Printmaking or Contemporary Art? A Curatorial Perspective was the provocatively-titled final panel of the 2010 SGC conference. This discussion about the curatorial philosophy behind Philagrafika 2010 was anticipated eagerly by attendees (like Printeresting) who believed that these exhibits were the most compelling component of this year’s conference. 

John Caperton opened the discussion with a history of the Print Center. At times his comic tone bordered on vaudevillian, and was greeted warmly by a receptive audience. (Especially when he joked “I don’t think the artist made it” to the opening of an exhibit of Dürer prints). Caperton described how the Print Center, as a medium-specific institution, has evolved toward a mission that challenges but also preserves the traditional conventions of printmaking.

Caperton was followed by MoMA Department of Prints and Illustrated Books’ Gretchen Wagner, who discussed the Museum’s 2008 acquisition of a major FLUXUS archive. Wagner’s talk was very interesting but somewhat divergent from the part of the dialogue most relevant to our readers, so we won’t describe it in detail.

Jose Roca, pictured here camouflaged in black against a black backdrop.

The main event: José Roca gave as dynamic and engaging a presentation as one could hope to see at an academic conference. His opener raised a few eyebrows: “I would like to publicly acknowledge that I don’t like prints.” He then proceeded to list all the other media he “doesn’t like,” a list that included, essentially, all of them. Roca made a compelling case against medium specificity, noting that “mediums are means that are often mistaken for ends…This is especially true in printmaking.”

He bolstered his case with citations from Luis Camnitzer’s tour de force essay Printmaking: A Colony of the Arts, with the important disclaimer that Camnitzer wrote the essay not as a contemptuous outsider, but as a true believer offering a vital critique. Frankly, Camnitzer’s critique is borne out by the very nature of the SGC Conference itself.

After citing Felix Gonzales-Torres as a model for the contemporary print artist, Roca described the Philagrafika curatorial team’s criteria for deciding if work fit the exhibition theme of “the graphic unconscious.” The nature of “the graphic” boiled down to a matrix, a transfer medium, and a receiving surface. These are not especially groundbreaking criteria, but they are useful parameters for the broad definition of “print” favored by contemporary practitioners.

Perhaps in an effort to woo a surly audience of printmakers who regularly scrape grease from under their fingernails, Roca then cleverly flipped the script. He convincingly declared: “I would like to publicly acknowledge that I like prints.” At this point he made a compelling case for medium specificity, citing the examples of the Münster Sculpture Project and The Drawing Center in New York. He remarked that print is poised to become what photography was in the 1980s, or what drawing has become in the last decade. Roca concluded his remarks with a compelling argument that medium specificity forces curators to be more creative in their decision-making process.

When Philadelphia artist Richard Torchia questioned Roca about the future direction of Philagrafika, the curator noted persuasively that this initial event had “made the point” and that subsequent curators might be able to curate Philagrafika events in a more thematic way, freed of the imperative to shatter the boundaries.

The future of the Philagrafika Festival may parallel the future of SGC conferences. The identity of this year’s conference was largely informed by Philagrafika, and the unprecedented scope of this event is about the potential of print and the unknown future. The game has been changed, and future conferences should not revert to the usual way of doing things. Conference organizers may not have the resources to generate exhibitions of this breadth, but it’s worth our while as a community to maintain the spirit of inquiry demonstrated by Philagrafika 2010. If we do, we have much to look forward to.