Dead Lines, 2019
Format: 22 × 30 cm
Pagecount: 40
Edition: 100
Print: Office Offset
Participants: Marie Hunte, Juliane Kuhnt, Vivek Manek, María Camila Mejía Murillo, Sophie Seidlitz, Koletta Sieja, Yanming Ye, Yuanyuan Zhao
Dead Lines was a three-day workshop held from 26–28 June 2019 at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen. Initiated and organised by Prof Andrea Rauschenbusch as part of the AG Fresh Prints run by Prof Tania Prill.
Pressure arises on different levels: as a possibility for spreading opinions, as a basic physical principle, as an unpleasant sensation in the meritocracy or simply through limited periods of time. The image reader Dead Lines is a formal and content-related approach to the Office Offset, using analogue and direct-plate imaging processes as well as trial and error and time pressure.
Explaining the basics can sometimes be boring, but the strange-looking device ensures the full attention from all students.
Our goal was to have printed 100 copies of the reader by the end of the workshop. But to slow down the process (while ramping up the time pressure), we restricted the students to analogue methods. This initially took some time to get used to, but the students eventually embraced the idea of diving in and designing – and soon everyone was busy.
We brought along some vinyl letters in order to substitute digital typefaces, which would not be used.
The limits we set enabled students to on their feet in new creative ways. They used old scrap vinyl to cut out letters and shapes. These were then combined with drawings and even new techniques they were developing in real time.
The light background is not the plate that tones, but was instead created by deliberately scratching the plate with sandpaper.
Another student used negative vinyl shapes to create her design. She wasn’t satisfied with the first print, so she added more vinyl (light blue on the plate).
The wrinkled edges of the vinyl create recessed areas during printing. These add extra depth to the design.
This selection of printing plates shows the great variety of techniques students to approach the Office Offset.
After printing, we collected the sheets in the correct order and prepared them for plastic coil binding. At this point the deadline was fast approaching, but everyone collaborated in a great team effort.
With all the pressure, you should not neglect the fun at work.
Exhausted but happy students at the end of day three.