Redefining Print
REDEFINING PRINT
2013 - 2015
Historically, print is a mechanical medium used to reproduce an image. Printmakers have come a long way to expand that role to enable all artists to explore the nature of print beyond its traditional form. Today, contemporary artistic practice rarely embodies a single medium. The process of printmaking as we know it has expanded beyond the confines of the plate and the press. New technologies are being introduced that are an extension of, not a replacement for, the traditional methods. Etching plates can be laser cut from digital data; print can be applied to a multitude of materials and can even be interactive.
The community that develops within the print room is bursting down the walls with exciting and unusual outcomes.
In a two year project ending December 2015, Double Elephant sought to answer the question:
What is contemporary printmaking and how might it evolve in the next 10 years?
In 2013, Double Elephant commissioned five contemporary artists, Katy Connor, Bryony Gillard, Mark Leahy, Volkhardt Müller and Clare Thornton, to create new work by exploring possible redefinitions of printmaking – to explore its role as the inspiration for new work and develop hybrid responses to printmaking. We specifically wanted to work with artists familiar with digital media and performance - practices far removed from traditional printmaking yet open to many new possibilities.
REDEFINING PRINT : THE SYMPOSIUM
Thursday 19th November, 2015
A ONE-DAY SYMPOSIUM CHALLENGING THE TRADITIONAL BOUNDARIES OF PRINTMAKING, ATTENDED BY 185 DELEGATES FROM ACROSS THE UK.
At the Symposium, the commissioned artists spoke about the work they had produced and were joined by speakers:
Professor Jo Stockham, Head of Printmaking, Royal College of Art
John Phillips, Director, London Print Studio
Carolyn Black, Flow Projects
Elizabeth Tomos, Artist Printmaker
Joshua Gaunt, Film Maker
The Keynote Speech was delivered by Carolyn Black, Project Writer.
The event was accompanied by print exhibitions at Exeter Phoenix, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter College, Exeter Library and TOPOS.
