year period, represents the largest private collection of Paper Rad’s work.

Andrew Roth will exhibit a complete run of rare, limited edition artist’s books by the Belgian poet/conceptual artist Marcel Broodthaers (1924-1976). Beginning with Pense-Bête (1963) and ending with his posthumously published La Conquête de l’Espace. Atlas à l’usage des artistes et des militaires (1976), Broodthaers treats the book as art, manifesting some of his most radical work within its covers. Referencing Magritte and the poets Baudelaire and Mallarmé, these book-objects effortlessly connect the past with the contemporary.

Arthur Fournier activates Maurice R. Stein and Larry Miller‘s iconic work of radical pedagogy with a full-scale deployment of Marshall Henrichs‘ iconic Charts presented alongside rare books, magazines, ephemera and artifacts sourced from the Blueprint for Counter Education‘s provocative bibliography. Visitors to the Boiler Room are invited to engage with the installation as they see fit — perhaps taking a cue from the 101 Learning Aids for the Charts in the Style of Tuli Kupferberg by Don Krohn — in an environment staged to resemble the off-campus living quarters of a socially conscious humanities graduate student, ca. 1970. Equal parts immersive theater, discursive game, and tribute to the original Blueprint, Fournier presents the Construction as a point of departure for new pedagogical experiments relevant to the challenges of knowledge production in the late-capitalist era, particularly given the corporate mediation of selfhood via our collective participation in online social networks.

Cherry and Martin presents Hal Fischer’s Gay Semiotics (1977/2014), one of the first works to bring the language of structuralism and linguistics into the photo world. It presents the codes of sexual orientation and identification Fischer saw in San Francisco’s Castro and Haight Ashbury districts as a tongue-in-cheek anthropological essay. Nearly four decades later, Gay Semiotics remains a proactive statement from a voice within the gay community. It is a window onto a unique moment in history – the years just after Watergate and before the political assassinations of Harvey Milk and George Moscone; the trauma of Jonestown; the ascendancy of California’s former governor, Ronald Reagan, to the height of American politics; and the devastation wrought by AIDS. Cherry and Martin’s presentation will include a reissue of Fischer’s landmark portfolio, never-before-seen ephemera and a new edition of Fischer’s book, Gay Semiotics: a photographic study of visual coding among homosexual men (NFS Press, 1977), for sale in the booth, which Fischer will be on hand to sign.

Marcel Dzama, in collaboration with David Zwirner Books, will stage a multi-day exhibition of works and performances. The presentation will include the artist’s video works, collages, prints, books, costumes, and a brand new zine! On the evening of Thursday, September 17, a live dance performance will reenact choreography from Dzama’s video Death Disco Dance, followed by live music performances of the soundtrack from his latest film Une danse des bouffons (or A jester’s dance) on Friday, September 18. The event will culminate with a book signing with the artist on Saturday, September 19.

Études Books presents American artists Daniel Turner and Colin Snapp in a special installation at the fair, alongside the release of their two new books: Marjorie by Daniel Turner and ID by Colin Snapp.

James Cummins Bookseller presents The Archive of Paul Williams, a key archive in the history of American counter culture. Paul Williams (1948-2013), founded Crawdaddy! in 1966 and launched rock ‘n’ roll journalism. He wrote extensively on Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Lou Reed, and many other musicians. In 1975, his Rolling Stone profile of Philip K. Dick propelled PKD into the national consciousness, and as Dick’s literary executor he launched the writer’s astounding posthumous career. Williams’ books included Hippie memoirs Time Between and Apple Bay, and the best-selling book of practical philosophy, Das Energi.

KARMA will launch CHRON, a 500 page publication that collects over 300 collages and works on paper from a decade of Sterling Ruby’s practice. In conjunction with the release of the publication, Karma will present a group of the artist’s large-scale cardboard collages.

onestar press, in collaboration with Sequence Press, presents a new set of works and the debut of Matthew Brannon’s limited edition large poster series conceived in conjunction with his artist’s book Laurence Harvey presented for the first time. Marina Abramovic’s 100 Pisama/100 Letters limited edition multiple will be on view alongside a special project room installation featuring a new 4-piece chair designed by French artist Sebastien de Ganay in collaboration with Lawrence Weiner, entitled A RESPITE AT SOME POINT – ASAP. onestar press’ classic artist’s book collection will also be on display alongside a selection of editions from Three Star Books by John Baldessari, Matthew Brannon, Maurizio Cattelan, Liam Gillick, Jonathan Monk, Simon Starling, Haim Steinbach and Lawrence Weiner.

Presentation House Gallery presents a re-mounting of B.C. Almanac(h) C-B, a book and exhibition originally commissioned by the Stills Division of the National Film Board of Canada in 1970. Organized by Vancouver artists Jack Dale and Michael de Courcy, fifteen West Coast artists were invited to produce photographic booklets that were then compiled into an anthology. Participants included experimental, multimedia artists Christos Dikeakos, Gerry Gilbert, Roy Kiyooka,Glenn Lewis, NE Thing Co., Michael Morris, and Vincent Trasov. The book was conceived as an exhibition, beginning with a double-page spread of the backsides of the artists walking into the book, and became an exhibition – a multimedia version of the book, complete with walls painted greyscale. This self-referential project highlights the materials and processes of print production and the circulation of print culture through mass media. The artists were experimenting with new technologies and used the camera to explore ideas about communication in the electronic “information age”. The individual bookworks range from a conceptualist work about books to a series of “straight” photographs. Many of the artists produced photo-collages about their bohemian lifestyles, and thus the Almanac book is also a document of the countercultural ethos of the period.

Wild Life Press presents Nocturnal Dream Show – the art of midnight films, free theater and the psychedelic underground: San Francisco 1969 – 1973. Amid the protest movements, utopian communities and experimental counterculture of the Bay Area during this period, theNocturnal Dream Shows pioneering weekly showcases at The Palace Theater brought together a heady mix of midnight films, radical theater and pansexual anarchy. This exhibition showcases a collection of artwork, ephemera and other material related to these events by Steven Arnold, Todd Trexler, The Cockettes, Sylvester and The Angels of Light among others.

Werkplaats Typografie (The Netherlands), a fair favorite, presents a collaborative project by its entire student body for the sixth year running; and Know-Wave (New York, NY) broadcasts live from the fair continuously throughout the weekend.