Hawai‘i Contemporary (Honolulu, HI), formerly Honolulu Biennial Foundation, is a nonprofit visual arts organization that presents the Hawai‘i Triennial, the state’s largest, periodic exhibition of contemporary art from Hawai‘i, the Pacific, and beyond. It also organizes year-round public programming and professional development opportunities centered around art and ideas. Hawai‘i Contemporary has been a partner of the A.R.T. Library Program since 2024.

A.R.T. Library Program Questionnaire gathers insights from librarians and publishers within the Program's distribution network to reconsider and reflect on what it means to make art books public today.

• How do you characterize the books that you publish?

Since our inception in 2015, we have published three exhibition catalogs to coincide with two Honolulu Biennials in 2017 and 2019 and a Hawai‘i Triennial in 2022. Each catalog includes commissioned essays, curators’ essays, artist entries, images of artworks, as well as poetry and texts that explore the histories of exhibition sites. Our catalogs serve as an enduring document of each exhibition, as well as a resource for deeper contemplation of the ideas and viewpoints anchored by the art of Hawai‘i and the Asia-Pacific region.

• How would you define the audience for your books?

Our audience includes artists, curators, arts professionals, exhibition attendees, art enthusiasts, students, and curious minds interested in contemporary art of the region.

• When did you start participating in A.R.T.'s Poulin Project?

We were thrilled to make our first donation in May 2024.

• How do you decide what to donate to the program?

We heard about the program about two years after the closing of Hawai‘i Triennial 2022. Our organization has long prioritized sharing our publications with readers — particularly, those beyond our shores — but we have not always had the marketing and distribution depth. So, we were excited about the opportunity that the A.R.T. Library Program offered.

• How does the A.R.T. Library Program complement your distribution strategies?

We are a small visual arts nonprofit with limited resources to distribute our publications as far and wide as we would like. The A.R.T. Library Program has extended our reach and helped us introduce established and emerging artists from Hawai‘i and the Pacific to new audiences. We’re grateful for the work that A.R.T. does and are thrilled to have contributed to the A.R.T. Library Program. Mahalo piha!