Printingindustry:printsthat endure

Words can be written, drawn, composed, printed and reproduced. Over time, different techniques, materials, equipment and knowledge have made it possible to give them form, multiply them and circulate them. The printing industry has been built on this ability to transform ideas, information and messages into objects that communicate, circulate and endure.

This exhibition explores some of these moments and manifestations, establishing a link between the history of print production and its contemporary expressions. From movable type, paper and mechanical printing to today’s possibilities for production and communication, we find a history made up of techniques, objects, professionals and processes in constant transformation.

But the printing industry is not defined solely by its production processes. It is also defined by the places the word occupies and the different ways in which it reaches us. On the street, between the pages, close at hand, on the surface or through the objects that surround it, graphic communication integrates public and private spaces, accompanies everyday life and plays a part in how we recognise, interpret and remember the world.

The objects brought together in this exhibition constitute a representative selection of the diversity of the printing industry, bringing into dialogue different eras, processes, materials and forms of communication. The aim is not to cover the entirety of a vast and constantly evolving sector, but rather to create a journey that allows visitors to recognise some of its main manifestations and to understand the continuity between the knowledge of the past and the practices of the present.

Forming part of the ‘Places of the Word – Convergências Collective’ programme, this exhibition stems from a partnership between the Municipality of Tomar, APIGRAF and the Polytechnic University of Tomar, and proposes to view the printing industry as a realm where memory, technique, culture and innovation converge.