The Reading Room is composed of books donated by independent publishers from across Asia participating in the BookBook Festival, which was held in Seoul in 2025. This small library of more than forty titles offers one of the most direct and tangible expressions of the festival’s purpose. Each book carries a unique context shaped by its local conditions and publishing practices. Covering subjects from visual art and design to experimental forms, community documentation, and political engagement, they present an informed cross-section of how independent publishing operates across Asia. These books are not mere display objects; their materiality and form engage the reader as much as their content.

The Reading Room is a statement in itself. While the books gathered here embody different perspectives, their presence in a shared space shows how such diversity can develop into values we can hold in common. Through the relationships and conversations that emerge among them, they trace a loose yet meaningful map that reflects the BookBook Festival’s central aim: to read and connect with one another. After the festival, the collection was relocated to Common Imprint’s Reading Room in Berlin, where it will remain as a small archive of contemporary independent publishing from Asia and continue to extend the ideas and connections formed here.

After the festival, the collection was relocated to Common Imprint’s Reading Room in Berlin, where it remains as a small archive of contemporary independent publishing from Asia. This small archive has now travelled to Pages | Fukuoka Art Book Fair (Pages). After Pages, it will return to Berlin together with books from Pages exhibitors, continuing to extend the ideas and connections formed here.

BookBook Festival

Held in Seoul in September 2025, BookBook Festival is an Asian independent publishing festival that combines a forum and a book fair. The forum focused on three themes—production, distribution, and archiving and research—through which participants shared their experiences and knowledge. The book fair brought together more than 39 publishers from over 10 countries. The festival also featured the exhibition BOOK? and a reading room.

Common Imprint

Common Imprint’s reading room presents over 1000 independent publications from Asia, open by appointment every Weekend. It aims to create a shared platform and laboratory for investigating publication-related disciplines from South- East– and East Asia. The space will be for anyone who loves books and will host talks, events, workshops, and exhibitions relating to Asian publications in the field of fine art, photography, film, design and architecture.