cpress books films

Print out

Print out is one of the revealing outcomes of the collaborative (artistic) research project, Chapakhana Archive. Drawing on publications and exhibitions, the project documents the local history of print and production technologies in Dhaka, Chittagong and Bogra, exploring ideas surrounding technical and social deployment and their consequent societal effects. In this context, the project delves openly into different aspects of print, in theory and in practice, from artistic printmaking to film posters in mass circulation, to hand-designed letters in their multiplication in public space, to cheaply-produced, glitzy packaging for everyday goods. From there it expands to the history of cotton-printing, book-binding and maps … to forgotten languages and advanced modern technologies (used atypically). The Chapakhana Archive focuses on the local print-makers, publishers, entrepreneurs, and others, with the aim of exploring the material, practical, and technological involvement of individuals and social groups – among many other facets of engagement. This is all taking place in a context where print is still far from digital reproduction - with all its beauty and politics, with knowledge available which no longer exists in the West (as well as in most cities, including India). Furthermore, print in Dhaka, Chittagong and Bogra has not yet been widely researched, neither within the arts, nor within the humanities and social sciences.

Print out combines different printing techniques, from (experimental) offset, to block prints (wood and zinc), and from foil embossing to screen printing.

Curated by Samsul Alam Helal and Mara Züst