Free Parking: Art Libraries from Elsewhere is a programme series located in the Asia Art Archive Library that features ‘art libraries from elsewhere’ in conversation with the AAA collection in Hong Kong.
On view are artist books, documentation, and related materials from The Editorial, a research-led inquiry into the expanding role and network of independent contemporary art publishers in Asia and their international impact through a curated series of public events, exhibitions, and discussions. The programme took place through Asia Art Archive as part of the Taipei Biennial 2016.
The exhibition focuses on independent publishing in Asia and how this is moving beyond exhibition catalogues, magazines, artist books, and historical and philosophical writing to incorporate current literary, research-based, and digitally-oriented hybrid practices. It also examines how the apparatuses of articulating and delivering content, from art book fairs to art libraries and archives, are being rethought and reshaped as ‘curated’ sites.
By sharing materials from practitioners who are rethinking the conditions of publishing in the face of region-specific circumstances and challenges, including the crucial role of museums, archives, and self-organised initiatives, the exhibition contributes towards growing critical reflection on this rapidly developing area, proposing an ‘editorial aesthetics’ at the nexus of contemporary art production.
