Reinterpreted Facsimile:
N.E. Thing Co. Ltd. Companies Act (2020)

by Ryan Smith
A critical and process documentation thesis paper submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design. Emily Carr University of
Art + Design, 2020.

© Ryan Smith, 2020

Reinterpreted Facsimile:
N.E. Thing Co. Ltd. Companies Act (2020)
by Ryan Smith

Abstract
This thesis questions the definition of facsimile pertaining to artist’s books and
examines what information gets lost by adhering to it when remaking culturally
significant texts. The primary case study is the physical republishing of Companies Act (1978), by the N.E. Thing Company — a rare book that summarizes
a historically influential Canadian conceptual art duo. The aim of this thesis is
to clarify the methodology and process used to reproduce this book and draw
attention to its associated implications toward the field of print design. The
standard logic of reprinting a manuscript generally follows the idea of facsimile
reproduction, which is described by leading publishing authorities like Manfred
Kramer as reproducing manuscripts as close to the original as possible. The
aim of this thesis project is to expand on this concept by proposing the concept
of a reinterpreted facsimile that adds contextual elements to the republished
manuscript that would not exist otherwise. The case studies throughout this
thesis have found that in at least this particular instance, Kramer’s goal of exact
verisimilitude has many shortcomings. The conclusion of my work explores
and defines the idea of a reinterpreted facsimile that productively blurs the line
between art and print design.

Keywords
print design, publishing, facsimile, reinterpreted facsimile, NETCO,
N.E. Thing Co.

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Acknowledgments
Thank you to my supervisor, Dr. Garnet Hertz. Your guidance throughout this
thesis has been invaluable.
Thank you to Hélène Day Fraser for assisting me in my journey to join the MDes
2020 cohort.
Thank you to Celeste Martin and Emily Carr University’s department of Design
and Dynamic Media and to Original Print Bind for providing assistance for the
physical reproduction of N.E. Thing Co.’s Companies Act (2020).
Thank you to the Master of Design 2020 cohort and faculty.
Thank you to Ingrid Baxter and Iain Baxter& for sharing your stories and for your
permission and blessings to reprint Companies Act.
Thank you to Erian Baxter, Denise Ryner and Patrik Andersson for your assistance in contacting Ingrid and Iain.
Thank you to my mother, Louise. I am so greatful to have you as a parent.
Thank you to the Kaardal family for your support!
Thank you to my wife, Kelin. You inspire me everyday.

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Land Acknowledgment
This thesis took place at Emily Carr University of Art + Design and at Brick
Press. Both are located on Unceded Territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm
(Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

4

Contents
2

Abstract

3

Acknowledgements

4

Land Acknowledgement

5

Contents

6

Glossary

7

INTRODUCTION
Brick Press

10

The N.E. Thing Company (NETCO) and
Companies Act

12

CONTEXTUAL FRAMEWORK
What is Facsimile?

13

The Reinterpreted Facsimile

14

PRODUCTION-BASED CASE STUDY: THE
PROCESS OF PRINTING A REINTERPRETED FACSIMILE OF N.E. 		
THING CO. LTD’S COMPANIES ACT (1978)

15

Production Phase 1: Disassembling Companies Act (1978)

16

Production Phase 2: Page Scanning of Companies Act (1978)

17

Production Phase 3: Pre-Press Editing for Offset Plate-Making

17

Production Phase 4: Reproducing the Cover of Companies Act (1978)

21

Production Phase 5: On-Plate/Press Amendments to Companies Act 		
(2020)

24

WIDER CONTEXTS AND IMPLICATIONS: N.E. THING CO. & INGRID 		
BAXTER
Contextualizing The N.E. Thing Company

33

Contextualizing Ingrid Baxter (Co-President, N.E. Thing Co.)

38

CONCLUSION: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FIELD OF PRINT
DESIGN

40

APPENDIX: COMPANIES ACT (2020) PROCESS DOCUMENTATION

63

WORKS CITED

65

BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Glossary
Artists’ Book
A book that is an artwork itself.
DIY
Do-it-yourself
Facsimile Reproduction
An exact copy, as of a book, painting, or manuscript.
Offset Printing Press
A machine, as a cylinder press or rotary press, for printing on paper or 			
the like from type, plates, etc.
Print Design
A design method related to print (books, printed material).
Printed Matter
A term for printed materials (most commonly on paper).

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INTRODUCTION
Brick Press
Brick Press is a Vancouver-based publishing company that was co-founded by
myself and Kelin Kaardal in 2012. Brick Press provides a platform for Canadian
and international artists and designers and has published over 20 works from
emerging practitioners. Brick Press relies on in-house production, and the majority of its work is produced using an A.B. Dick 9805 offset printing press. The
physical production of this book project took place at Brick Press and it is the
publisher of Companies Act (2020).
Brick Press books have a limited circulation within an artist book context, and
are also sold online through our e-commerce website. Brick Press has gained
1

much of its experience through collaboration and has worked closely with many
Vancouver artist-run centres and galleries such as the Morris and Helen Belkin
Art Gallery, 221A, Catriona Jeffries, Unit/Pitt Projects and the Or Gallery and
worked with artists such as Ken Lum, Dan Starling and Rebecca Brewer to
name a few. We have also sponsored and exhibited in the Vancouver Art Book
Fair annually since 2013. Brick Press is fully autonomous and self-sustained
by providing commercial printing services and paying artists fees with income
generated through book sales.
Creating a publishing imprint came from the desire to make self-published works
more legitimate and early Brick Press works utilized copy shops such as Kinko’s
for their self-service photocopying and print-finishing facilities. Much of the
preparation of these works were done at the Granville Island Emily Carr University campus using their library’s computers, film-scanners and light-tables.2 These
early works of mine could be classified as DIY (do-it-yourself) zines.3 They were
low-fidelity, cut and paste photo booklets composed of 35mm film photographs.
The most important benefit of the DIY method was that it offered a high level of
creative control and a lesser cost.4
The desire to have more creative control over printed works and complete them
in-house led to accumulating printing machines of my own. Examples of these
were photocopiers, Risographs, staplers, coil binding machines and paper cutters.5 These types of devices eventually took over much of my at-home

