Free and open to the public, the NY Art Book Fair is the world's leading event for artists' books, catalogs, monographs, periodicals, and zines showcased by more than 280 booksellers, antiquarians, artists, and independent publishers from more than twenty countries.

Last year's NY Art Book Fair saw its largest attendance to date with more than 25,000 artists, book buyers, collectors, dealers, curators, independent publishers, and other enthusiasts attending over the course of the event.

The NY Art Book Fair 2013 is shaping up to be another incredibly exciting installment of the fair, with a dynamic program of special projects, screenings, book signings and performances taking place throughout the weekend. The Classroom—a curated series of artist-led workshops, readings, and discussions—and the annual Contemporary Artists' Books Conference—a two-day symposium on emerging practices and dialog within art-book culture—run throughout the fair and are free to the public.

Fair previewJoin us Thursday, September 19, 6 to 9pm, for an opening night preview to get an early look at the 280 exhibitors. The event will feature a live set on the steps of MoMA PS1 by MASKS (New York City-based duo Alexis Georgopoulos and Max Ravitz) incorporating elements of underground dance music through analog synthesizers and drum machines. Terekke (Matt Gardner) will perform an opening set of subliminal, dub–influenced basement house.

Special programming

The ClassroomNow in its fifth 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 Tréy Sager with Badlands Unlimited (New York); Olof Olsson with Rollo Press (Switzerland); Linda Simpson with Peradam (New York); Elisabeth Tonnard and Chris Burnett with J&L Books (Scranton, PA); Amish Morrell with C Magazine (Canada); the curators of the Libros Mutantes Book Fair (Spain) and many others. The Classroom is organized by David Senior, Museum of Modern Art Library.

Contemporary Artists' Books Conference The sixth annual Contemporary Artists' Books Conference presents two full days of lively debate on emerging practices and issues within art-book culture. Conference sessions will cover an array of topics, including artists' books by designers, experimental comics, pedagogy, 'text engines,' as well as photobooks in relation to the exhibition of photographic works.

This year's conference will feature keynote addresses from Clive Phillpot and Warren Lehrer. Clive Phillpot, a noted critic and preeminent figure in the field of artists' books, will give a rare New York appearance on the occasion of his long-awaited Booktrek: Selected Essays on Artist's Books Since 1972. Writer and book artist Warren Lehrer will discuss his classic book works and present a multimedia performance of his latest work.

The full schedule of Conference sessions and advance reservation for keynote talks are available at nyartbookfair.com/conference.

The Schoolyard & 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 The Song Cave (Northampton, MA); Cine Qua Non (Portugal); Bodega (Philadelphia, PA); Edizioni Corraini (Italy); and Lodret Vandret (Denmark), among many others.

Friendly FireA diverse group of politically-minded artists and collectives focused on the intersection of art and activism, this section of The Schoolyard includes Bureau for Open Culture (Bennington, VT), Temporary Services/Half Letter Press (Chicago, IL), Journal of Aesthetics and Protest (Los Angeles, CA), Autonomedia (Brooklyn) and World War 3 (New York), and others.

Swiss FocusA selection of 13 Swiss presses, booksellers, and zine-makers present You Owe Me A Book, a curated room presenting a look at the vibrant state of contemporary Swiss publishing practice, with an emphasis on the visual arts, photography, architecture, and design. Participating publishers have invited nine artists to present their interventions within the context of the fair.

Focus: PhotographyA curated cross-section of photo-based books and magazines, this year's Focus: Photography presents the latest from an exciting mix of publishers including A-Jump Books (Ithaca, NY), Dashwood Books (New York), AKAAKA (Tokyo), Kominek Books (Germany), Little Brown Mushroom (Saint Paul, MN), Mörel Books (United Kingdom), and TBW Books (Oakland, CA), and more.

