The second edition of Hardcore Art Book Fair takes place at LagoAlgo in Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico City from 30 July to 2 August 2026, bringing together more than 100 exhibitors from 26 countries for four days of independent publishing, experimental print culture and free public programming.
Hardcore Art Book Fair was born from a simple idea: that publishing is a radical act. Not just the production of printed objects, but the use of editorial practice as a tool to provoke, exchange, document, imagine and build community. A space where editorial design functions as archive, as cultural resistance, and as a means of circulating knowledge. The kind of space that does not exist enough.
The second edition, organised by Can Can Press in collaboration with LagoAlgo, returns to one of Mexico City’s most distinctive cultural venues, situated in the heart of Bosque de Chapultepec. More than 100 exhibitors will fill the space across four days: independent publications, artists, collectives, distributors, print studios and self-publishing projects from across Mexico and 26 participating countries. Participants span Guatemala, Chile, Poland, Japan and the United Arab Emirates alongside a strong core of Mexican publishers, broadening what was already an internationally minded fair into something with a genuinely global reach.
The range of work at Hardcore reflects a deliberate openness to what publishing can be. Experimental publications coexist with independent graphics, zines, visual research and hybrid printed projects. The editorial blends with music, archives, fashion and material production. Large and established projects sit alongside emerging ones. The only real requirement is a willingness to push an idea somewhere interesting. In this context, publishing becomes hardcore: a way to push an idea to its limit.
Public Programme: 30 July to 2 August
Alongside the fair, a free public programme runs across all four days, presented in collaboration with WePresent by WeTransfer and curated by Jackie Crespo. The programme brings together artists, designers, publishers, researchers and cultural projects through talks, workshops and book launches, with each day organised around a distinct theme.
Thursday 30 July focuses on Image and Narrative: photography, publishing and visual storytelling as tools for documenting experience and building imaginaries. Friday 31 July turns to Archive and Publishing, exploring the intersections of design, music and the moving image with the means of cultural circulation. Saturday 1 August addresses Visual Culture and Music, with design, publication and the archive as tools for research, memory and knowledge dissemination. Sunday 2 August closes with Materiality and Craft: printmaking, sign painting, object production and the techniques that take design beyond the screen and the page.
All programme events are free.
Dates and times
Press Preview: Thursday 30 July, 3pm to 4pm
Thursday 30 July: 4pm to 7pm
Friday 31 July: 11am to 7pm
Saturday 1 August: 11am to 7pm
Sunday 2 August: 11am to 6pm
LagoAlgo, Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico City.
If you are in Mexico City this week, go. If you are not, follow along and start thinking about how to get involved in the next edition. Hardcore is exactly the kind of fair that the independent publishing world needs more of, and it is actively looking for new voices from around the world to be part of what it becomes.
Find out more and follow at hardcorefair.com and @hardcore.artbookfair.
Want to know more about our membership? Give us an email at members@peopleofprint.com.