7

1. Our books can be found at
stores such as READ Books and
Or Galley in Vancouver, Printed
Matter in New York and similar
establishments internationally.
2. Many of my peers were attending ECU in the BFA program
in-between 2010 and 2014. As a
result, I spent much time at the
university experimenting outside
the standard academic programs
and using its various facilities.
3. A zine is a low-fidelity, handmade or DIY (do-it-yourself)
publication. Its roots date back to
the fanzine and movements such
as punk.
4. The mantra of do-it-yourself
remains important to Brick Press
due to its economic viability. Lesser cost = more accessible. Lucy
Lippard was an early proponent of
the term, the democratic multiple
which continues to inspire this
notion. The term refers to artist’s
books as affordable objects that
circumnavigate the museum/art
market. Her article, “The Artist’s
Book Goes Public,” from Art
in America (Jan. - Feb. 1977)
discusses these ideas, as well
as introduces Printed Matter, a
leading artist’s book store that she
co-founded with other like-minded
individuals.
5. A Risograph is a digital offset
duplicator (a high volume printer)
from Japan. Rather than toner,
like a photocopier, the machine
prints on paper with soy-based
liquid ink. A Risograph could be
described as having a combination
of photocopy and screen printing
technologies. Risographs offers a
user-friendly interface (similar to a
photocopier) but add the dynamic
of extra colours with interchangeable ink drums.

studio and consisted of all the machines necessary for start-to-finish book production.
The ability to produce printed works in-house requires operation and maintenance abilities for these types of machines. I have dedicated a significant portion of my design practice to learning these practical studio skills. This medium
is a vital part of my design practice. I would come to understand that a greater
knowledge of printing technologies, machine maintenance and book production
methods resulted in a more informed design decision making process throughout all publishing projects. Since 2014, I began a mentorship with senior offset
press operator, Robert Denholm, I have accumulated over 3000 hours of guided
and unguided press time. The physical operation and maintenance of our offset
printing press is the most critical part of my design practice.

Figure 1. Offset production studio at Brick Press, 247 Main Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

8

Figure 2. A.B. Dick 9805 offset press and Mitsubishi DPX plate maker. Image credit: Peter Hagge.

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The N.E. Thing Company (NETCO) and
Companies Act
“The Material in the N.E. Thing Co. Ltd. Book Can Be Used By Anyone, Anytime,
Anywhere. Please Let Us Know When You Do This.”
— N.E. Thing Company. (N.E. Thing Co. Companies Act 6).
This thesis document supplements a reinterpreted facsimile edition of a scarce
and out of print N.E. Thing Co. book prompted from its ambiguous copyright.
The reprinting has made accessible for the first time in over forty years, this rare
artist book with an edition of 500 copies distributed by D.A.P. and artbook.com
in New York City with worldwide distribution. The book, described as a “compendium of company ideas,” Companies Act is an essential bookwork by the
early Canadian conceptual art duo (N.E. Thing Co. Companies Act 5). NETCO
was the product of two co-presidents, Ingrid and Iain Baxter. The company
served as a vehicle to interrogate art, domestic systems, corporate strategies,
and everyday life using photography, information technology, and installation-based artwork. Challenging the urban environment as the artistic centre and
the idea of the singular unique artist, the Baxter’s located their studio at 1419
Riverside Drive, North Vancouver, a quiet locale, nestled on a river’s edge in an
unassuming suburb. From this periphery they established their own centre from
where to conduct their business operations.
N.E. Thing Co. was a North Vancouver-based collaborative duo that utilized an
abstracted business model to act as a vehicle for their work. NETCO incorporated their company in 1969, which made a variety of artworks under a number
of its corporate departments (N.E. Thing Co. Companies Act 1). They were best
known for their conceptual practice and were active between 1965 and 1978.
Although the “company” may not have succeeded from a monetary perspective,
it did, however, blur the lines between parody and a new business model to produce critical artworks and ideas underneath their ever-changing umbrella of its
business departments. These works were frequently recognized by leading art
journals such as Art in America and Canadian Art and signifies that NETCO were
contenders in the conceptual art world in the 1960s and 1970s.
The above copyright statement by NETCO offers a unique opportunity to create
a conceptual design-work through a graphic designer’s lens. In this instance,
the statement engages the reader, perhaps in the hopes of leading them to a
10

less-considered activity: to freely exchange and distribute the contents found
within. In short, to redistribute. In this instance, a designer and publisher could
carefully try to reproduce an exact facsimile of the original edition. However,
when considering the group’s unique copyright, this leaves room for interpretation, that in my opinion, is the desired response to it. Things like the appearance
of physical age that the book has taken on over forty-two years and questionable appearances of sexism in written articles from the past offer a chance to
reinterpret the work itself and acknowledge time and history.

Figure 3. Companies Act (1978).

Figure 4. Copyright (1978).

