Welcome to IMPACT

Introduction by Carinna Parraman –Director of Centre for Print Research

The IMPACT team at the Centre for Print Research UWE, warmly welcome you to IMPACT 12 and our wonderful City of Bristol.

Over the past couple of years, we have carefully crafted our conference and are excited that this week has finally materialised. With our newfound Post Pandemic Voice, we are delighted to welcome many new names and faces and be reunited with old friends and colleagues. We hope to connect the printmaking community online and in person, exploring print debate across multiple time zones. In preparation for our IMPACT 12, we strongly felt we would focus and attend to the Printmakers’ Voices, working on ideas and themes that address many issues we encountered during the pandemic.

We welcome people online and in person. Our discussion about how our conference would look and feel has not gone without some extended discussion. We wanted it to be in person, but also recognising that some people cannot travel, we have put in extra effort to ensure the REMO online event is just as amazing. We have worked closely with Bristol-based artist Simon Tozer to create an alternative Bristol and a unique conference venue with a garden. We are proud to introduce Impcat, our conference cat.

The IMPACT Conference is a longstanding and well-established collaborative forum for academics and artists in the field of printmaking, through extended practice, exhibitions and workshops, and through academic debate, sharing new and traditional methods and technologies, exploring the historical and contemporary and the future of print. We welcome all participants from the print community, from traditional printmaking to industry and how we can collaborate to transform our understanding of print.

Established in 1999 by Steve Hoskins and Richard Anderton, it has always been the expectation that IMPACT will travel to different countries - where themes, practices and histories of print are informed by the host country, place and culture. Unlike some corporatestyle conferences, each IMPACT host is encouraged to curate and thematically design their own conference, bringing together a global printmaking community to encounter a unique and enriching event. Since 1999, it has travelled to Finland, South Africa, Berlin and Poznan,

Estonia, Australia, Scotland, Spain, China and Hong Kong and has been co-hosted between different cities and countries, supported by printmaking associations, universities, institutes and academies.

It is our third time to be hosting IMPACT. We have enjoyed putting it together and have certainly packed a lot into a short time. We have as our first key-note the State of Print and IMPACT Twinning Ceremony by Rodrigo Arteaga and Tracy Hill, to kick start the event, followed by a procession through the centre of Bristol. We have two other key-note presentations, two IMPACT Reunions, thirteen academic presentations, thirteen reflective paper sessions, fifteen panel sessions, ten technical demonstrations, open portfolio and product fair, industrial trips and cultural visits, more than 140 exhibitions, including large group curated shows and many solo shows. These exhibitions are spread across the city centre, Frenchay Campus and Bower Ashton Campus.

Of course, a conference cannot happen without the dedication of an IMPACT team. I wish to personally thank the University and the CFPR, and especially the IMPACT team, who have been exceptional throughout the planning and delivering a highly complex multiplatform event.

This year we want to ensure you have a brilliant time, meet new people and be inspired by what you see and hear. If you enjoy this event and are motivated to host an IMPACT conference, please do get in touch.

Enjoy!

With best wishes from the IMPACT Team at CFPR