StACCS ‘Creatively’ Theme Teams up with Local Printmakers at a Global Conference
In July, the international History of Science Society (HSS) and the European Society for the History of Science (ESHS) hosted their joint annual meeting, “Shifting Perspectives: Plural Worlds, Contested Sciences,” in Edinburgh. As part of a wider outreach effort, the conference’s local organising committee solicited tie-in programmes from nearby Scottish universities and cultural institutions. The ‘Creatively’ lead at StACCS quickly got into the act, teaming up with the School of Art History’s Net-Zero Press Impact Project and Edinburgh Printmakers (EP) to organise a day of reflection on print and waste.
Waste, long overlooked in the history of science as in the history of art, has recently emerged as both a hot research topic and a rallying cry for the discipline. The two artist-led making sessions we convened at EP explored waste in print workshops past and present, engaging with environmental history and craft practice. Our guest facilitators were Aindreas Scholz, an artist and researcher based in London whose work explores ecological vulnerability and sustainable photographic practices; and Joanna Rucklidge, an artist, educator, and researcher who recently started a PhD exploring the correlation between detrimental climate change and consumer choices associated with waste paper.
At Aindreas’s workshop, “Eco-cyanotype,” we experimented with a modern take on nineteenth-century camera-less photography, using plants harvested from the EP garden and water sourced from the nearby Union Canal. Aindreas then demonstrated his work-in-progress: a layered, DIY filter designed to purify the liquid by-products of the cyanotype washing process. During the demonstration, he spoke to the group about his ongoing research into climate-adapted photography.
With Joanna’s workshop, “Blue roll and waste prints,” we turned to consider a stock prop in modern print rooms: large rolls of (blue) disposable tissue paper, generally used for cleaning. One wet, these sheets cannot be recycled along with other dry paper and are thus relegated to mainstream waste. Questioning the assumed disposability of blue roll, Joanna had us look anew at an unbleached roll alongside other ‘art’ papers in the studio. We then tested the roll’s viability as a substrate for printmaking, working in groups to construct paper books inked with found-object ‘stamps’.
The two workshops attracted over 20 participants each, with global representation from scholars based in the United States, Canada, France, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Italy, and Chile. In an anonymous feedback survey, attendees were asked to reflect on how (or if) the event made them rethink their own relationships to waste and sustainability. One participant answered with an emphatic, “Yes! There are so many little weird things around my house that are not easily recycled. This workshop helped me see them as an opportunity for art rather than as a nuisance.” Another, reflecting on Joanna’s activity, admitted, “I consider myself fairly waste conscious, but had no idea that blue rolls are so unsustainable; this will make me rethink how and if I use them.” Overall, participants praised the collaborative atmosphere of guided creativity. Look out for similar workshops hosted by the ‘Creatively’ team this academic year!
