Is Technology fundamentally automation?

Printmaking is a technology. It speeds up image creation and duplication dramatically. The invention of printers is another break through in image duplication, and in its essence is automation.

Automation is elimination of human intervention while speeding up the production. If you have a billion summations you need to calculate, but you can let the transistors do it, that’s a computer. We can also have a million humans do the same calculations, if everyone’s results are correct, the results are exactly the same, the speed is a lot slower though, haha. The magic of computer is that it’s fast and auto.

A huge part of printmaking is the involvement of technology. The nature of technology is automation and scalability. If we are looking at the technological aspect of printmaking, then we are talking about scale.

Then there is the artistic part of printmaking, which relies on technology, but technology is not what’s important. The art of printmaking is what we are really looking at.