The Graphic Matrix as a Trace Carrier

Abstract

This public seminar expands on Ruth Pelzer-Montada's anthology of texts on contemporary printmaking to consider "the graphic matrix as a trace carrier, to enable an imprint of a visual recording of the trace onto the surface."[1] "Traditional print techniques have once again risen to the fore in current artistic practice: in the age of the ever-present digitally printed image, as a political re-assertion of the artist’s presence. Print implies a shift from the optical to the haptic, from a purely visual regime to the centrality of the physical act of transferring a trace by direct contact."[2] Professor Theodor Barth, Dr. Ruth Pelzer-Montada, research fellow Samoa Remy and Professor Annu Vertanen will deliver four lectures, chaired by Associate Professor Victoria Browne. As a platform for in-depth discursive debate, this will further permeate into the students’ activities during a circular discussion in the afternoon. Perspectives on Contemporary Printmaking ed. Ruth Pelzer-Montada 2018. [1] p87. Andrzej Bednarczyk, The shape of graphic art, 2010 [2] p100. José Roca, The graphic unconscious or the how and why of a print triennial, 2011, as cited in Susana Gallego Cuesta, Esthetique de l’emprinte, La Vie des idées, 2008