Category Archives: Datz Press

2017 Printed Matter NYABF

Jut got back from the New York Art Book Fair at MoMA/PS1. It’s day one and crowded already. I brought home bit of paper as you can see.

If you’re into art, books, art books, artists books, photography, photo books, design, zines, typography, posters, art history, social justice, naked people, free stuff, expensive stuff or anything else, you’ll probably find something to entertain and delight you at the fair.

I enjoyed chatting very briefly with AnticHam at the Red Fox Press table and seeing their new work. As always, wish I had money for their big books.

Zoe at the Datz Press table recognized me after having met me only briefly last year at their bookstore/cafe/darkroom/printing shop in Seoul. When I bought Minny Lee’s Encounters, she texted Minny to come back to the table to sign it! Minny told me all about her book and the work she’s making lately, then walked me over to the ICP/Bard table to show me her more informal artist book there, My Walden–which I also got a copy of and she signed, of course. I didn’t get a chance to talk to Barbara Bosworth, who also was hanging around the Datz Press table. Her Fireflies scroll(!) was cool as hell and beautifully boxed. As a design object, it really sums up what Datz Press is all about. I also got a copy of Gap Chul Lee’s Black Wind.

Anyone who’s in NYC ought to go check out the fair, though I would suppose anyone who’s reading this blog probably already has plans to…

New posts coming

I am obviously behind on this blog. And now I’m more behind: I brought back a pile of books from my trip to Seoul back in November of last year (1, 2, 3). So there’ll be new content here soon.

In particular, I plan to write about Listen to the City’s Protest as I think it presents a number of useful things to think about in the current political climate. A number of the things I wanted to write about have already come to pass–major protests here in the US and considerations of how to maintain political action in order to effectively affect change rather than simply channel anger or disappointment.

And there are some fluffier books that are more fun to talk about.

And a new conversation about considerations when building a library for an academic institution. It’s been conducted, I’ve just got to find time to transcribe it…

Something for everyone.

Good stuff.

A Conversation with Sangyon Joo of Datz Press

Portrait: Sangyon Joo, photographer and publisher of Datz PressOn October 26th, Sangyon Joo of Datz Press came by KPB HQ to talk about her experiences as a publisher, curator and photographer. We’d first met during Printed Matter’s Art Book Fair at PS1 when I stopped by the Datz Press booth. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

MNM: Sangyon, thank you so much for making the time to come out to Brooklyn for this conversation. I am delighted to have you here and looking forward to the conversation.

SYJ: This is the fifth issue in our magazine, Gitz. Our conversation reminds me of somebody we profiled in the magazine, a Korean book collector who collects books about Korea. The books he collects were made by Western people who came to Korea in the early years, a hundred years ago. They saw the Korean people and culture and archived their observations in books. They collected and spread exotic cultures in their home countries. He goes to Western bookstores to collect these books about Korea and brings them back to Korea to show to us. It says a lot to me about how books work and how books can go around sharing culture. I think it is a very interesting job mixing Western views of Korea—we can see ourselves through their eyes and can find ourselves through their eyes. Something really great can be done with books.
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