Perspectives on Contemporary Printmaking Critical Writing Since 1986

The anthology provides a critical topography of printmaking since the mid-1980s. Its texts, by well-known authors as well as ‘insiders’, span different formats and critical and theoretical approaches. This unique anthology presents thirty-two texts on contemporary prints and printmaking written from the mid-1980s to the present. The essays range from academic art history to popular art criticism and creative writing; taken together, they form a critical topography of printmaking today. The book’s four sections provide: · A genealogy of printmaking and print culture · A sample of debates on contemporary printmaking, beginning with Ruth Weisberg’s influential ‘The syntax of print’ (1986) · A range of critical terms and themes · Examples of some of the major spheres of print activity, such as production, collecting, dissemination, education and research Drawing on a cast of distinguished scholars, artists and curators, the book makes available a selection of widely dispersed and difficult-to-find texts. This includes extracts from works not yet available in English, such as Die Welt als T-Shirt (1997) by Beat Wyss and La Ressemblance par contact (2008) by Georges Didi-Huberman. There are also contributions from scholar and book artist Johanna Drucker, mathematician and computer artist Frieder Nake, curators Daniel F. Herrmann, Gill Saunders and Mari Carmen Ramírez, and the editors of the award-winning website Printeresting. Featuring an overall introduction by the editor, as well as introductions to each of the sections, the anthology is aimed at an audience of international stakeholders in the field of contemporary prints, printmaking and print media, ranging from art students and practising artists to museum curators, critics, educationalists and scholars. It provides…