The first ever Print Festival Scotland (PFS) takes place in Dundee from 23rd August to 1st September 2013, with satellite activities happening across the country. The Festival aims to confirm the cultural diversity, historical significance and future potential of print, as artists and writers adjust to the digital age. Creative Dundee caught up with the Print Festival Scotland team to find out more…
Dundee has a long and important association with printed media – from Valentines of Dundee Ltd; to DC Thomson; to Dundee Printmaker’s Workshop and DCA’s Print Studios – print has made a big imprint in the city. PFS is a chance to share this with the rest of the world, showing how vibrant the print sector is both locally and Scotland-wide.
PFS has been created to tie into the biennial International Multidisciplinary Printmaking Conference, named IMPACT 8 – which is the world’s largest and most prestigious event of its kind. IMPACT 7 took place in Melbourne in 2011, drew in some 450 artists, academics, curators, conservators, collaborative studios, students and other practitioners from 35 countries, in addition to thousands of visitors to subsidiary exhibitions and events. Dundee’s IMPACT8 is already a sold-out gig with specialists and experts coming from all over to the city.
Some 40 exhibitions, workshops and performances have been created by the PFS team to make sure that our visitors get a flavour of what’s happening and the diverse mix of events are free and open to us all too. The programme takes ‘exploration’ as its theme, with a particular focus on Dundee’s rich tradition of print, printmaking and publishing, and contemporary digital technology innovation.
Some of our top picks include…
– Tin Roof Social Club: The club is based on the design and function of traditional Scottish social clubs, and visitors will be hosted with tea & coffee, newspapers, toasties and snacks in an installation created to function as a social space. (29th Aug – 1st Sept)
– GENERATORprinthouse: Anyone Incapable of Taking Sides Should Say Nothing: a functioning print house, providing open-use facilities alongside space to exhibit. (27th Aug – 22nd Sept)
– Crawl Inclusive, performative art tour through Dundee: Crawl Inclusive; evening of 30th August – check out the last amazing Inclusive, here.
– AnSo; Live Screen Printing Event and Exhibition by Analogue Social, 30th August (evening event), 30th August – 12th September (exhibition)
– The Big Print: The culmination of a city-wide community print project in a celebratory steamroller print event, DJCAD carpark – 31st August, 2-5pm
– 3D Printing – Fleet Collective (off-site) in Café Borsa, Dundee – 28th August 7pm-10pm
The full list of Print Festival Scotland activities can be found below or visit www.conf.dundee.ac.uk/impact8/home:
Print Festival Scotland – 23rd August – 1st September, various venues across Dundee and off-site locations
Cooper Galley, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee: Knife Edge Press: The Complete Works (so far); 29th August – 21st September; Cooper Summer Residency: Invisible Residency; 29 August – 21 September
Cork Printmakers and CIT Crawford College of Art & Design, (off-site), 80 poster-sites across Dundee: POST-IT; 28th August – 1st September
Centrespace, Visual Research Centre, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee: Fiona Banner; 29th August – 21st September; Teruo Isomi; 29th August – 21st September
Crawl Inclusive, performative art tour through Dundee: Crawl Inclusive; evening of 30th August
Deveron Arts (off-site) in Rwenzori Mountains, Uganda: Ekiffo Ekyokwetariramu or Room to Roam; 20th – 26th August
Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee: DCA Wee Printathon; Sunday 1st September, 2-5pm; Dundee Urban Orchard: Design and Print; Saturday 24th August, 1-4pm; Henningham Family Press Chip Shop; 29th August, 6-9pm; Poster Club; 28th – 31st August; There Will Be New Rules Next Week; 20th July – 23rd September; Devotional Ensemble: Etaoin shrdlu; 1st September, 7pm; Linotype: The Film; Saturday 31st, 5pm; Llana Halperin: Geologic Intimacy; 21st July – 22nd September; Rack Spac3, 29th – 30th August
Edinburgh Printmakers, Edinburgh: I HEART SCOTLAND: An Exhibition by Rachel Maclean; 2nd August – 7th September
Fleet Collective (off-site) in Café Borsa, Dundee: 3D Printing; 28th August 7pm-10pm
Freedom Versions and Creative Stirling, Stirling Old Town Jail, Stirling: 1NEFOURZERO; 2nd August – 14th September
GENERATORprojects, Dundee: GENERATORprinthouse: Anyone Incapable of Taking Sides Should Say Nothing; 26th August – 22nd September, (Presentations by invited guest contributors: 26th and 27th August, 7-9pm).
Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow: 40/40: Forty Years, Forty Artists; 24th August – 13th October
Hannah Maclure Centre and Yuck ’n Yum, Hannah Maclure Centre, Dundee: Proof; 28th August – 2nd September
MATZINE, publication distributed in various venues throughout the UK: MATZINEintrospective, 23rd August – 1st September
Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen: Artists In Print: 21 Years of collaboration; 2nd August – 14th September; and off-site in multiple sites across Dundee: Adam Bridgland: CIRCA: 23rd August – 1st September
Roseangle Gallery, Dundee: Dundee Contemporary Arts Print Studio Registered Artists Exhibition; 24th August – 1st September
Roseangle Studios and Gallery, Roseangle Café, Dundee: Print Shift; 21st August – 21st September
Scottish Print Network – Peacock Visual Arts (Aberdeen), Dundee, Edinburgh, Inverness and Glasgow Print Studios: Commonwealth Project; An ongoing residency project until the end of 2014
The Book and Paper Studio, The Attic, 37 Union Street, Dundee: The Book and Paper Open Studios; 28th August – 31st August
The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum, Dundee: Modern Masters in Print; 23rd August – 17th November; and off-site at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design Car Park, Dundee: The Big Print – The Culmination of a City-Wide Community Print Project in a Celebratory Steamroller Print event, 31st August, 2-5pm
The West House, Dundee: 500 Years, 23rd August -30th September
Tin Roof Arts Collective, Dundee, Tin Roof Social Club; 29th August – 1st September
Walled Garden, The Bothy Project, Glasgow: Bird of Passage; 25th August –31st August
University of Dundee, Dalhousie Building, Dundee: Making an Impact – Highlights from the University of Dundee Print Collections; 12th August – 27th September; Lamb Gallery, Dundee: D.C. Thomson and Co. Dundee: Press, Print, Production; 24th August – 26th October; Tower Foyer Gallery, Dundee: The D’Arcy Thompson Print Folio; 17th August- 21st September
WASPS, Meadow Mill Studios, Dundee: AnSo; Live Screen Printing Event and Exhibition by Analogue Social, The Scottish Design Community; 30th August (evening event), 30th August – 12th September (exhibition)