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CONTEXTUAL FRAMEWORK
What is Facsimile?
“In the field of facsimiles he was an important authority, for decades of greatest
influence in determining what a facsimile is and what it should be.”6
— Dieter Röschel (Scorcioni)
Facsimile is a modern publishing practice that produces true surrogate reprinting of first-edition manuscripts deemed culturally or historically significant. The
first contemporary facsimile in the history of the book dates back to Austria in
1697, although the desire to reprint texts dates back to the beginning of printing. Accuracy to colour tones, original layout, decoration, including every page,
blank or not, a 1:1 reproduction to the highest degree ensures that facsimiles are
suitable for scientific or artist research so that no further hardships to the original
occur (Kramer).
Manfred Kramer reproduced essential manuscripts for generations at renowned
facsimile publishing houses like Faksimile Verlag or Akademische Druck- u.
Verlagsanstalt. The context of Kramer’s interest is largely focused on preserving rare Austrian manuscripts from the 17th Century. For example, his research
interests start with the first facsimile book reproduction in history: an Austrian
manuscript titled “the Golden Bulle – reproduced in 1697 by the Frankfurt law
historian Heinrich Günther Thülemeyer and Johann Friedrich Fleischer; based
on King Wenceslaus’ deluxe presentation manuscript” (Kramer). The focus was
on accurately preserving and disseminating a self-contained physical body of
knowledge. Kramer defines facsimile as follows:
“A facsimile edition is the photo-mechanical reproduction of a unique, practically
two-dimensional model; it eliminates as much as possible manual copy work,
reflects to the highest degree the inner and outer aspects of the original, incorporates all possible technical means available, guarantees the protection and
preservation of the original, and is suitable for both scientific and artistic interests. A facsimile must act as a true surrogate of the original for research purposes and bibliophiles.” — Manfred Kramer (Kramer).
So, in many ways, Kramer’s concept of facsimile is primarily focused on protecting unique book artifacts.
12

6. This quote refers to the late
Manfred Kramer. This quote from
Dieter Röschel (along with many
others) in an online article by
Giovanni Scorcioni provides insight
to his significant contributions to
facsimile book production.

Although Kramer’s guidelines for verisimilitude through an exact copy are useful
in many contexts, in some instances, non-exact copies that acknowledge the
time passed on or historical context are also important. The issue of time and
historiography seemed to be relevant to the reproduction of Companies Act
(1978). What if the truth and authority of the original copy has problems with it?
Thought differently, what can information be lost by bringing a book back to its
original, off-press, ‘Kramer’ state? What can be gained through actively reinterpreting the facsimile as a part of a new process?
Through the lens of a graphic designer, these questions argue that adhering
to these instructions will erase contextual layers built by time. This particular
thesis argues that by reinterpreting what a facsimile is and can be, it can make
first-edition manuscripts accessible and establish a conceptually unique reading
experience. For this thesis, I refer to a facsimile edition that strives to reinterpret
the original work through reprinting as a reinterpreted facsimile.

The Reinterpreted Facsimile
Through the many hours, days and years of conceptualization and experimentation of the Companies Act (2020) project, another critical consideration is the
“exact how” this book will come to be. As defined by Manfred Kramer’s 1986,
“What is a Facsimile? The History and Technique of the Facsimile” essay, a
facsimile, is the act of remaking a book that has been deemed important by creating a “true surrogate,” suitable for scientific and artistic research (Kramer). By
doing so, these surrogates preserve the original texts from further damage due
to movement and handling. There are now many uses of the term facsimile. An
example is as simple as using a Xerox machine to photocopy a document, but
what Kramer defines as a true surrogate when referring to the remaking of books
is quite explicit. He stresses the importance of recreating the book as accurately
as possible, matching ink colours, paper stocks and most importantly, never
omitting anything including pages, blank or not, to remake a wholly inclusive
facsimile edition (Kramer).
This definition posed an inquiry when thinking of remaking N.E. Thing Co.’s original edition of Companies Act. The following will explain how I determined the
method of production and made design choices to reproduce this book in its
entirety as closely to the definition that Kramer has defined, all-the-while, adding
intentional design elements to create anew. With this in mind and when thinking
13

back to N.E. Thing Co.’s practice, what opportunities exist within the facsimile-like process to include the hand of its new creator? Does the book’s ambiguous copyright demand interpolation? I believe it does, and to an extent, believe
the book making project to be an extreme or parasitic interpretation of the
copyright through full appropriation.7
Where does one draw the line in creating a surrogate copy of a book? My particular copy of Companies Act is over forty years old and shows significant signs of
wear, including yellowed pages, stained paper and a heavily cracked blue cover.
It is an unlikely possibility to obtain a comparable paper stock to the original due
to changes in the printing industry. However, it is possible to improvise with a
contemporary paper stock and include existing stains on pages and the cracks
on the book’s cover through a scanning and editing process. Are these attributes important to this book’s reproduction? Some would argue that restoration
as close to what the original may have looked like is what Kramer would consider a suitable surrogate, but what gets lost when this happens? In other words,
what value can we draw out of the four decades that have passed since the first
edition was printed?
For this reason, I believe that Kramer’s definition has shortcomings, like the erasure of time related to a book’s age and perhaps the history that has taken place
since a book’s production. In certain instances, and the idea of a reinterpreted
facsimile can fill in areas or revisit historiographical issues with the work. Find
below a series of production-based case studies that were used to expand on
the idea of reinterpreted facsimile.

PRODUCTION-BASED CASE STUDY: THE
PROCESS OF PRINTING A REINTERPRETED
FACSIMILE OF N.E. THING CO. LTD’S
COMPANIES ACT (1978)
This book remaking took place at Brick Press, located at 247 Main Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada. The book was produced using an A.B. Dick offset press,
the same printing method used in the 1978 edition.
The following sections below are a chronological summary of the most integral
design case studies related to the production process of the reinterpreted facsimile edition of N.E. Thing Co.’s Companies Act (1978).
14

7. By this, I mean that, “using
the material in the N.E. Thing Co.
book” to me, is permission to
remake and distribute as its publisher, a 1:1 abstracted re-edition
of 500 copies of the 1978 text.
Typically, one would expect a
more laborious and strict process
in remaking a rare bookwork. By
remaking the book, I challenge the
idea of authorship in relationship
to the duo.

