The stand of museum editions, that presented little-known niche literature, created in the recesses of the museum walls and published in micro print runs, first appeared at the 6th International Book Arsenal Festival in 2016. Throughout all the years of its existence, it has been showing the linear development of museum book publishing from the crisis of the 1990s to reaching a new level after 2014, when a museum edition changed the format of a unique scientific work and turned into the artistic one. But then the coronavirus epidemic broke out, which turned ordinary life upside down, transforming the activities of museums into the online format, which at the same time opened up new opportunities. The full-scale invasion of Russia in 2022 put both the life of museums and the life of every Ukrainian on the brink of existence. Deinstalling the main exhibitions, partial evacuation of the most valuable, protection of museum buildings, small architectural forms made of sand and plywood around them, mobilization of male employees, emigration of female employees, often the young and active ones, abroad and hence the outflow of personnel, missile destruction of certain museum premises and monuments, organization of work under the conditions of blackouts, power outages and continuous shelling, constant conversations about the mission of museums, the future and the challenges that are still ahead—and the continuation of scientific, research work and museum book publishing against the background of all this.
Within the 12th Book Arsenal, the stand Museum Publishing of Ukraine, as a project of the Mystetskyi Arsenal, will collect everything that was published in museums from the second half of 2019 to present day, regardless of genre, subject or age category, in order to show the museum book publishing of the life on the edge period, in which our colleagues demonstrate exceptional professional resilience.