Proposal Abstract

In the era of 3D imaging and digital fabrica, the distinction between object and image is blurry. The mimetic river of ‘image imitates object’ is reversed and becomes a whorl of eddies where images create objects, objects lose physicality, images become hardened, objects become flexible, and images become objects. In this flux, new permutations of image/object hybrids are forged. As a technology that utilises physical objects to create images, printmaking is well-positioned to explore this unique time in history.

This exhibition will present works from contemporary artists whose printmaking practices navigate this new aesthetic and conceptual territory: interrogating the tangled relationship between representation and embodiment, using 3D digital processing as a tool for creating printed images, transforming ‘flat’ images into 3D objects, and hybridising emergent and existing methods to propose future(s) of printmaking through technological collaboration.

Artists selected for this exhibition span a diverse range of content and practices, but are united by their exploration of new possibilities in image/object interplay. Each artist will present a small group of related works.

Curation and organisation by:

Sally Clegg

Nicholas Dowgwillo

Ellie Schmidt

This project was made possible by the support of the Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan.