Artists’ books in museums

Although artists’ books have been consolidated as an art form in the twentieth century, and their place in library collections has come under the spotlight since the mid-1970s through a rich debate on the development and management of this typology of collections – showing the effort made by these institutions to keep up with the ever-increasing production of artists’ books since the mid-1960s – the discussion of the physical, symbolic an epistemological place of artists’ books in museum collections is still at an early stage. This paper, which falls within the intersection between artistic studies and museum studies, aims to enhance this discussion by identifying the contexts considered as essential to exploring and critically analysing the artist's book in the museum, presenting the Coleção de Livros e Edições de Artistas da Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea [Collection of Artists’ Books and Editions of the Serralves Foundation – Contemporary Art Museum], situated in Porto|Portugal as its case study.