Perspectives on Contemporary Printmaking: Critical Writing since 1986

The anthology, the first of its kind to my knowledge, includes 32 texts on contemporary prints and printmaking written in the period from the mid-1980s to the present by authors from across the world. Texts formats range from the art-historical and academic to art criticism and creative art writing. The collection is designed to provide a critical topography of artistic printmaking during this period rather than a general survey of which a number already exist. The book's aim is also to make a range of often widely dispersed and not easily accessible texts available. It is directed at an audience of international stakeholders in the field of contemporary print/printmaking/printmedia, including Higher Education, such as art students, practising artists, museum curators, critics, educationalists, print publishers and print scholars. Its other objective is to provide a basis for an expansion of the debate in the field and a starting point for further research.

The book features a general introduction by the editor as well as her introductions to each of the book’s four sections. Each section also contains an extended Further Reading list.
The four parts of the book are titled 'Genealogy', 'Debates', 'Keywords' and 'The field', respectively. They provide:
-a short history of printmaking and print culture from the perspective of current media history
-a sample of debates in contemporary printmaking, starting from Ruth Weisberg’s influential text of 1986
-a range of critical terms and themes
-a survey of some of the important institutional, organizational, geographical, educational and discursive parameters of contemporary printmaking.

In addition to such well-known authors on print media, such as Johanna Drucker and Richard Field, the anthology presents two texts translated for the first time from German as well as the first translation of the introductory chapter of eminent French art historian Georges Didi-Huberman’s book: La ressemblance par contact: Archéologie, anachronisme et modernité de l’empreinte. Paris: Éditions de Minuit, 2008 (2nd edition). Also included are texts by artists practising in the field of expanded printmaking, such as the founders of the influential web resource 'Printeresting' (2007-15).