Abstract

Inkubator is a critically acclaimed travelling exhibition that was premiered at Edinburgh Printmakers in 2007 and conceived by artist and printmaker David Faithfull. Through highlighting the work created by a variety of contemporary national and international artists, it aims to broaden exposure and accessibility to the interconnected genres of Artists Books, Prints and Multiples, while satisfying one of the fundamental challenges associated with the 'printed' artefact. The concept behind Inkubator originally, was to classify the 200 selected works according to three distinct but inter-related themes: The Study, The Log Cabin and The Landscape, presented on open display and available to be handled by visitors. This allowed a refreshingly direct, hands-on experience and thereby maintained the intentions of the artists in adopting these non-hierarchal visual formats of the Artists Book, Print and Multiple in the first place. For its next phase at the DLI Museum and Art Gallery, Inkubator evolved two additional themed spaces - the Bunker and the Hangar - incorporating artists with a particular connection to the North East of England. Reflecting the proximity of the Gallery to the Durham Light Infantry Museum, these new rooms resonated with ideas of conflict, but not only in a military sense. Whilst presenting artists dealing with Iraq, the Cold War and Kosova, it also pays homage to Paula Virillio's Bunker Archaeology, with the bunker as a metaphorical crypt or ark. Artists featured included: James Acord ,David Bellingham, Helen Douglas, Uta Kogelsberger and Ed Ruscha.