Performing Print Exhibition Brings RCA Printmaking Archive to Life

Performing Print: Bringing the Archive Alive draws from the extensive Printmaking Archive and includes a selection of works from early 1960s to present day.

The exhibition is a mixture of contemporary graduate and archive work, and seeks to explore how archives and documents can be used as suggestive sources and substances for art practice. By placing the RCA archive on display and creating new work in response to pieces from the collection, the show takes on a performative quality of its own, generating creative conversations and interactions.

Included from the archive are Shakespeare-themed works that arose from collaborations with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2011, which saw Printmaking students, staff and invited guests make prints in a response to a set of lithographs made at the RCA workshops in 1961.

Exhibited prints by artists such as Paula Rego, Tracy Emin, Peter Blake and Cornelia Parker are for sale along with a brand new work by Mark Titchner called Hand Must Mind Must Work will be launched at the show as part of the Printmaking Appeal Fund.  All proceeds go to support RCA students with materials, travel and exhibition costs.

Publications include artist’s books and catalogues alongside correspondence and related documents giving a full sense of this eclectic archive. The displays map shifts in education, technical and collaborative aspects of the print medium. 

A series of events will be taking place throughout the weekend, including a talk by Head of Printmaking, Professor Jo Stockham on Saturday 18 October about the archive and exhibition. 

Christie’s Multiplied 2014 runs until 20 October 2014, Christie’s South Kensington, 85 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 3LD, Lower Galleries
Admission free |

Talk – 'Performing Print, Bringing the RCA Archive Alive', Professor Jo Stockham, 3.30pm, Saturday 18 October 

For more information and opening times click here.