The notion of artistic publishing has changed over the past few decades, in particular with the expansion of the art market, as well as the globalization of artistic practices. This is combined with the advent of the digital and the introduction of new modes of production and circulation. Print and digital projects employ experimental formats, blurring distinctions between the art press, curatorial experiments, and other publishing enterprises. The aim of the presentation of the curator and art historian Beáta Istvánkó is to summarize the history of independent art publishing in Hungary after 2000 through the activity of the Budapest-based ISBN books+gallery.
The ISBN is a contemporary art bookstore and a gallery space established in 2017. The name of the gallery was obtained from the International Standard Book Number, a 13-digit identification publication. The most important mission of the ISBN books+gallery is to map, collect, exhibit and distribute texts both domestic and regional, Hungarian and foreign language, new and second-hand contemporary art publications, exhibition catalogs, zines, art books.
Beáta Istvánkó (born 1987) is a Budapest-based art historian and curator. After finishing her studies she worked as the project coordinator of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts and the Studio of Young Artists’ Association, and has curated numerous independent projects. In 2017 she founded the contemporary art publication store and gallery, ISBN books+gallery. This is the first independent bookstore focused on contemporary art publications in Budapest. Besides running the gallery, she is working on her PhD research in the Art and Design Theory doctoral program of the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (Budapest). Recently she is one of the regular authors of PUNKT, the latest photography online magazine in Hungary.
Her lecture takes place during her research stay in Prague, after gaining the Fotograf Residency for curators and artists from the Visegrad countries and Georgia.
