With the aim of supporting and promoting encounters and the exchange of knowledge in the production of contemporary printmaking, SCHWARZZSEITE PROJEKT showcases works by emerging artists still in their academic, formative years. It seeks to develop opportunities for further professional engagement in the discovery of the print matrix as a means of expression and experimentation. Whether studying in their first year or master’s degree, the selected participants delve with fresh eyes and great sensibility into the properties of surfaces and poetics of reproducibility. The result is a vibrant and varied exhibition.
Printmaking is based on a set of techniques and processes in order to obtain an image printed on a surface. That has set a dichotomy between creators and makers. In this realm the artist is the figure who creates the image and the printmaker the one who executes it. Without a doubt this relationship has over the centuries produced innumerous brilliant artistic collaborations. At the same time it didn’t earn printmaking a better reputation as a means of contemporary expression in its own right, independent from its reproduction possibilities, i.e. the edition.
However many artists, for instance Andy Warhol, Kiki Smith, Sigmar Polke, and William Kentridge, just to cite a few from many great examples, have recognized the potential of the medium, and explored its materiality from unique and inspiring perspectives, influencing new generations.
Recently more and more artists not only learn the craft, but examine and develop their subject-matter together with the poetics of the medium. The large number of high quality applications received for this project, for example, speaks for itself, and I find it personally fascinating to witness what is emerging from these times.