Production Phase 1: Disassembling Companies
Act (1978)
The Companies Act (1978) disassembly took place in the Libby Leshgold Gallery
at Emily Carr University in April 2019. The significance of the gallery itself in relation to the project is minimal, however its location and large, open floor space
made it ideal to accommodate the area-consuming activity. The disassembly
took place as a performance-based design method in response to a telephone
conversation with Iain Baxter (Iain Baxter&) that took place on February 6, 2019
(Interview. Conducted by Ryan Smith, 6 February 2019). During the conversation, I had made mention of an upside-down and backwards page bound into
my original copy of Companies Act, thinking perhaps the “error” was intentional.
Further research involving cross-referencing other remaining physical copies of
the book proved this was the case. The page documenting the “Art is All Over”
(1971), 3-inch button, was intentionally collated improperly. The inquiry led to
Iain recalling the collating process of Companies Act in 1978 (Interview. Conducted by Ryan Smith, 6 February 2019).8
In the original version of Companies Act’s case, the process required a warehouse in North Vancouver to create rows for each of the 359 pages, stacked 500
sheets high (the book’s edition size). Walking each aisle, and by hand putting
each copy together. The effort took Iain several weeks and in the process, intentionally misplacing the upside-down and backwards page (Interview. Conducted by Ryan Smith, 6 February 2019). This revelation was deemed significant enough of a design decision that the “error” will appear in the new edition
through Brick Press’s production process.
By filling the floor space of Libby Leshgold Gallery, I was able to visualize and
comprehend the collating process that Iain had described. Aside from the action
responding to Iain’s story, the action was quite literally a way to use the material
in the book responding directly to N.E. Thing Co.’s 1978 copyright. Additionally, the book disassembly came from a need to prepare each page for scanning
to create new working print files. The scanned pages can then be edited, then
used to make offset plates, which will be used in the book’s reprinting.
This act perhaps served the bookwork the most in the sense that the disassembly process became an action that brings new elements into the work itself. The

15

8. Collating refers to organizing the
order of printed pages of a book
before it becomes bound to its
cover.

transformation (destruction) of the original to create a new is highly significant as
it breaks the work down, forcing its rebuilding. In essence, nothing from the original remains in the new edition, aside from the addition of the scanned pages.
Figure 5. Companies Act
disassembly.

Figure 6 Disassembly crop-view.

Production Phase 2: Page Scanning of
Companies Act (1978)
Once wholly disassembled, each of the 359 pages and the cover of the original
edition of Companies Act were now ready for high-resolution scanning.9 The yellowed, stained pages to the eye of a pre-press designer were concerning. This
is because initially, the contents were printed in black ink onto white paper. The
aged, yellowed paper when in grayscale becomes a nearly solid page of ink as
the yellowed paper reads as grey, therefore, not a blank background as originally
produced. Beyond this, the book’s edition with consistently grey backgrounds
would require nearly ten-times the required ink to print.

16

9. Scanning the assembled book
would have been burdensome due
to its size (over 22” wide when
opened) and weight.

At the same time, within these aged, yellowed pages, exists many attributes
that have appeared on the pages during its lifespan. Things such as watermarks
and coffee stains, and beyond attributes of age, printed elements that have
appeared due to printer’s errors and intentional errors. These elements make
content editing difficult and time-consuming.
The choice to include these elements of age and wear required hours and days
of careful, individual page editing so that the background was blank, as in the
original pressing, but also carefully enough so that the contextual elements
remain. As to why these markings are important, they fulfill the narrative of this
specific book and clearly distinguish it alongside other copies that still exist.
Through a printer and print-designer’s lens, the editing process to preserve
the aging plays a significant role in its visual communication and supports the
conceptual second edition. The concept exaggerates the original, a crude,
photocopy like edition, composed of copies of original photographs and in some
cases, copies of copies. While an obvious effort is made to reproduce a usable
and clear reproduction, it was important to include the aura of the photocopy
within the collage-like pages.

Production Phase 3: Pre-Press Editing for Offset
Plate-Making
Pre-press editing for plate-making is a necessary design element in publication
design that occurs before sending files to print. This work requires much testing
to ensure a proper layout, otherwise resulting in potentially thousands of dollars
of wasted material.
In the case Companies Act, the consistent layout with a tight border is a cause
for concern. Printing must allow for slight image movement on the page and, in
this case, required a 2% decrease in size to ensure the reproduction’s final trim
does not cut into valuable content.

Production Phase 4: Reproducing the Cover of
Companies Act (1978)
The cover-reproduction for the Companies Act (2020) edition for many reasons
is the most exciting and vital element of the reproduction. It is the first thing that
a potential reader sees, and this can draw them in or create interest. Secondly,
17

and notably, the book’s cover is the only portion of the book that utilizes colour
printing. This fact alone is significant. The added dynamic of colour, in my opinion, is of much importance.
The reproduction came with a significant challenge. Book covers protect a
book’s contents, and they are damaged easily. In the case of Companies Act
(1978), my copy’s cover was heavily cracked as one might imagine after forty-two years of wear. The most challenging problem to navigate was the sunbleached portion of the cover, taking over the spine and about 1/4 of the front
cover, denoting that the book sat unmoved in a direct sunlight location for an
extended period.
The cracks from a designer’s perspective are aesthetically substantial, the sunbleached fading, however, is bleak and unattractive. The decision to eliminate
the sun-bleach came from an understanding that the cover must look good
while communicating this particular design-work’s story.
The method used to achieve this was first, a high-quality scan, and then heavily
editing in Adobe Photoshop. Image re-touching, clone-stamp, greyscale, threshold, levels, exposure, brightness and contrast, to name a few, were some of the
many tools used to achieve a print-ready cover for metal, offset-plate production.
After much research, experimentation and consideration, the design decisions
that resulted in the final cover were: 15pt C1S paper, single-colour offset, Pantone Blue 072 ink with UV coating, printed on a five-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster offset press, located at Planet Press in Burnaby, BC.10

