In recent years, the RISOGRAPH printing technique developed by Riso Kagaku Corporation has become popular among artists from all over the world. The retro look of the finished product, the possibility to play with colour combinations and the ability to print on thin paper have caught the attention of the present-day creators.
TABF is pleased to present “Risopioneers," a series of exhibitions organized by a Tokyo-based risograph studio Hand Saw Press. We have invited two pioneering studios within the present risograph scene: pamflett, organizer of the art book fair in Norway and Knust press from the Netherlands with a history of over 30 years. Along their exhibitions, we will also be conducting screenings, talk events, and workshops. Also on display are rare archival photographs documenting the development of the risograph by Riso Kagaku Kogyo Co.
Participating Studio: Pamflett (Norway) / Knust press (Netherlands)
Program: Hand Saw Press (Japan) / Tokyo Art Book Fair
Sponsor: Riso Kagaku Corporation
Exhibition_1：Norway's Riso-Community
Norway has a population of approximately 5 million for a country roughly the same size as Japan (125 million). The country's risograph community is characterized by several small risograph studios that share their machines and information, cooperate, and send their works out to the art book scene of the world. Pamflett, based in the western Norwegian port city of Bergen, is one of the major risograph studios in the community, and this year, TABF invites them to exhibit select risograph artworks from the Norsk Risoforening (Norwegian Lithoprint Association) exhibition held in 2021.
Pamflett / Based in Bergen, Norway, Pamflett is a studio specializing in risograph printing. They organize the annual Bergen Art Book Fair, and non-frequently, the Fanzinekveld and Fanzine Library. Pamflett invites different artists to their studio each year to co-publish printed matter as well.
Exhibition_2：Knust Press - 38 Years of Stencil Art
Founded in 1984 in the Netherlands, Knust Press is a legendary studio in the world of risographs. Having its beginning in a former squat building in the 1980s, the studio still spearheads the print movement 38 years later. Today, many emerging artists immerse themselves in working with risograph and stencil printing in large part because of the contributions made by the studio. At the TABF 2022, the founder Jan Dirk will be present — on his first visit to Japan — to exhibit his stencil art produced by Knust Press to date.
Knust Press / Knust is a printing and bookbinding studio in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. It is also the base for the artist collective Extrapool, which publishes its own (political, critical, and artistic) comics and their friends' artist books. Specializing in the art of stencil printing, the studio can print and finish any paper medium, including artist books, posters, magazines, comics, flyers, art prints, etc. It has 8 risograph machines, including an A2 size machine (7 colors) and an A3/A3+ size machine (50 colors). They even support data creation, printing, and processing (binding, folding, and cutting).
Exhibition_3： <Related Exhibition> History of Risograph
The Riso Kagaku Corporation was founded in 1946 as a mimeograph printing company. The machine RISOGRAPH we know today was created in 1980 by the company, led by the founder Noboru Hayama who had a background in inventing a new emulsion ink and other duplication products. It was born out of the founder's desire to provide a printing machine that anyone could use, as easily as a copying machine, given the context in which many school teachers at that time were getting their hands dirty while printing children's teaching materials with mimeographs and rotary presses that were difficult to operate. The exhibition will feature documentary photos related to the development of RISOGRAPH, now used as a tool for art production in many countries around the world.
Sponsor: Riso Kagaku Corporation