Asociation of European printing museums
Annual general meeting 2012
The meeting was held at Lyons Printing Museum, Lyons, France
The following museums were represented:
– Maison du patrimoine industriel et des arts graphiques, Geneva, Switzerland (Andréas Schweizer, Charlotte Delannée, Dr Johan Sievering)
– Book Art Museum, Lodz, Poland (Janusz Tryzno, Pawel Tryzno, Arkadiusz Rogosiński)
– Braidense National Library (Milan) and Turin University Library, Italy (Andrea de Pasquale)
– Centre for fine print studies, Bristol, United Kingdom (Steve Hoskins)
– The typography museum of Crète, Chania, Greece (Eleftheria Kuomi)
– Patrick Goosens, Letter-Kunde, Antwerp Belgique
– Les Mille univers, Bourges, France (Frédéric Terrier, Christelle Fort)
– Lyon Printing Museum, Lyon, France (Alan Marshall)
– Atelier du livre d’art et de l’estampe, Imprimerie nationale, Paris, France (Nelly Gable, Lucile Theveneau)
– Internationales Zeitungsmuseum, Aachen, Allemagne (Andreas Düspohl)
– MIAT, Ghent, Belgium (Robin Boone, Anne Van Nieuwenhuyse)
– Museum der Arbeit, Hamburg, Germany (Jurgen Bönig)
– Museum Joh. Enschedé, Haarlem, Netherlands (Johan de Zoete)
– Museum Meermanno, The Hague, Netherlands (Rickey Tax)
– Network of Italian printing museums (represented by James Clough, Milan)
– Plantin-Moretus Museum, Antwerp, Belgium (Guy Hutsebaut)
– Rolf Demmerle (Heidelberg, Germany)
The following members were excused:
– Artegraf, Malesherbes, France
– Fondation Louis Jou, Les Baux de Provence, France
– Musée de l’imprimerie, Bordeaux, France
– Offizin Parnassia Vättis, Vättis, Switzerland
– Eva Hannebut-Benz, Germany
President’s report
Steve Hoskins, outgoing president, introduced the meeting and suggested that, given the number of new faces, the members present themselves briefly. He gave a brief account of the association’s activities over the last two years, apologising for the inactivity of the Association.
Treasurer’s report
Rolf Demmerle reported that in the absence of activities, there had been no call for membership dues in 2012. The few payments that had been made by members will be carried foreword to 2013, or taken as contributions to AEPM. The bank account currently stands at approx. 8,000 euros, there having been very few outgoing expenses over the last two years.
Discussion
Following on from the treasurer’s report, Alan Marshall indicated that the Lyon meeting had been entirely self self-financing thanks to the support of various partners and sponsors (Institut d’histoire du livre, Lyon; Friends of Lyons Printing Museum; Lyon City Library; Caractère; Emcc; Heidelberg; Riccobono; Unic, Union national des industries de la communication).
It was also noted that the Lyon meeting had attracted new members: Artegraf, Musée de l’imprimerie de Bordeaux, Fondation Louis Jou, Musée typographique Le Rachinel (France), Central School St Martins (United Kingdom), Book Arts Museum (Poland), Typography museum of Crete (Greece).
Johan de Zoete suggested that a membership drive be undertaken with a letter to members explaining the current situation of the Association. He also stressed the importance of having some form of newsletter to keep members in touch. It was pointed out during the discussion that our webmaster Sascha Bosslet had received from members relatively little information for the web site over the last couple of years.
Various members also suggested that the speakers at the Lyon conference be contacted with a view to distributing their contributions by e-mail and/or publishing them on the AEPM web site.
Rickey Tax suggested that we explore possibilities of the AEPM facilitating the itinerancy of member’s exhibitions.
James Clough, mandated by the association of Italian printing museums, confirmed their intention to join the AEPM.
Alan Marshall raised the question of the status of heritage workshops. According to the statute of the AEPM, all members must conform to the ICOM definition of a museum which requires a strict minimum in terms of collections and their accessibility for the general public. Heritage workshops do not often meet these requirements, but are essential partner of printing museums in the preservation of both machines and skills. In addition, several heritage workshops are already active members of the AEPM. Alan Marshall suggested that the AEPM accept heritage workshops as full members and, if necessary, modify its statutes accordingly. The suggestion was accepted by the members present.
Pawel Tryzno indicated that he will attend a forthcoming meeting in Brussels on new funding programmes in the cultural field. He will report back to the new board with any useful information. Alan Marshall will explore with colleagues and the central services of the City of Lyon possibilities of obtaining funding for the AEPM as a European network.
Election of the new board
Following the discussion of the president’s and treasurer’s reports, the members proceeded to the election of the new board which is composed as follows:
President: Alan Marshall, Lyon Printing Museum, France
Secretary: Rickey Tax, Museum Meermanno, Netherlands
Treasurer: Rolf Demmerle, Heidelberg, Germany
Members:
Jurgen Bönig, Museum der Arbeit (web content / newsletter)
Robin Boone, MIAT (membership secretary)
Johan de Zoete, Muesum Joh. Enschedé (web content / newsletter)
Andreas Düspohl, Internationale Zeitungsmuseum (Facebook)
Hans Ulrich Frey, Offizin Parnassia Vättis
Steve Hoskins, Centre for fine print studies (meeting Bristol 2013)
Andréas Schweizer, Association pour le patrimoine industriel (new web site setup)
Pawel Tryzno, Book Art Museum (web design)
The newly elected president, Alan Marshall, thanked the assembly for according him their confidence. He hoped that the new board would be sufficiently numerous for each member to be able to undertake a modest task compatible their already overcharged schedules. Commenting on the very positive reaction that the Lyons Printing Museum had received with respect to the 2012 meeting, he expressed the wish that the AEPM meeting be held each year rather than every two years. The suggestion met with the enthusiastic approval of the members present and propositions were immediately made for the next two meetings to be organised by the Centre for fine print studies in Bristol in 2013 and by the Museo Bodoni in Parma in 2014.
Alan Marshall (president), Musée de l’imprimerie, Lyon, France
Rickey Tax (secretary), Museum Meermanno, Netherlands
15 January 2013