King St. Stephen Museum in Székesfehérvár, Hungary is a county museum with a range of rich collections (archaeology, ethnography, local history, modern and contemporary art). The city is about 60 kilometers from Budapest. The museum started to work in the field of artists’ books twenty-five years ago.

In 1987 we organized the First International Artists’ Book Exhibition. There were about 300 works presented and later donated to the museum by the artists, thus establishing the first and still the only artists’ book collection in Hungary owned by a museum. As the years went by, our collection increased  and we entered into relations with artists, archives and centers (e.g. Franklin Furnace Archives, New York and Guy Bleus’s Administration Centre, Wellen).

The museum held an exhibition in 1992 “American Book Arts� and in the following year, the Society of Hungarian Artists’ Book Publishers was founded.

In 1994 the Second International Artists’ Book Exhibition was shown in our museum. It had some 160 participants who sent their works, totaling 350 artists’ books. In the same year bookworks by Robbin Ami Silverberg were exhibited.

That year a partnership program was established within the framework of the American Association of Museums. A Hungarian exhibition, “Made in Hungary: Contemporary Artists’ Books� was on view in Cortland, NY and traveled to the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, NY in Spring 1999.

In 1998, 1999 and 2000, book artists participated in the international artist colony in Mór, not far from our museum.

In 2000 the museum organized the Third International Artist’ Book Exhibition, with about 330 participants and more than 550 works exhibited, then in 2006 at the Fourth International Artist’ Book Exhibition we displayed about 500 books of 300 artists.

There is an ever-increasing artists’ book collection of circa 1500 pieces in our museum (works by both Hungarian and international artists), in large part due to the artists who have donated the books to the collection after the shows.

Pieces are on display in a permanent exhibition in the New Hungarian Gallery in our museum in Székesfehérvár.

In 2013 May (from May until October) we plan to have the Fifth International Artists’ Book Exhibition.

FIFTH INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS’ BOOK EXHIBITION 2013

The King St. Stephen Museum, in collaboration with the City Gallery Deák Collection in Székesfehérvár, is organizing the Fifth International Artists’ Book Exhibition in May–October 2013. (Opening date: May 18th 2013)

We welcome bookworks, book objects, installations and artists’ books that consider the whole range of  book forms, conceptual and visual content and/or material. Each artist can send up to 2 pieces (the organizers do reserve the right to select if there are space limitations).

Dear Artist, if you would like to participate in this event, we ask you to send digital images of your artists’ books made between 2006 and 2013 to 

books2013hungary@gmail.com  until February 28, 2013.

Please also send the title, date, size and technique of the works.

On March 5–6, 2013 an international jury will convene to make the final selection.

Following the decision of the jury, by March 8th, we will email all applicants, confirming which works would be exhibited.

Deadline for sending artwork: April 6th, 2013.

For further information please contact Kati Izinger, art historian, King St. Stephen Museum

Tel.: +36-22-315583; Fax: +36-22-311734; Mobile: +36-30-4994702

email: izingerkati@gmail.co

Székesfehérvár, December 21st, 2012

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Zsófia Demeter

Museum director

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