ABSTRACT
Rooted in mimesis and repetition, transference is a particularly apt term for discussing print-based strategies and the movement of images, processes, and ideas from one surface or media to another. In both biology and cultural studies, transference is a term associated with 'memes' or systems of behaviour passed on from one individual or organism to another through evolutionary processes of adaptation, imitation, reproduction, and inheritance. Mastery in relation to printmaking has an established history grounded in a very specific set of technological and pedagogical traditions. Traditionally, mastery is believed to demand fidelity. Matt Donovan and Hallie Siegel are collaborative artists who are not formally trained as printmakers, yet they regularly employ strategies inherent to print media, culture, and history in their work. They refer to their sculptures as 'History Machines', their short-hand term for an ongoing conversation engaging historical shifts in communication trends and knowledge circulation, spanning the oral age through the print era into the contemporary digital revolution.
