Kristin Lucas. This is inadmissible. July 2011 Task. Image: Kristin Lucas
Next Monday, January 23 is the opening of Print Studio, an interactive space were MoMA visitors are invited to explore the evolution of artistic practices relating to the medium of print. Through a series of hands-on art-making activities and workshops, as well as lectures and events taking place in MoMA’s Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building, we invite participants to reimagine the role of print in contemporary visual culture. A variety of artist- and educator-led programs involve exploration with digital and manual printing processes, engagement with a selection of recycled materials, and consideration of subjects such as the history of publication and knowledge production related to the print medium.
Print Studio programs emphasize accessible and sustainable models for the production and dissemination of ideas, highlighting the ways in which new digital technologies incorporate traditional practices, thus transforming our engagement with the print medium. As a site of inventive play and exploration, Print Studio aims to afford an interactive experience that will not only complement time spent in MoMA’s galleries, but will also provide opportunities for collective creativity and innovation.
The great artist Jasper Johns said it best when he said: “It’s simple, you just take something and do something to it, and then do something else to it. Keep doing this, and pretty soon you’ve got something.” Upon this suggestion, we invite you to join us at Print Studio to make your own print using visual resources found in the Reanimation Library: Mid-Manhattan Branch—a collection of discarded books acquired for their visual content—and explore transfer and manipulation through digital technologies and manual processes available on site, including scanners, computers, and photocopiers.
Reanimation Library: Mid-Manhattan Branch. Courtesy Reanimation Library, Brooklyn. Photo: David Lang
In the coming months at Print Studio, we invite you to:
* Respond through print to a task put forth by members of the Collective Task project, re-imagined for the Studio’s context
* Create digital finger drawings with artist Jorge Colombo
* Build altered books with artist Katerina Lanfranco
* Examine the recent history of publishing and generate a publication with Triple Canopy
* Make paper with Dieu Donné Papermill (drawing from the work of resident artist James Siena)
* Become a member of the NSK State in Time at IRWIN’s NSK Passport Office, New York
Altered books workshop at MoMA. Photo: Katerina Lanfranco
In addition to our activities at MoMA, you’ll find more opportunities to learn and create on our blog at MoMA.org/PrintStudo. Each Monday on the Print Studio blog, we’ll feature a 10 Minute Talk, each offering a behind-the-scenes look at MoMA’s engagement with the medium of print and selected Print Studio projects.
We welcome you to check in online each week for listings of upcoming workshops and programs. In addition to highlights and background information about Print Studio activities, the Print Studio blog is a space where you can continue conversations started at the studio. We also encourage you to input your thoughts via comments on Print Studio blog posts, and to share pictures of work created at Print Studio to be published via our Flickr group.
We look forward to seeing you at Print Studio in the coming weeks!
Print Studio is organized in conjunction with the exhibition Print/Out (February 19–May 14, 2012)