Kolkata: City of Print

A celebration of the medium of print in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, from its origins in publishing to its modern-day artistic legacies

Kolkata: City of Print, created by Swiss artist Mara Züst (born 1976), focuses on the rich heritage and present abundance of the print medium in this Indian city long famed for its literary and publishing culture. Calcutta, or Kolkata, was founded as a trading post for the British East India Company, which introduced book printing in the late 18th century. Modern-day Kolkata continues to be strongly identified with print, from artistic printmaking to lithographed circus posters produced in mass quantities.

Print is also the foremost aesthetic factor of the design of the resulting experimental book project, produced in print workshops in Kolkata.