Parsons Presents Control|Print

What is the fate of print in a digital age? Parsons The New School for Design takes on this challenge with Control|Print, a collaborative exhibition with the Royal College of Art (RCA), London, which explores the intersection of craft and technology. The exhibition will be on view from November 6 through December 14 at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center.

Control|Print features works by a number of notable international artists and designers who play with the notion of digital technology. In this first American presentation, prominent members of the Parsons community create work in traditional, digital, and mixed media that extend the idea of ink on paper and showcase how machinery and technology can enter the representational process. First conceived by RCA as a research project investigating the possibilities of a customized future for digital art and design, Control|Print also features the results of these experiments in a series of limited edition book spreads, large-scale artwork, and digital projections and renderings.



"The Control|Print research project was an effort to elevate the digital press, and consider its place in the future of the printed page," said Russell Warren Fisher, co-organizer, designer, and lecturer in Communication Art and Design at RCA. "Partnering with Parsons has allowed us to keep this investigation alive through a reflective, cross-cultural dialogue."

Among the featured artists are co-organizers Lucille Tenazas, Henry Wolf Professor of Communication Design at Parsons, Warren-Fisher, and Dan Fern, Head of the School of Communications at the RCA; Parsons-commissioned artists Steven Guarnaccia, Zachary Lieberman, Arthur Ou, Sven Travis, and Allan Wexler; and RCA-commissioned artists Mark Atkins, Chris Bigg, Vaughan Oliver, and Marc Wilson.

"We often think of digital technology as alienating, as removing us from the production process in some way," said Tenazas. "Using the RCA project as a starting point, Parsons is exploring the notion that technology can also be a tool to re-engage, to adjust the tactile tradition of craft for the digital age, which is a particular focus of my work at Parsons."

In timing with Control|Print, Parsons will present a series of related programs, including three intensive 24-hour workshops, where the public can view teams of Parsons students and faculty creating work that actively explores the boundaries between traditional and digital technologies. A symposium on November 7 will bring together a number of the participants, including Clarke, Tenazas, Warren-Fisher, and Wilson, as well as leaders from the art world, to discuss the future relationship of art, craft, and technology.

"This show is just the beginning of a long-term partnership between two world-class universities to explore urgent issues relating to all aspects of contemporary culture," said Fern, who also chairs the RCA's International Development Group.

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