Exhibitor project roomsFULTON RYDER (New York) presents a project space titled Inside, insight, inner experience, inspiration, inner trips, inner voices, invisibility, into it, in step, in crowd, Inside Daisy Clover, industrial revolution, see through; onestar press / Three Star Books (France) will install a special site-specific presentation of Jonathan Monk's Billboard Book Project, to be designed by Benjamin Critton; Werkplaats Typografie (The Netherlands), a fair favorite, presents a collaborative project by its entire student body for the fifth year running; Badlands Unlimited (New York) will premiere a small exhibition comprised of drawings and notes made by curator Hans Ulrich Obrist; Yale School of Architecture (New Haven, CT) presents 16,392 Images That Matter to Architecture, a presentation of work from the 2008–2012 seminar "Books and Architecture" organized by Luke Bulman.

Fair exhibitionsBruno MunariAn exhibition of book works by Bruno Munari, presented by Edizioni Corraini, will be housed in the courtyard dome. The exhibition includes a collection of rare and out-of-print artist and design books by the late Italian artist, offering a comprehensive survey of his influential career. Selections from the private collection of Giorgio Maffei will be on view as well.

The Ray Johnson RoomOn view: Ray Johnson's Book of Death (all 13 pages!) alongside selections from the semi-mythical bitch-zine Sinking Bear, where he was a driving force. Brought to you by Division Leap and Boo-Hooray.

PaperworkAndrew Roth, in association with PPP Editions, will present Paperwork—an exhibition of artists' scrapbooks featuring works by Brigid Berlin, Jimmy de Sana, John Evans, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Al Hansen, Richard Hawkins, Geoffrey Hendricks, Ray Johnson, Leigh Ledare, Gerhard Richter and Jean-Michel Wicker. In addition, PPP Editions will be hosting CAGE.

In the Good Name of the Company: Artworks and ephemera produced by or in tandem with the Colby Printing Company For the first time the fair will feature a satellite exhibition, presented by ARTBOOK | DAP, ForYourArt, and PictureBox, and generously hosted by See.Me. Located at 26-19 Jackson Avenue, a five-minute walk from PS1, this extensive exhibition contains more than 200 posters spanning 40 years, including work by Ed Ruscha, Kathryn Andrews, Peter Coffin, Eve Fowler and Allen Ruppersberg. Organized by Jan Tumlir, Brian Roettinger and Christopher Michlig.

Artists installationsDavid Kennedy Cutler and Sara Greenberger Rafferty (both New York) present Paper Cuts, a new project of art at the margins, which includes posters, multiples, accessories, books, tests, samples, cast-offs, and studio stuff, curiosities made by a selected gang of fellow makers.

Ed. Varie and Japanese greenery artist Satoshi Kawamoto will build Plant/Book Store by Ed. Varie, a greenhouse in the main courtyard of PS1 that embraces the literal and figurative grass-roots elements in publishing. Special publications will also be launched; Deco Room with Plants by Satoshi Kawamoto, and Garden Variety by Ed. Varie.

Filip Noterdaeme (Brooklyn) presents The Stein Shrine, a tribute in words and images to Gertrude Stein, America's "homme de lettres, homme not femme" (Virgil Thomson), in celebration of the 80th anniversary of her memoir, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (Harcourt Brace, 1933) and his recent publication, The Autobiography of Daniel J. Isengart (Outpost19, 2013).

PerformancesDavid Horvitz presents Let Us Keep Our Own Noon, a project developed with Recess. It will be performed everyday of the fair at local noon using a melted French bell from 1742.

New editionsNew artwork editions to benefit the NY Art Book Fair Printed Matter presents new limited-edition artworks by Karlheinz Weinberger, Sarah Crowner and Mungo Thomson. These editions support the fair, helping to ensure the event remains free. Editions may be purchased at the Printed Matter fair booth or online through the Printed Matter website.

New book to benefit the Contemporary Artists' Books Conference This year's Conference Edition is a new book from LA-based artist Eve Fowler, Anyone Telling Anything is Telling That Thing, documenting Fowler's public art project that uses posters incorporating the text of Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons. The book includes an essay by Litia Perta and Corrine Fitzpatrick and is designed by Lauren Mackler of Public Fiction and produced by Conveyor Arts.