A Bank of Ideas: A History of the Banff Centre through its Artist Book Collection

Conference presentation, 12th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for the Study of Book Culture, University of Calgary, Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities

Books Creating Communities Panel

Monday, May 30

Abstract:

The Banff Centre, located in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, is a unique post-secondary institution with a rich history of decades of supporting artists, musicians, leaders, and innovators from across Canada and the globe. The Banff Centre began its library as an enabler of creativity, and has developed its Artist Book Collection (ABC) in particular through an alumni network that spans various disciplines, countries, and interests. In this way, the ABC acts as a living document of the Banff Centre community, actively collecting artists who have spent time at the Banff Centre or who have influenced faculty and artists during their tenure at the Centre. This paper will examine the Banff Centre ABC as an artifact of institutional history and community while showcasing some of the unique bookworks that attest to specific moments in the Banff Centre’s development.

Featured image: 2 Schock schnelle weichzeichnungen

Dieter Roth, Berlin: Rainer Verlag, 1983

Animation by Marianne R. Williams