Background

Contextual review reveals developments in the field of digitally mediated art practices which are a product of ‘of mathematics, engineering, computer science and industry, as well as the fine and applied arts ⁴. The field, as Bedard also identifies, ‘has widened with more artists working with digital technologies in increasingly open and interchangeable ways’. Within this context contemporary printmaking practice is not exempt, as Kushner tells us
‘New technology demands new parameters of definition and a print does not need a fixed matrix nor does it need to be a piece of paper physically pressed against a template. Indeed, in this new technology often no machine even touches the surface of a print. This is a multiply produced object made with a new type of template and printed on another material-often paper but not always so.’ ⁹.
This position reflects that of Pengelly who identified that ‘computer-manipulating printmaking does offer the possibility of generating radically new physical, aesthetic and conceptual frameworks within the medium’ ¹⁰. Thus raising questions of what are the ‘emergent forms’ of digitally mediated works that are ‘printed’ from a ‘Digital Matrix’.

Although the traditional printmaker will continue to have concerns for the materiality within their practice, which one practitioner [a respondent to earlier research undertaken by the researcher ¹⁷] described as  ‘The materiality of traditionally made prints - the textures, embossing, marks, plate tone, even the smell.’ It is now equally valid that digital printmaking which ‘for the most part, is in fact created in a dynamic time-based interactive software-hardware environment’¹ evokes a different ‘aura’ and forms of materiality manifest through the ‘larger and more diverse world of replicable, transmissible, mediated art and communication’³.
Thus the practice of digitally mediated printmaking (printmaking 2.0) is inherently a ‘post-studio practice’ ¹¹. A post-physical practice with post-physical forms which, raises questions surrounding new approaches and ‘new materialities’.
As a consequence of new forms of materiality where although the artwork may be made physical through 2Dimensional physical instantiation via large format archival printer, paper and ink but remains ‘replicable, transmissible, mediated art’³; or perhaps more significantly form new physicality via electronic instantiation including e-publication, e-paper and digital surfaces new questions of allocation and signature arise.
The traditional western mechanism since the Renaissance for authorisation or sanction of the artwork has been through signature. This historically evolved as having particular significance within the practice of printmaking as a result of the ‘division of labour between the artist, the engraver, the printer and the publisher’ ⁶. Given the questions raised through the ‘new materiality’ of digital process and its facility for repetition and duplication then the traditional link between signature and the authorisation of the artist come into question.

Examination of the means of consumption of digitally mediated printmaking practice indicates three distinct modes: exhibition & curation, exchange & collaboration and the on-line marketplace.
Investigation of the exhibition & curation of digitally mediated art form (including printmaking) reveals that since the late 1950s there have been a series of identifiable key ‘survey’ exhibitions. Beginning with ‘Experimentelle Ästhetik’ - Museum of Applied Arts Vienna (1959) through to Decode: Digital Design Sensations  - The Victoria & Albert Museum London (2009/10) (see Figure 1)
This series of ‘survey’ exhibitions represent both ‘establishment’ recognition of the digital medium within the artistic context, and also a reflection of a greater curatorial consideration of the digital medium. The significance of these exhibitions lies in their being an indicator of the increasing groundswell of the digital medium within curatorial activity. Illustrated in experimental work by Graham (1997) Graham & Cook (2002), Muller & Edmonds (2006) and the development of the Digital Art Museum and the Los Angeles Centre For Digital Art. Thus through ‘proto-gallery’ spaces composed of physical and online manifestations, online curation and exhibition a significant context has been established for the consumption of digitally mediated artworks. It is against this background questions surrounding the practices of exhibiting & curating as a modes of consumption within digitally mediated print arise.

The evolution of the digital medium has enabled developments in social networking and ‘affinity spaces’⁷. Spaces, which have begun to promote new forms of collaboration and participation. Whilst these developments have seen the creation and promotion of new affinity groupings, traditional, existing and established groups, including printmakers, have also readily adopted such mechanisms. It is amongst these groupings that forms of co-working and collaboration now exist. Although printmaking collaboration traditionally focussed upon the relationship between artist, printmaker and publisher ², the evolution of new models are apparent through the printmakers networks identified in (Figure 2).
These networks may be viewed as a ‘Virtual Atelier’, akin to ‘ a group of artists working together, pooling their ideas, communicating to one another their discoveries and achievements’ ¹². Although originally conceived in connection with the working practices of  ‘S.W. Hayter’s Atelier ¹⁷’, this concept is equally applicable to the Internet based digital networks operating within contemporary art practice, wherein artistic collaboration over time and distance is engendered through de-materialised practice. These networks thus provide a significant context and ‘mode of consumption’ for print artists sharing works and information.

Alongside developments in curation of digital art-form and the development of digitally mediated collaborative practice we have also seen the establishment and growth of the on-line marketplace. The on-line market is one of the most significant developments in both commerce and digital participation during the early decades of the 21st Century. At its simplest level it provides an established e-commerce medium for direct sales by galleries, co-operatives and individual printmakers.
Review of online sales activity within the context of print1.0 (traditional printmaking) reveals amongst commercial galleries, the existence of online sales and promotion sites wherein full details of prints available, artist, medium, edition number and price are available from galleries, studios and publishers. In addition there are ‘agency sites’ which are composed of offerings from a variety of the aforementioned sources of which ‘originalprints.com’ is an example.
Perhaps one of the most significant features of the growth of the online market is that of direct sales by artists themselves. Amongst which ‘Etsy’ (www.etsy.com) is now most established. In essence an eBay for the hand–crafted the site works by direct sales and commission rather than auction and carries functions and structures reminiscent of social media sites such as ‘Flickr’. Within the Etsy site there are numerous categories from art to woodworking including a dedicated section for printmaking with over 700 prints on offer at the time of review.
Both of these examples are standard e-commerce approaches to online sales - providing either sales links to, or direct sales of print art, via an agency / financial commission model. Counter to these commercial structures there are also artist co-operatives such as ‘Justseeds’ (www.justseeds.org) a collaborative who describe their site as:- ‘…not just a place to shop, but also a destination to find out about current events in radical art and culture. Our blog covers political printmaking, socially engaged street art, and culture related to social movements.’⁸ Thus the on-line marketplace forms a further ‘mode of consumption’ for the contemporary digitally mediated printmaker.
Therefore ‘Born Digital - New Materialities’ would seek to examine within the overall context of the research three areas or ‘topoi’ of digitally mediated printmaking for examination through primary research amongst peer practitioners: ‘Emergent forms’, ‘Materiality & signature’ and ‘Modes of consumption’. Facilitated via models of de-materialised practice fostered through artistic collaboration over time and distance engendered via ‘affinity spaces’⁷.