ICP’s ‘Photobooks USA 2000–25’ Closes 28 September

‘Photobooks USA 2000–25’ at the International Center of Photography in New York comes down on 28 September, closing a run that began on 11 June. The exhibition takes the photobook as its subject, treating it as a means by which artists have responded to the forces shaping contemporary life in the United States.

More than 50 books are on view, ranging from out-of-print titles to more recent landmark publications. ICP describes the selection as a cross section of creators, themes, forms and subjects, assembled to examine how artists have used the photobook both to present their work and to circulate it.

The museum is explicit about what the show is not attempting. It does not set out to define a canon, and it does not organise itself around bestselling or prize-winning titles. The books were chosen instead for the different aspects of the United States they address, and ICP frames them collectively as a reflection of the artistic, social, cultural, political, environmental and economic conversations of the twenty-first century.

Across the quarter-century the exhibition covers, ICP points to four changes in the field: more publications, a wider range of publishers, bolder experimentation in design, and greater inclusivity. The show is presented as a record of that shift rather than an argument about which books matter most.

It was curated by David Campany, ICP’s creative director, with Sara Ickow, associate director of exhibitions, and curatorial assistant malaika newsome. Exhibition support came from the National Endowment for the Arts, alongside the institutional and public funders ICP credits for its exhibition programme generally.

ICP lists ‘Yves Saint Laurent and Photography’ as a related exhibition, and the two are scheduled to end on the same day. Neither the museum’s page for the photobook selection nor its announcement mentions an extension, a tour, or any onward venue once the books are taken down.