Our work
shop in Mölndal upholds a far-fetched, but still, connection to
Senefelder.
In our liquid modernity it is nice to discover connections. They give
good support for anyone, to maintain the kind of uncertainty
(osäkerhet) that helps you avoid a spineless (ryggradslös,
velig) adaptability (anpassningsförmåga). We are all much
too vulnerable (sårbara) to do without that
opportunity.
This special connection, has a span from 1818 until now and further on,
into the future. That´s quite an extensive span to take into
considerration these days, when inovations older than five years are
sometimes regarded as useless.
In 1818 Alois Senefelder wrote his ”Vollständiges Lehrbuch
der Steindruckerei” In which he describes all his experiences of
his own invention: The Chemical Plane Print; the lithography, or stone
print.
Later on, grained zinc plates were used instead of stones, and later
yet, aluminum tintypes that were to be printed in off set presses. But
the printing principle rests steadily in Senefelders original idea.
In his time, the chemical adventure took place on plane limestones that
he had found outside of Munich, where he lived. He invented and
developed this method, as far as he possibly could, and left it to us
as a heritage (arv). I´m very sure that he would have taken great
interest in the possibilities that our computerized time has connected
to his invention.
At about the same time, it could even be the very same year, 1818, when
Senefelder wrote his book on lithography, a house was built in
Mölndal, just south of Gothenburg. A brick house with big granite
stones in the ground. It´s a house that after 160 years,
and a great many different activities, gave room to a lithographic work
shop in wich Senefelders Chemical Plane Print continued its course
through photo mechanical sollutions into the digital era.
Then,.. in 1978,.. ten artists graduated from Valand school of Art and
started a lithographic work-shop and named it Bolaget Vardagsbilder
(Everyday Picture Company).
Even if the group have changed over the years; with members leaving,
others joining, the name and the work have been stable and perfectible
(utvecklingsbar) to both content and meaning. In these turbulent times
we live in, it is the every day life that saves us. Its modest and
incorruptible routines help us to balance, so that we don´t have
to stumble around in life, unable to reflect on how and why.
A Company with ”Everyday Pictures” is, in connection to
that, of course indispensable.....
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The house
itself is a two-storey building with the print shop down
stairs and and a studio on top. It has one smaller stone press from the
19th century and a big Steinmesse & Stollberg offset press
from
1956. The workshop has, in the last decade, been upgraded with pre
press possibilities on an elementary basis.
You could say that the situation resembles (liknar) Senefelders: as he
did... we too... want to gain access to printing facilities on our own
terms. The equipment needed is of course expensive, but still within
the reach for a smaller artist group like ours. Standard soft
ware
like Photoshop, Indesign etc, laser printers that provide size up to A3
and an ink printer that is getting close to big formats will get you a
long way.
One could write a special chapter about the scanner, the importance of
wich cannot be overestimated! It lodges the capacity to convert
any
printmaker into an euphoric, digital filing clerk.
It helps us to process our pictures through the digital possibilities,
and then, by using four-colour technique in preparing the printing, we
can link different printing projects together. And over the internet we
can work with friends and colleagues anywhere in the world; it has
really changed our ways of working.
But in the end, all these possibilities are still at their best in
collaboration with the old standards, when it comes to the actual
Printing.
The old, lasting papers and inks that balance the volatility
(lättrörlighet, flyktighet, osäkerhet,
fluktuation, volatilitet) of
computers.
In this small-scale print shop situation, where you can combine 19th
century techniques with the latest affordable upgrades, you get a
different stature (kaliber) on both tradition and renewal.
The old house looks the same on the outside as it did almost 200 years
ago, but it is not as far away in the world as it was then. It stands
as solid as ever, on its´granite ground, as does our need to
visualize
and ponder over what it is to live this life. And that´s what we
do,
images that tell about our own experiences, about everyday life, and
death, and the world we live in.
This work shop has become a place where the inherited (nedärvda)
knowledge from Alois Senefelder, is part of a courtship (parningslek,
uppvaktning) with newest digital techniques. It´s very handy. It
transforms time into a room and it puts us in any middle of the world.
(Alois Senefelder, Munich, 1771 – 1834). |