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The role of artistic collaborations: selected comparisons from South African print studios and 'double act' artist collaborations

A dissertation presented to the Faculty of Humanities of the University of the
Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts
in Fine Arts.
Johannesburg, 2016 / Collaboration in South African printmaking studios, both between artists and
printmakers, and between artists working together in print studios are examined in
this study. How South African artists have used the conventions of collaborative
printmaking practices to complement their own practice; and what kind of dynamics
can emerge from such collaborations is the primary concern of this study.
Printmaking is widely viewed as a subsidiary, or supplementary practice to artists’
primary concerns in their particular medium of practice. It is important to examine the
role of collaboration in printmaking studios, and how it may benefit, or hinder artists in
their creative productions. To contextualise my study, I provide a brief historical
overview of collaboration in Western printmaking; and briefly examine printmaking
against South Africa’s political landscape since the 1960s. Recent critical
observations on collaboration in the arts are introduced to foreground various
categorizations and approaches to such practices. My research focus is not on the
intricacies of collectivism in collaboration but rather on how a form of ‘teamwork’
collaboration in print studios can generate agency, within the context of concerns
raised in my own creative practice. As a printmaking teacher, practitioner and
collaborator, I hope these findings could be used to address some of the concerns
experienced in collaborations.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/20779
Date29 July 2016
CreatorsBingham, Niall B
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Formatapplication/pdf, application/pdf

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