Drops from the Air is a publication by artist and designer Halim Lee, translating her interactive work Air–Drop into book form. First presented at the Open M Art Fair in Hangzhou, the installation invited visitors to exchange hand-drawn messages, images, and notes across a shared digital sky; this volume gathers those ephemeral exchanges, allowing readers to encounter them again through an archive and QR-based system.

The book is anchored by a conversation with the team behind abC (art book in China), tracing the development of one of the region’s most influential art book fairs and its transformation into the Open M Art Fair amid shifting cultural conditions. Lee frames this dialogue, and the project as a whole, as a reflection on the importance of cultural fairs and the role of independent publishing in sustaining a warm, cross-border community of makers.

Risograph printed on newsprint with an acetate cover, Drops from the Air extends the logic of the original installation—circulating messages outward, from one reader to another, as a gesture of exchange, gratitude, and connection across a shared global network.

Interviewed: Yue Zhou, Dan Yang, Yaya Liu

Published by Halim Lee, 2026

Softcover with clear coil binding, 26 pages, multi-color Risograph, 8.75 × 11 inches