Risograph Renaissance
The Subculture Printer: The kind “recession” printer for art & technology freaks
By Nina Prader
The RISO printer can bang out two pages per second. Made from light grey plastics and embellished with Smartie-coloured buttons, this Japanese print machine is named after its maker Riso Kagaku. In the beginning of the 1980s, the machine was found in every firm — even churches — and to this day, finds a home in some houses of state and schools. However, with artists as well as technicians the Risograph — similar to the tape cassette player — gains massive cult-status as the most user friendly printer.
Individual machines have robot names like GR3770 and are somehow (or precisely because of this) cool. When the micro publishing house Soybot, a Riso-printing-collective in Vienna, bought their first RISO — while still in art school — — it was clear that they wanted to make books. Since then, the micro publishing house has gone wild, printing everything from toy-boys, flannel, chemtrails, UFOs and demons in their zine and art book publications. Sometimes even printing protest flyers. Meanwhile the proud owners of 5 machines, they open the doors to their open print studio with RISO Friday — almost every Friday — -. According to the small publisher, the popularity of the machine is based on its speed, color intensity and easy operating system.
Push one button and it is possible to put fluorescent colours like neon, gold or acid green on paper.
The colours are soy-based, almost vegan (but still, don’t eat them!), and are therefore, sustainable and cost-efficient in relationship to other printing methods like digital printing or off-set. RISO Germany with their base in Hamburg explains, “The Risograph seems to always be kind of like the Dinosaur among other printing systems because they have existed for over forty years and very little has changed about their screen-print technology. However, to this day, they remain convincing and are loved dearly by their owners.” “This printer becomes very interesting,” the small Berlin-based publisher Pegasus expresses, who has devoted itself to this print-method, “in times of economic depression.” Tenderly, the publisher speaks of the “recession” printer that can print the red of Sparkasse, a German Bank, next to purple and black in their assortment. “Well-tempered and resilient” are further adjectives with which this instrument is lauded. Comparable to the eco-friendly milage of a Prius car: in the print world some RISOs have produced more than 16 Millionen pages.
Printing Scenes
But what really makes Risographs special are the communities and cultures that form around them. The buzzword is “accessibility”, finding application with artists and technophiles in DIY subcultures. Since the technology is vintage, the know-how is mainly distributed online or per word of mouth. The expensive color drums are traded amongst collectives. Though this, networks or in the-best-case scenario friendships are forged. When a piece of machinery is broken and technically, only expensively replaceable in Japan, one is reliant on contacts. Only kindred spirits can point you in the direction of the next 3-D printer that will replace your rare RISO piece, or make you aware of a sale on color-drums on E-bay. Behind this is an anarchist spirit and open source hardware ethics. The rallying cry seems to go: fierce printing, easy handling, and knowledge sharing. For this reason, Risographs have a scope in graphics and art publishing like for example, in zine-cultures. Since zine-culture is based on knowledge distribution and sustainability, the speed and eco-friendliness draws them to the printer. Also in political contexts the Risograph is used for posters and flyers. In the art world it also surfaces as a favorite tool. The technology experiences a kind of renaissance.
Mutant Playstation
Like on your classic copy-machine, one types the amount of copies into the colorful keyboard. The digital duplicator is a hybrid, operating like a scanner and screen-print mutant but is as easy to use as a playstation. Reducing printing to its most essential components of printing, it is just as layered as other printing techniques. Precisely, in the restrictions rests freedom: monochrome colors, rough paper, simple interface. To print in multiple colors, one has to exchange the color drum each time. A image or motif is placed face-down on the scanner-bed. Thus, it is copy-transferred onto a transparent that lies on the color drum. This is called a master. Normally, paper going through a copy machine makes a curve, risking a paper jam. Not so with the Risograph, the paper moves in a straight line through the machine. The color drum rolls over the paper, making a direct mark that the paper absorbs. An adrenalin kick, at lightning-speed multiplied: image on paper.
Because of its open data, the Risograph is a playground for nerds. Whoever owns a handbook is well-served but there are many tricks to be learned to change the hardware. In May, the first RISO convention in Vienna took place in the frame of the Coded Cultures Festival 2016 and the Open Hardware Europe Summit, initiated by the Research Institute for Art & Technology (RIAT). Here, an open handling of the technological resources was on the agenda. International collectives and publishers, using RISO, like Page 5 (Czech Republic), Look Back (Slovenia), Soybot (Vienna) and the Open Publishing Lab (Vienna) gathered to exchange and discuss hacks.
However, such a historical moment did not take shape as a podium discussion. Instead, the Risograph was clinically dissected and taken apart. The “organs”, the interior cables came to light. The participants bent over the machine, pointing at soft spots and rummaged in the entrails. “When you know how things work, you don’t have to be afraid of them”, a chairperson of RIAT adds.“Repairability” was the focus, a word that encompasses repairing and ability, whilst doctoring the server. Casually, personal RISO anecdotes were traded.
The RISO remains a classic, each print unique. In the future, very little will change about the old-school technology. However, the print-quality is supposed to improve. RISO Germany reveals: “Rice bran is a waste, produced in rice production — an extremely resource-friendly raw substance — and since our Japanese main company locally receives rice bran, the shorter transport minimizes CO2.” Using the RISO SF9350 as an example, its black ink will be based on rice rather than soy.
Simultaneously mysterious and totally understandable, the candy-color spraying RISO remains a kind contemporary of all-time: economically, ecologically, and culturally speaking.
Websites:
https://codedcultures.com/program/Intervention-RISO-Convention/
http://www.hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.com/
http://www.pegasusdruck.de/frame/f_verlag.htm
https://www.risoprinter.de/de/print-profit/haendlersuche/niederlassung-hamburg
