Data Transformation: New Visual Data Based on the Printmaking Model

This paper discusses how printmaking methods can be used as a methodology to re-examine and analyse works in the field of digital media. It presents the history and theory of printmaking from a Chinese perspective and investigates the relationship between the unique indirect creation mode in the printmaking system, and data transfer and transcoding in digital media. This paper proposes that the history and theory of printmaking can lead to a better understanding of digital images. First, the paper defines how printmaking functions and its relationship to the image. Second, it analyses how the relationship between printmaking and the image can be applied to digital media to form an equivalence between the digital file and the digital image. Finally, this paper uses the printmaker Chen Qi as a case study for discussion and analysis. Chen Qi has been chosen because his research examines how Chinese water-based woodcut print techniques can be augmented and transformed with digital technology. He emphasises the importance of breaking away from the conventional concept of the printmaking matrix, where the ‘plate’ becomes the platform from which to generate the unique artistic value of the printmaking imprint. Using his practice as an example, I hope to demonstrate the broader utility of analogising printmaking and digital images.