10. 15pt C1S refers to a hefty
weight of paper used for book
covers that is “coated one side”
(glossy on print-side, matte on the
backside). UV coating is a varnish
that is flooded (printed) overtop
of large solids of the print to
prevent ink smudging due to slow
drying, oil-based inks, especially in
colours like Pantone Blue 072 and
Pantone Reflex Blue.

18

Figure 7. Companies Act
(1978).

Figure 8. Companies Act
(2020).

19

Figure 9. Brick Press Instagram: Companies Act (2020) process series.

20

Production Phase 5: On-Plate/Press
Amendments to Companies Act (2020)
This thesis includes historical and historiographical discoveries made during the
book’s production. Selected essays that I read cite sexism in the arts, particularly sexism directed to Ingrid Baxter (co-president of N.E. Thing Co.) that discredits her contributions to the group.11 Spontaneous on-plate edits to articles cited
in the essays mentioned above were made to intentionally, and harshly omit
two of these instances. Examples like “The young Canadian married a pretty
blond named Elaine and together they produced two children and the N.E. Thing
Company Ltd.” was physically scratched with a thumbtack, directly on the plate
by me to read “The young Canadian married Elaine and together they produced
two children and the N.E. Thing Company Ltd” (N.E. Thing Co. Companies Act
198).12 Visible omissions like this are contained throughout the entire 500 copy
edition, in solidarity with Ingrid Baxter (formerly Elaine Baxter), and in a sense,
used the opportunity to reinterpret history.

11. Essays by Nancy Shaw and
Leah Modigliani and a 2005 interview between Vancouver Art Gallery’s Grant Arnold are just a few
examples of her acknowledged
unequal credit for her contribution
to NETCO.
12. Scratching a plate accidentally is unrepairable. Mistakes in
the past requiring plate remaking
informed the design decision to
amend (damage) directly to the
offset printing plate.

Figure 10. Offset plate and thumbtack (from another amendment
that I made in the new edition).

21

Figure 11. Offset plate prior to edit (as described above).

22

Figure 12. Printed sheet with amendment (as described above).

23

WIDER CONTEXTS AND IMPLICATIONS:
N.E. THING CO. & INGRID BAXTER
Contextualizing The N.E. Thing Company
“THE N.E. THING COMPANY has developed itself as a factory of ideas, which
is far too preoccupied with the production and realization of new ideas to pay
much attention to the archival end.”
— Jean-Christophe Ammann (N.E. Thing Co. Companies Act 4)
Throughout the studio-led bookmaking project, the appearance of a need to
better understand the subjects of whom I am publishing led me towards a
new discipline to me: art history. Many years of dedication and research would
be required to truly unpack the N.E. Thing Company and their influences and
counterparts. That said, it is integral to this thesis to provide a basic knowledge
of the duo. Doing this thoroughly is more in the scope of a Doctoral Dissertation.
However, some details help in understanding the reinterpreted facsimile.
I admired NETCO before the Companies Act (2020) edition, and that being said,
a work of this magnitude requires that I, as the publisher and designer, have
at least base knowledge of the group. Below I will write about significant and
compelling works of NETCO in hopes that it further contextualizes this thesis
document and highlights how reinterpretation becomes a useful tool.
The quote above is taken from Jean-Christophe Ammann’s letter, a former curator at Kunsthalle Basel, which prefaces the original Companies Act and indicates
to the reader what volume of production NETCO involved itself—like reading
Companies Act, fully understanding NETCO requires a considerable effort. NETCO’s contributions to conceptual art are significant, and this information provides insight into what motivated their productive years between 1965 and 1978.
N.E. Thing Co. was particularly influential in Vancouver’s art scene in the 1960s
and 1970s. As Philip Leider (former founding editor of U.S. art magazine, Artforum) noted in his 1967 article, “Vancouver: scene with no scene” (1967), he
describes NETCO as playing a pivotal role in the “scene with no scene” (“scene
with no scene”). Although there was not a bustling international scene of contemporary art in Vancouver at the time, Leider’s assessment of it having no
scene was an over-exaggeration: organizations like Intermedia, Image Bank,
24

Figure 13. N.E. Thing Co. on the
cover of Philip Leider’s, “Vancouver: scene with no scene” (1967)

Video In, and The Western Front were all in the city at the time, and they were all
actively producing their own “scenes”.13
N.E. Thing Co.’s recognition flourished with their Art in America (AiA) cover for
the May-June 1969 issue, which gives a vital example of the group’s predominance in the American conceptual art scene (“Art in America”). Even today,
reaching the cover of AiA is a feat of success typically garnered by artists affiliated with larger cities, let alone North Vancouver.
As Nancy Shaw has noted, the N.E. Thing Company was among the first artist
groups in Canada to produce an artistic critique of everyday life (“Citing the
Banal”). I imagine she made this statement acknowledging the topic’s preva-

