For the needs of the Athens Art Book Fair, we created the Collective Stand, an exhibition system that hosts the collective exhibition of the festival creating a common space for the presentation of selected singular publications, which functions as a parallel exhibition to the fair. 

The Athens Art Book Fair is the first institution in Greece that deals exclusively with artistic publications. It is an independent, artist-run venture that aims to promote and support domestic art print production, build a scene around independent publishing, and create links with corresponding publishing practices (analog, digital, and everything in between) abroad. It was founded in 2019 by Margarita Athanasiou and Michalis Pichler.

When designing the Collective Stand, we wanted to create an exhibition system that would be able to accommodate different types of publications (posters, cards, books, zines, tote bags, etc). In addition, we had to think of simple ways to personalise the stand for the next editions of the festival. The main structural elements of the stand were created from natural oregon pine wood and are easily connected together with half-slot profiles and through screws. The base bears the benchtop surface made of galvanised sheet metal with laser cut configurations and bends, so that it snaps perfectly into place with a small tilt. The stand can be used with or without the over-the-bench hanging system, which carries different tools for exhibiting the publications. In its first application it was used with elastic strings and oregon pine slats. Finally, a signage was placed on top of the suspension system. The organic form of the signage, combined with the characteristic grain of the oregon pine, "suspend" the imposing orthonormal structure of the stand, giving a more informal and playful element clearly inspired by the culture of independent zines that are an integral element of the Athens Art Book Fair.