Yogyakarta Art Book Fair 2025 Explores the Independent Publishing Scene Through “Marks & Margins”
Yogyakarta Art Book Fair (YKABF) returns on May 2–4, 2025, bringing together a vibrant mix of independent publishers, artists, designers, and readers at Pendhapa Ajiyasa, JNM Bloc, Yogyakarta. Under the theme “Marks & Margins,” this year’s edition invites the public to experience publishing not only as a medium for content distribution, but also as artistic practices that are shaped by collaboration and the people that made the festivities come alive.
With over 60 publishers participating from across Indonesia and abroad, YKABF25 transforms into a vibrant meeting ground for diverse voices and creative energies. The event reimagines the boundaries of what publishing can be, opening space for new formats, narratives, and communities to emerge. More than just a marketplace, the fair offers a space for dialogue — between disciplines, between creators and audiences, and between ideas both shared and contested.
Dive Into “Marks & Margins”
The theme “Marks & Margins” serves as a metaphor for the publishing process itself. “Marks” refer to the traces left behind in creation — both intentional and spontaneous — while “Margins” suggest the open, undefined spaces that invite reader participation, reinterpretation, and growth. YKABF embraces the idea that meaning is not fixed. It shifts through encounters, contexts, and collaborations.
In this spirit, the fair embraces a broad definition of “art books,” encompassing everything from zines and artist books to graphic design publications, local history texts, illustrated works, poetry collections, and self-published experiments. These are often produced through unconventional methods and distributed through informal or DIY networks — of which art book fairs like YKABF are an essential part.
Team EnVi’s Pick From YKABF 2025
Here is a list of recommendations from Team EnVi for you to bring home from Yogyakarta Art Book Fair 2025:
Accessible Leisure (Indonesia)
Accessible Leisure shares the accessibility information through a travel lens and in various cities in Indonesia. Their latest publication, beyond two worlds, is a travel guidebook exploring accessible tourism and inclusive initiatives in Indonesia and Japan through the lens of persons of disabilities (PWDs).
Asian Food Design (Japan)
Japanese illustrator Takako Masuki shares her love for Asian cuisine through Asian Food Design, a collection of zines and illustrations featuring dishes she discovered and grew to love from various countries across Asia. Her publication “Asian Food Travel” earned her a Gourmand World Cookbook Award.
Kiki Amalia (Indonesia)
Kiki Amalia shares her deep and profound love through slow travelling in Vietnam. In her newest photo book, No Map Required: Volume One, she conveys how she travels to the place that is found not through touristy routes or check-lists, but through her instinct, observation, and emotions.
spacelessmind (Indonesia)
Bandung-based art director & design researcher Aulia Akbar, known by the moniker spacelessmind, believes that every design has its own place and purpose. He approaches his work by first considering how a design will fit into its social and cultural context. In his book Terra Incognita, Akbar explores a wide range of discourses surrounding the world of design.
Grafis Nusantara (Indonesia)
Grafis Nusantara is a digital archive dedicated to preserving and celebrating Indonesia’s rich visual heritage through vintage labels and stickers. Through their platform, Grafis Nusantara challenges traditional archiving methods, making these visual artifacts accessible for appreciation and study.
Get To Know YKABF’s Festivities
Over the course of three days, visitors can browse and collect hundreds of independently made publications, attend public programs, and take part in hands-on workshops led by artists and publishers. The programming will explore three key dimensions of artistic publishing — how books are produced, how they circulate, and how they build community. Each forming the focus of a separate day.
On May 2, Studio Yuansa leads a collage workshop centered on dreaming and personal reflection. May 3 features Smita Tanaya, who will guide participants in building systems to catalog their personal collections. On May 4, Lazy Sunday Zine Club facilitates a collaborative comic-making session, where participants draw and respond to one another’s ideas in real time.
This year’s fair also presents two spotlight projects that reflect YKABF’s commitment to political, historical, and grassroots narratives. Koran Bulan (Moon Newspaper) by Hai Rembulan blends political discourse — spanning land conflict, ecology, gender, and class — with intimate storytelling, while Membaca Gejala dari Jelaga by Hilmy Fadiansyah delves into print archives from post-1998 Bandung to explore the intersection of social change, urban life, and independent publishing. Both projects are being exhibited in Yogyakarta for the first time.
Program updates and schedules will be shared via the official Instagram account, @ykartbookfair. Tickets are available online through Artatix or can be purchased on-site during the event.
YKABF25 is independently organized by a collective of small publishers — Petrikor Books, Kunci Copy Station, SOKONG!, and Pickpockie Books — driven by a shared desire to push the boundaries of publishing and foster a more inclusive, imaginative space for creative exchange. Pay them a warm visit and dive into the publishing scene in the city rich with their love for arts and culture, Yogyakarta. See you at Yogyakarta Art Book Fair 2025!
Interested in Grafis Nusantara’s book? Check out our review of their latest publication here!