Figure 14. N.E. Thing Co.’s Art in
America cover (1969)

lence elsewhere, especially in Europe, but that the group was among the first to
think in this way in North America. It is accurate to say that NETCO followed the
lead of their Situationist or Nouveau Réalist counterparts in this regard or were
at least operating parallel to them.14 They did this by creating an extensive body
of conceptual artworks through the creation of an incorporated company. The
“company” operated under an abstracted business model, questioning what art
beyond the canvas could be.
NETCO was the result of an extraordinary collaboration between Iain and Ingrid
Baxter, which existed within a marriage and a business and involved raising a
family. This uncommon combination required a progressive outlook on everyday
operations. The NETCO co-presidents did this by conceiving a vast network
of ideas involving ordinary places and objects that incorporated photography,
site-specific performance, installation-based work and new technologies like
telecopiers and graphic design, corporate identity and in some ways, their work
blurred lines between art and corporate graphic design (N.E. Thing Co. Companies Act).
By 1978, this broad calling to question the everyday mundane resulted in what
Ammann describes as a factory of ideas (N.E. Thing Co. Companies Act 4). The
duo, similar to artists like Marcel Duchamp, had successfully blurred the definition of an artwork by prompting its viewers to recognize that in the right frame,
anything can be art. Within a context of wider culture, linguists and theorists
like Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault and others were actively ripping apart the
concept of the authority of the author, which had a significant impact on interrogating the field of art through conceptual art practices and actions.15 By this
25

13. Intermedia was founded
in 1967 in Vancouver by Jack
Shadbolt and Glenn Lewis and
others. Image Bank was founded
in 1970 by artists Michael Morris,
Gary Lee-Nova and Vincent Trasov
that worked extensively in mail art
and other forms of questioning
mass media. Video In Studios was
incorporated in Vancouver in 1973,
and was one of the earliest international video centres and one of
Canada’s longest running artist-run
centres. Western Front was also
started in 1973 in Vancouver by
eight artists that wanted to create,
explore and exhibit new art forms.
14. For example, NETCO used
the term S.I. extensively as an
abbreviation for “Sensory Information” – this was a tongue-in-cheek
reference to Situationist International, which also went by the
same abbreviation.
15. For example, see Barthes,
Roland. “The Death of the Author.”
Contributions in Philosophy 83
(2001): 3-8.

point in their career, they had exhibited extensively throughout North America
in several seminal exhibitions such as MoMA’s 1970 Information.16 Within this
exhibition, NETCO’s contribution consisted of a Telex brand telecopier located in
the museum. It printed out live transmissions being sent from North Vancouver,
British Columbia, by the artists during the exhibition’s opening. Ideas such as
this questioned traditional art by appropriating, in this case, an ordinary office
tool into a contextual setting that utilized its function to create a new outcome,
veering it away from its original purpose. The installation was met with criticism
by some, possibly wondering the intentions of the presumably expensive Telex
brand telecopier in the New York museum, coincidentally located within the epicentre of America’s economy. Could the work have been an advertisement for
Telex? Did the Baxters infiltrate the museum? At the least, the work reinforced
their influence from Marshall McLuhan, a famous media theorist from Toronto,
Ontario. McLuhan observed the media and its use of new technologies such as
television and the impact that advertising had in contemporary life. He authored
several critical texts in the field of media studies, including The Gutenberg
Galaxy (1962), which exposed the effects of mass media in society due to the
advent of the printing press. This book coined the popular term “global village,”
referring to mass-communication and how it allows a village-like mindset to
reach beyond a small community. (“The Gutenberg Galaxy” 31-44) This idea of
technology spanning distance as a method of communication was very apparent in NETCO’s work. Their numerous telegraph artworks can be seen as reflective of McLuhan’s thinking—and both creatively used graphic design as a tool
in their works. This use of emerging technology was only one of many examples
of N.E. Thing Company referencing the author. The terms VSI (Visual Sensitivity
Information) and SI (Sensitivity Information) are joint “departments” utilized by
NETCO that also reflect McLuhan’s influence.
A considerable body of work involving landscapes would become a focal and
reoccurring theme used by the N.E. Thing Company. The 1968-1969 series of
works titled “You Are Now in the Middle of an N.E. Thing Co. Landscape” located both in Southern California and Prince Edward Island, is an example of how
the group transformed unused space (N.E. Thing Co. Companies Act 170). The
installation-based works utilized signage composed of text(s) denoting similar
phrases as the work’s title. The signs were hammered into the ground on the
sides of highways, claiming the aesthetic environment behind them and encouraged viewers who drove past to consider the undefined landscapes. To better
frame the context of the NETCO landscape works (and much of NETCO’s work),
26

16. Curated by Kynaston McShine,
the former chief curator at the
MoMA responsible for other notable exhibitions such as MoMA’s
1999 Museum as Muse and the
Jewish Museums 1966 Primary
Structures.

