This session will address a variety of issues that fall broadly under the heading of Theoretical Approaches to Print. More specifically it will focus on issues related to such concerns as the interface of the print as a specific type of material object with new and other technologies, media and positions – and with concerns relating to questions of partnership, hybridity and interdisciplinarity.

The range of topics to be addressed includes issues of approaches to the surface, whether understood as “skin” or otherwise, in print; the dematerialization of the print; the role of the collaborative printmaker in the visualization of complex scientific data; and the strategizing of digital technology by individual artists engaged in the printmaking process. Two of the presentations will report on major projects undertaken by their authors.

The session will consist of four presentations - by Prof Paul Coldwell (University of the Arts, London), Ruth Pelzer-Montada (Edinburgh College of Art), Prof Elaine Shemilt (Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee) and Paul Thompson (Gray’s School of Art and Forth Valley College, Aberdeen) – and will be moderated by Dr Iain Biggs (University of the West of England, Bristol).