A unique international showcase of new trends in children’s book illustration, the Illustrators Exhibition offers artists from around the world a great visibility opportunity not only during the Bologna trade show but also during a two-year international tour to cultural venues in several different countries.
Unlike the sector-specialist public at Bologna Children’s Book Fair, the visitors to the itinerant exhibition will be primarily children, accompanied by their families or on a school visit.
Traditionally hosted by venues in Japan and China, the Exhibition subsequently moves on each year to other countries as new projects develop.
Thanks to its partnership of over 30 years with JBBY Japan, the Illustrators Exhibition is a much-awaited, much-loved event in Japan, hosted by art museums in numerous cities. Since 2016, China has become the second important leg of the international tour, hosting the Exhibition in art museums and major libraries throughout the country. As of 2019, South Korea became a new permanent stop-over of the Illustrators Exhibition’s world tour!
The 2023 Illustrators Exhibition’s World Tour
After its Bologna debut 6 – 9 March 2022 – and online presentation in the Galleries section of the BCBF website - the Illustrators Exhibition is about to start out on its traditional tour of Japan, followed by South Korea and China.
The first venues on the calendar are:
- Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo, Giappone - 24 June - 13 August 2023
- Otani Memorial Art Museum Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Giappone - 19 August - 9 October 2023
- Nanao Art Museum, Ishikawa, Giappone - 10 November - 17 December 2023
During the Japan stops, the 2023 Illustrators Exhibition will also feature the solo exhibition of Andrés López, winner of the 2022 Bologna Children’s Book Fair - Fundación SM International Illustration Award.
BEYOND SIGHT
In Bologna, the Illustrators Exhibition 2023 presented a reiteration of the international experimental project BEYOND SIGHT / OLTRE LA VISTA /「視る」を 超えて, organized by Itabashi Art Museum, JBBY and Palazzo delle Esposizioni with the collaboration of BCBF.
In this initiative, five artists from the Illustrators Exhibition have made their works accessible to the visually impaired by creating tactile wooden boards and Braille translations of the captions.
These new readable works will be shown at the first stop of the 2023 Illustrators Exhibition in Japan, at the Itabashi Art Museum in Tokyo, from 24 June to 13 August 2023.