Marcel Duchamp’s readymades might be the best artworks to consider.
In 1913 Duchamp wrote a note: “Can one make works which are not works of
‘art’”? That year, Duchamp assembled his first and most notable readymade
Bicycle Wheel, consisting of an inverted bicycle wheel attached to a stool. With
this work, Duchamp is addressing the way that art is framed between the artist’s
attention and the viewer’s reception. In other words, Duchamp was interested in
addressing the way things were framed as art (Girst). When looking at NETCO’s
work, this is perhaps Duchamp’s greatest influence to the duo’s oeuvre. NETCO
too, frames art with tools of the industry, in their case, with things like stamps,
grid paper and documentation techniques, both used objects from industry to
provide a new perspective of how we look at things normally taken for granted.
This concept not only offered a new aspect on these types of objects, it also
shifted the perspective of contemporary art within Canada and abroad.
Another similarly compelling NETCO work sought to investigate the unmeasurable body of water in the immediate landscape of their North Vancouver
headquarters. The 1967 work “Approximately 1,200,000 Gallons of Water” used
sequential photography to track a floating stick (N.E. Thing Co. Companies Act
90). The photographs that document the stick’s location aided in creating the
mathematical equation used to determine the water-body’s volume and the
corresponding work’s title. In a similar vein, 1966/68s “Chrome Poles Move,”
NETCO erected poles into an Alberta glacier to trace the snow melt’s path (N.E.
Thing Co. Companies Act 129). The diagram for the work shows a haphazardly sketched picture, which depicts poles standing upwards in snow and then
scattered in a riverbed once the spring arrives. These two examples of artworks
could have been mistaken for scientific research but could perhaps be boiled
down to the idea that, “Art is All Over.” This slogan was made as a 3-inch button, which could have been mistaken for a presidential campaign support flare
in 1971 but could be the most straightforward way in beginning to understand
the otherwise theoretically oriented practice of the N.E. Thing Co (N.E. Thing Co.
Companies Act 233).
In their own country, NETCO rose to fame quickly due to their works, which
were far different from the typical landscape painting of the Canadian wilderness
(“Citing the Banal”). Early accounts of NETCO work involved using industrial
plastics and, for some time, caused occasional controversy. Examples of the
non-traditional works are a 1966 work made of inflated vinyl that won a $500.00
27

prize from the Vancouver Centennial Committee. This work stimulated a Vancouver Sun article, which its headline read, “Fun’s Fun, But Not at $500”. In another
instance, on March 6, 1966, Victoria Times periodical, a headline reads “Display
Mockery of Art, Gallery.” This article was about an installation composed of
plastic objects in the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (N.E. Thing Co. Companies
Act 60-67). Both provide a sense of general public not ready to accept the conceptual medium as conventional art. These instances, in turn, might be another
reason which made them essential to the history of their rise in Canada and
America.
Although many more NETCO works are worth mentioning, two last works because they further highlight NETCO’s ability to reinterpret the everyday and invite
others to rethink what would typically not be considered interesting. First, “Celebration of the Body” (1976) was held at Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Kingston, Ontario (N.E. Thing Co. Companies Act 282-287). This Olympic-themed
exhibition organized by Iain and Ingrid Baxter was a primary example of using
what they called VSI (Visual Sensitivity Information), where the group had extensively documented and examined the movements of the human body through
photographs of athletes. The Baxter’s early athletic pursuits likely inform the idea
of how a body’s movement can visually communicate through a picture. Can a
photograph of a body engaged in sports—or movement in general—be defined
as art? Do the photographs of movement provide the viewer with information?
The exhibition coincided with the 1976 Canada Olympics, for which NETCO produced an official Olympic Games poster. It depicted several bodies as spelling
out the word “Olympics.”
Much like “Celebration of the Body” (1976), a 1969 exhibition titled “N.E. Thing
Co. Environment” at the National Gallery of Canada too is also notable within this context (N.E. Thing Co. Companies Act 146-157). The work spanned a
month-long takeover of the gallery’s first floor, where the group strategically designed an “N.E. Thing Co.” environment. The office-like maze was so convincing
that it prompted interested parties on several occasions to inquire if the prime
office location was available to rent. A Telex telecopier placed in the exhibition
sent live transmissions to other galleries such as the Paula Cooper Gallery in
New York. The environment itself was an appropriation of an office setting that fit
the NETCO’s obscure business model, which occurred only four years after Iain
and Ingrid Baxter started the N.E. Thing Company.

28

It is also worth mentioning that NETCO was not alone in adopting and appropriating the aesthetics, technologies and role of corporate communications. The
mindset of the industrial office was also of inspiration to several notable examples, including Artist Placement Group (APG), General Idea, and Mierle Laderman’s ‘Maintenance Art’ document from 1969. Artists were actively exploring
issues around labour and actions, and were investigating and playing with how
media images and corporate authority was visually constructed (Allen).
N.E. Thing Company, thoroughly described, would take years of research due
to their extensive and diverse body of work. However, an afternoon reading
Companies Act provides useful and deep insight into the group’s activities. For
this reason, a new, reinterpreted facsimile edition of Companies Act has been
deemed as an important bookmaking project.

Figure 15. “N. American Telexed Triangle” (1969) Image: Companies Act (1978)

29

Figure 16. “N.E. Thing Co. Landscape” (1969) Image: Companies Act (1978)

Figure 17. “Approximately 1,200,000 Gallons of Water” (1967) Image: Companies Act (1978)

30

Figure 18. “Chrome Poles Move” (1966/68) Image: Companies Act (1978)

Figure 19. “Celebration of the Body” (1976) Image: Companies Act (1978)

31

Figure 20. “Celebration of the Body” (1976) Image: Companies Act (1978)

Figure 21. “N.E. Thing Co. Enviroment” (1969) Image: Companies Act (1978)

