đź“Ť Center for Book Arts, New York
🗓️ Exhibition Opening: September 30, 2025, 6–8 pm
🎟️ More info & registration →
In the Wake of Blind Navigation: Boekie Woekie Lands in New York
This fall, the Center for Book Arts opens its doors to a living legend of the artists’ book world. On September 30, 2025, the exhibition In the Wake of Blind Navigation: Boekie Woekie – Books by Artists inaugurates a rare and vital conversation between Amsterdam’s iconic artist-run bookstore and the New York art community. Curated by Maike Aden, the show traces nearly four decades of Boekie Woekie’s radical experiment in publishing, self-determination, and collective creativity.
A Sculpture Made of Books
Founded in 1986 by six artists in a tiny downtown Amsterdam space, Boekie Woekie began simply: a shop to distribute their own handmade publications. Over time — and after shifting to a larger space around the corner — three founding members remained: Henriëtte van Egten (Netherlands), Rúna Thorkelsdóttir (Iceland), and Jan Voss (Germany). Together, they continued not only their individual artistic practices but also shaped the bookstore itself into what they call a “sculpture in progress.”
Today, Boekie Woekie houses over 7,000 titles, almost exclusively self-published or small-press works. Entirely self-financed and fiercely independent, it has become a rare sanctuary within the global art world — a place where books are celebrated for their poetic, anarchic spirit rather than commercial viability, and where the exchange between artists, experts, and curious passersby remains central to its ethos.
Jan Voss and Henriëtte van Egten at MoMA PS1, September 27, 2025. Photo by Jana Astanov
The Exhibition: Blind Navigation and Radical Independence
In the Wake of Blind Navigation is more than a retrospective — it’s a living map of Boekie Woekie’s evolving practice and the global networks it has woven since its founding. Highlighting the bookshop-gallery’s commitment to independence and to works often overlooked by mainstream publishers, the exhibition examines how Boekie Woekie has created “breathing holes” in the late-capitalist art ecosystem — openings where art and life can return to one another, as Jan Voss describes it.
The show features works by all six founding artists — Henriëtte van Egten, Pétur Magnússon, Rúna Thorkelsdóttir, Kees Visser, Jan Voss, and Saskia de Vriendt — alongside photographs by Philippe McIntyre. Together, they offer a textured portrait of a collective that has refused to compromise on its principles while nurturing a global community of book artists for nearly forty years.
Talks and Tours: Expanding the Conversation
✦ Chasing the Rainbow: A Conversation with Boekie Woekie
📅 October 5, 2025 — 2 pm–6 pm
Join Boekie Woekie founders Jan Voss and Henriëtte van Egten, along with curator Maike Aden, for an in-person conversation on the shop’s past, present, and future. Expect reflections on self-publishing as an artistic act, the politics of autonomy in the art world, and the humor, risk, and persistence that have shaped Boekie Woekie’s journey.
Boekie Woekie storefront, Berenstraat 16. Photo by Philippe McIntyre
✦ Guided Tour with Maike Aden
📅 October 9, 2025 — 6 pm–7 pm
Explore In the Wake of Blind Navigation through the eyes of its curator. Aden will guide visitors through works by the founding artists, revealing the innovative techniques and ideas that animate Boekie Woekie’s world.
Why It Matters Now
Boekie Woekie’s story is a testament to what can flourish outside institutional frameworks — a reminder that the most vital cultural spaces often emerge from collective stubbornness, humor, and love for the work itself. In an art world increasingly shaped by market forces, Boekie Woekie stands as a beacon of what publishing — and art — can be when freed from the tyranny of metrics: a living archive of experiment, friendship, and resistance.
For those who care about the future of artists’ books, small presses, and the poetics of independent publishing, In the Wake of Blind Navigation is not just an exhibition — it’s a celebration, a provocation, and a call to reimagine the spaces where art and life meet.
Jan Voss at Boekie Woekie, April 2021. Photo by Jana Astanov
Boekie Woekie storefront, Berenstraat 16. Photo by Philippe McIntyre
