Book Launch and Lecture with Irma Boom, book designer, at Schaulager

How can a work as expansive and tactile as Steve McQueen’s Bass (2024) be translated onto printed pages? Amsterdam-based book designer Irma Boom has taken on this challenge with remarkable creativity, producing not just one but two extraordinary books dedicated to Bass—Steve McQueen: Bass (2024, Dia Art Foundation and Laurenz Foundation, Schaulager, Basel) and Steve McQueen: Bass Volume (2025, Laurenz Foundation, Schaulager, Basel), each offering a unique interpretation of the work. This marks the third collaboration between the internationally renowned artist and the visionary designer. Each time, Boom has gone beyond mere documentation, developing unique design solutions that translate McQueen’s work(s) into book form. Irma Boom now presents these and other projects at Schaulager, Basel. In her talk, she will share insights into her creative process, reveal her sources of inspiration, and reflect on the challenge of transforming a multimedia work of light and sound into a tactile, printed experience.

The talk is held in English.

Irma Boom is a book designer and educator known for her radical and experimental approach to the book as an object. She has designed and edited over 300 books, many of which challenge traditional conventions of form, structure, and content. Boom is internationally recognized for her artistic autonomy and conceptual rigor.