As to the combination of the AB, or artist's book, the term have been established to the middle of the 90s, and now in 2011 we once again start talking about the necessity of the museum approach to the new artistic phenomenon, which constantly expands its influence.

It seems that in the nature of the artist's book there is a gene of updating, controlling the continuous reproduction of this universal culture, which can not decide to what form of visual arts to be attributed: book, easel, object, and now the media. Such a permanent rejuvenation creates the illusion among each new generation of creators that they invented the wheel, as the game itself with the book, is not similar to itself, the one that the reader is accustomed to hold in his hands or see in the museum showcases. In this exhibition project we tried to identify all manifestations of the experiment and play with a book portrait and form: from the modern bibliophile editions to installations and media-books. For the first time ever in Russian practice apart from the unique, copyright limited editions, editorial projects were included in the exhibit, as in the proposed museum. And among them there are books printed in ordinary printing, offset printing, but with the AB parameters: initiative and the primacy of the artist's copyright product: from the idea, graphics, design to the text. The exposition is divided according to types and kinds of publications: from the classic Code or notebook to book installation. The works of more than 100 authors from Russia and abroad, as well as curatorial and editorial projects are displayed at the exhibition. In the exhibition you can find as leaders of this trend for many years engaged in AB: Vasily Vlasov, Victor Hoppe, Viktor Lukin, Peter Perevezentsev, Mikhail Pogarskiy (all from Moscow), Mikhail Karasik, Boris Konstrictor, Dmitry Saenko, Alexander Stroylo, Yuri Shtapakov, Sergei Shvemberger (all from St. Petersburg), Evgeny Strelkov (from Nizhny Novgorod), Sergei Sigey and Ry Nikonova (Kiel), Mikhail Molochnikov (Berlin-Moscow), and well-known Russian artists, which occasionally turns to AB : Edward Gorokhovskiy, Alexander Jikia, Vladimir Kozin, Igor Makarevich, Dmitry Prigov, Vitaly Pushitskiy, Leonid Sokov, Leonid Tishkov.

In the end, talking about the Artist's Book, we can say that it had passed all the stages of transformation of the Russian market, making a considerable capital: participation in the prestigious museum projects, international and specialized art-saloons.And also it became the academic discipline in the graphic department. In a word, the AB has become a museum discipline for a long time ago both literally and figuratively, in the vein of which each new generation of artists try to infuse fresh blood.

Mikhail Karasik