IMPACT stands for ‘International Multi-disciplinary Printmaking, Artists, Concepts and Techniques’. Over the past two decades IMPACT has evolved as Europe’s leading academic discourse on printmaking. Printmaking is now integral to the wider academic debate, through practice, theory, visual culture, and is studied across a range of programmes, from undergraduate to PhD around the world.
We are delighted to announce University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières will be hosting the next IMPACT13 in October 2025
Impact 13 – Ink’s transcendence: A tale beyond boundaries will be the first IMPACT (International Multi-disciplinary Printmaking, Artists, Concepts and Techniques) conference to be held in the Americas. This event will feature a series of lectures, exhibitions, and cultural exchanges aimed at exploring, on one hand, the contemporary scene of printmaking and, on the other hand, your unique and multicultural identity in an ecological and postcolonial context.
This project will generally contribute to the mobilization and accessibility of research on the plurivocality of printmaking. It will highlight the experimental and interdisciplinary nature inherent in printmaking practices while questioning technical, technological, and ontological boundaries. Indeed, exchanges and collaborations between researchers will play a crucial role in exploring the boundaries of printmaking, whether traditional or digital, material or virtual. These borders, both visible and invisible, will also be approached from the perspective of their transformative and reinvention potential. Printmaking, as a discipline, has undergone several metamorphoses and remains in perpetual renewal, crossing the limits of its own field to question the spaces in which it comes to life and expresses itself.
In line with these themes, the following topics will be addressed:
- The exploration of new printing techniques that foster the meeting of cultural, heritage, and ecological boundaries to prevent their erosion.
- The reaction of artists to the proliferation of new technologies in printmaking.
- The definition of printmaking in the context of cultural, ecological, and technological transformations.
- The impact of new materialities and immaterialities on the creation and perception of the artwork.
- Artists’ reflections on the impact of colonial histories through printmaking.
- Enriching international collaborations for artistic practices with a focus on inclusion and the preservation of cultural treasures.
- The importance of dialogue between cultures for mutual understanding.
The conference will take place from October 9 to 12, 2025. Proposals must be directly related to printmaking in all its forms, whether analogically or conceptually. IMPACT13 is committed to offering a fee to those who will give the presentations.
In the interest of diversity and inclusivity, IMPACT13 encourages applicants to indicate if they come from, among others, diverse cultural backgrounds, Indigenous communities, LGBTQIA+ groups, or are individuals with disabilities.
For all communication please contact impact13@uqtr.ca
Past IMPACT Conferences:
2022 Hosted at UWE Bristol, England IMPACT 12 The Printmakers’ Voice 21-25 September 2022. Access the IMPACT Conference archive
2021 IMPACT 11 Hosted by Hong Kong Open Printshop
2018 IMPACT 10 Hosted by SM Pro Art, Santander, Spain
https://www.impact10.es/
2015 IMPACT 9 Hosted by the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China.
2013 IMPACT 8 Hosted by Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee.
2011 IMPACT 7 Hosted by Monash University, Australia.
2009 IMPACT 6 Hosted at UWE Bristol, England.
2007 IMPACT 5 Hosted by the Estonian Printmakers’ Association and Estonian Academy of Art, held at KUMU, a purpose built art museum in Tallinn.
2005 IMPACT 4 Co-hosted by the Unversität der Künste Berlin and the National Museum in Poznan and coordinated by University of Tennessee.
Conference website
2003 IMPACT 3 Co-hosted by the South Africa Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town with Rhodes University School of Fine Art.
2001 IMPACT 2 Hosted by the University of Art and Design Helsinki UIAH, Finland.
1999 IMPACT 1 Held at UWE Bristol, England
