1 Transforming Print: Key Issues Affecting the Development of londonprintstudio John Phillips A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Brighton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2005 2 Content Introduction 3 Chapter 1: londonprintstudio: Facilities, Organisation and Programme 11 Chapter 2: The Research Context 25 Chapter 3: The Research Approach and Methodologies 33 Chapter 4: Communication Systems 49 Chapter 5: Oblivious and Illusive Print 63 Chapter 6: The Impact of Print in Europe 74 Chapter 7: Artists, Printmakers and Status 93 Chapter 8: Print Studios: The Pressure Behind the Press 110 Chapter 9: Origins and Development of londonprintstudio 127 Chapter 10: londonprintstudio’s Environment 137 Chapter 11: Conclusion: Contribution of the Study and Implications for Further Research 147 List of Illustrations 160 Endnotes 163 List of Appendices 187 Bibliography 190 3 Introduction Introduction original transparent 4 Introduction original in colour 5 Introduction This study, which informs the creation of a contemporary are less evident than the physical structure and the activities printmaking studio (londonprintstudio), stems from a encountered in the building. personal interest and long-term involvement in the provision The key aims of the research project were: of graphic arts and communication resources for artists, their i) the creation of a contemporary printstudio in the audiences and the wider community of people and context of London, namely the londonprintstudio, its organisations engaged in the provision of educational and facilities, organisation and programme; cultural facilities. ii) an analysis of the ideas and thinking that informed Throughout the project I acted as team leader, this practice-based project. undertaking background research, and initiating, directing, These aims are addressed through the following objectives: and managing the practical implementation of the building 1) a critical evaluation of the history of print and the programme, the organisational restructuring of social impact of communications systems; londonprintstudio and the development of its programme. 2) the critical evaluation of the development, of These tasks required that the team worked Paddington Printshop and London Print Workshop prior collaboratively, raising and returning to fundamental to 1997, and the transformation of these resources into questions: what is a print studio? Who is it for? What does it the londonprintstudio; do? How might it be designed? Solutions to these and many 3) an investigation into the social markets for a related questions are inscribed in the resources and contemporary printmaking and graphic arts resource in activities of londonprintstudio. This thesis explores the London; questions, issues and ideas that underpinned and shaped 4) the design and construction of facilities to house the this practice-based outcome, but which, to the casual visitor, londonprintstudio; 6 Introduction 5) the design and implementation of a human resource B) CD Rom: Primary Evidence strategy for the londonprintstudio; The CD contains background material developed 6) the development and implementation of cultural and through the research, including: policies and plans that education programmes of the londonprintstudio. set the terms of reference for the organisation, but which The research process was iterative and creative. The range may be adapted by other companies for their own and scale of the project required a cross-disciplinary purposes; information about londonprintstudio’s approach, which drew on diverse fields including visual arts, programme; and evaluation reports on key projects. An sociology, history, organisational design, architecture and index of the CD’s contents is provided at the end of this education. document. The submission for examination is comprised of three elements: C) Thesis: Transforming Print: An Exposition of Key Issues A) londonprintstudio: Affecting the Development of londonprintstudio, 1997 to londonprintstudio is an ongoing, creative space, 2004. The title of the thesis is double-edged. It refers based at 425 Harrow Road, London W10 4RE both to the transformation of a printmaking organisation, (www.londonprintstudio.org.uk). It houses traditional and and to the transforming power of print. The thesis digital graphic arts and printmaking facilities, and a explores the systemic enquiry behind the creation of gallery. It runs a range of education and training services londonprintstudio and provides contingent historical, for artists and the general public. critical and theoretical perspectives on the graphic arts. 7 Introduction The thesis seeks to support londonprintstudio’s equipment, and locates printmaking at the periphery of the development and assist others who wish to create or fine arts. londonprintstudio is conceived as a public space, remodel graphic-arts resources in the not-for-profit sector. symbiotically linked to a globally networked population, that The study does not define an ideal blueprint for a graphic is living on the cusp of technological change. arts resource. It acknowledges that organisations are the londonprintstudio aspires to become a twenty-first-century products of local circumstance and flourish best when they centre for graphic arts and communication. are free to respond to their particular environment. However, In developing the studio it was necessary to address a lessons may be transferred between contexts, and in pursuit range of issues beyond the design of a specific resource, the of this objective, the study dips beneath the surface of local context and future development of printmaking, or the extant habitation to sift the ground of market forces, social nuance, literature on studio design. These issues are explored in shared technologies, economic pressures and historical Chapter Two, which seeks to identify key aspects of the circumstance that form and focus individual initiatives. problem situation that the research confronted. The study Chapter One presents the final outcome of this practice- was undertaken between 1997 and 2004, a period when based research; the londonprintstudio, a remodelled academic research practice in the visual arts in the U.K. was organisation, undertaking a diverse educational and cultural nascent. Few models were established on which to base programme, within purpose-built facilities. The project, its either the investigation, or the form of its presentation. Two form of presentation, and the discussion of the ideas that supplementary, yet apparently contradictory, objectives informed its development, break from an established emerged at an early stage of the study, which on the one printmaking discourse, which tends to envisage the print hand seeks to facilitate links to other disciplines, and on the workshop as an efficient assemblage of skills and other aims to draw closer to the interpretive practice of 8 Introduction artists. became apparent at an early stage of the research that this The research required the synthesiss of investigations in oblivion extended to the broader subject of the social history distinct domains: the historical context of printmaking, of print. Consequently, I employed a Systems Approach to contemporary educational needs, the design of the facilities, sysnthesise key aspects of print’s fragmented history and organisation and programme for londonprintstudio. But the thereby provide a fuller perspective on the printstudio’s concept of design was not consistent across disciplines. transformation. In Chapter Four a systemic model is used to Research problems were compounded by the diversity of explore the components and relations within communications methods required in separate areas of the study. A Systems systems. A range of examples is discussed, to explore the Approach was employed, to bring greater unity and proposition that small, seemingly insignificant, modifications coherence to this complexity. Systems Thinking is commonly within a system can trigger changes to its deployment, and used in science and engineering, but is rarely employed in instigate far-reaching social transformations. It is suggested the arts. In Chapter Three the general principles of a cross- that artificial communications systems, including print, which disciplinary Systems Approach are explored, and linkages require access to resources that are not available to all, tend indicated to the application of Systems Theory in fields to intensify social division. Moreover, research indicates that related to this study including: history, cognition, design and communications systems effect the thinking patterns of their organisational development . The specific methodologies users, such that a system’s organising principles become employed in the research are described in respect of their indivisible from its user’s concept of the world, and the contribution to the project. worlds of others, who live outside a given system, are There is a general consensus among printmakers; that rendered opaque and inaccessible. Differences between the their profession is poorly supported by historical studies. It mental models of literate and auditory societies, and the 9 Introduction social and cultural impact of substances such as paper are provided opportunities for mass education. Yet despite their explored to illustrate this analysis. involvement with a medium that has exhibited remarkable Print’s invisibility is discussed in Chapter Five. Following transformative powers,