32

Contextualizing Ingrid Baxter (Co-President, N.E.
Thing Co.)
Reflecting to first discovering the collaborative duo’s business activities, the
team dynamic was the most compelling element that made their work exciting to
me. Their approach was not common, but with it, they challenged perceived stereotypes of what it meant to be an artist. A component of this thesis document
relates to Ingrid Baxter, as the current status of authorship between her, Iain
Baxter& and N.E. Thing Co. have been, and continue to be at odds. This relates
to Companies Act because without hearing about this problem of authorship,
the book would not visually describe this. In fact, I find Companies Act to be
the opposite, a revelling celebration of collaboration. The issue of sexism is still
relevant today and knowing that Ingrid Baxter has been written out, omitted and
ignored in years following what began as an amicable separation takes away
from their original approach that shaped NETCO.
Ingrid Baxter’s role or lack of credit in the N.E. Thing Company has been in
question in different essays like Leah Modigliani’s Oct. 12, 2013 letter in C-Mag
(“Letters to the Editor”), Nancy Shaw’s “Expanded Consciousness and Company Types: Collaboration Since Intermedia and the N.E. Thing Company” in
Vancouver Anthology (“Consciousness and Company Types” 91-109) and even
in Ingrid Baxter’s essay, “In the Wilds of the Art World: Riverside Drive” in The
Capilano Review’s issue 3.8/Spring 2009 (“In the Wilds of the Art World” 183).
This finding became evident early on when speaking with colleagues about the
project itself, often a brief mention of their separation. During a literature review
of NETCO, an initial instance that brought the question of Ingrid’s role forward as
a significant point of historiography lay within the essay written by Nancy Shaw
in Vancouver Anthology. She concludes the essay by noting that the Baxter’s
were aware of how their work was perceived, which is often focused on Iain as
the driving force (“Consciousness and Company Types” 91-109). Despite this,
they both acknowledged the equal importance of their efforts, although Ingrid’s
credit suffered significantly due to sexism and misogyny. In addition to her 1969
appointment of co-president of the N.E. Thing Company, Ingrid is documented
as contributing considerable conceptual input to the group dating back to 1965.
In an interview with Grant Arnold in 2005, Ingrid mentions that much of their evenings and lengthy car journeys, including driving across Canada thirteen times,
were the group’s ideas creation times, as they did not have an actual boardroom. She describes these as detailed discussions of concepts to be realized by
33

the company (Interview. Conducted by Grant Arnold, 2005).
In one essay, Ingrid’s role is described as “administrative” (Lauder). Although the
author does not discredit her as having a role in NETCO and does mention her
throughout the numerous and in-depth essays, he has written about the company. In my opinion, this is a significant sexist historiographic error, and the term
“administrative” is not the right way to describe her contributions. Ingrid does
admit in her 2005 interview with Arnold that Iain physically created the majority
of NETCO works. This part of the conversation between the two takes place
after Arnold addresses the concern of authorship, and it is perhaps this reason
that contributes to her less recognized role. The question of conceptual input
versus physical making in art comes to mind. One could perhaps agree that the
physical efforts in a conceptual artwork may not be as important as the idea
itself. Another uncertainty with the nature of conceptual works within collaborations may be the “who thought of it first” dilemma. Ingrid addresses this notion
in her 2005 interview with Grant Arnold and her essay in The Capilano Review
(Interview. Conducted by Grant Arnold, 2005 / “In the Wilds of the Art World”
183). However, it can be assumed that the nature of the Baxter’s family and
business meant she was an integral part of nearly all N.E. Thing Co. works in
some way or another and, in some instances, was the “thought it first,” even-so,
Iain still received majority credit.17
I argue that Ingrid’s role was critical to the N.E. Thing Company. It is impossible
to know if NETCO’s work would have been as impactful without the conceptual
input of Ingrid but at the very least, I suspect that it would have been drastically
different. I also believe that the pinnacle of Iain Baxter’s work was during NETCO, and his work that follows is understandably (or could be seen as) re-iterations of the N.E. Thing Company. How much input each person had does not
matter—N.E. Thing Co. was the product of collaboration. The vibrant lives of Iain
and Ingrid Baxter, which encompassed marriage and raising two children, running a “company” as co-presidents and making artwork together, undoubtedly
influenced the group’s outcomes. This dynamic involving Ingrid and a “business”
run by a married couple, is likely what made N.E. Thing Co. so exciting to a
curator and art historian such as Lucy Lippard. Lippard was not only one of the
most active and prominent curators in New York, she had a penchant for supporting art that “expanded” the field of art to include a number of women artists
and practices that did not easily fit into an overall patriarchal and commercial
art world. Her contributions to art in the late sixties and early seventies included
34

17. Ingrid Baxter reveals that she
and Iain agreed that the “word
worth a 1/1000th of a picture” was
a term that she coined, although,
in multiple instances, it is credited
to Iain.

several ground breaking exhibitions including 955,000 at the Vancouver Art Gallery (which included NETCO) which promoted the “dematerialization” of art most
commonly referred to as Conceptual Art. Central to her activities was her writing
and production of catalogues. She was a co-founder of Printed Matter, arguably the world’s leading organization dedicated to disseminating, understanding
and appreciating artist’s books. With all this in mind, NETCO’s collaborative
and conceptual nature and interest in printed matter, was central to her radical
redefining of what art can be. This support would have great consequences for
artists living in a place like Vancouver, which was viewed by many as an artistic
periphery at the time.
Ingrid mentions that these authorship issues likely boil down to sexism in the
arts in her interview with Grant Arnold in 2005 (Interview. Conducted by Grant
Arnold, 2005). I conclude by arguing that this is a valid comment that has been
addressed times over in many fields, not just art. A current statistic cites that
0.5% is the amount of recorded history that researchers have estimated is devoted to women’s stories (Sanders). This statistic is quite broad but grounds the
critical discussions which can be traced back through multiple waves of feminist
movements, all of which argued the ever apparent gaps in the equality between
men and female-identifying people. When narrowing it back down in contemporary art, a recent article by Artnet cites that 11% of all acquisitions and 14% of
exhibitions at twenty-six prominent American museums over the past decade
were of work by female-identifying artists (Halperin).
Successful collaborative teams within the art world is generally a short list: Gilbert and George, Jeanne-Claude and Christo, Marina Abramovic and Ulay come
to mind. Collaborative practices are relatively uncommon in the arts, which
might explain some desire to identify the group through an individual. In an interview with Vancouver Art Gallery’s Grant Arnold, he discusses that the Vancouver
Art Gallery itself had to amend N.E. Thing Co. works in their permanent collection in approximately 1995 due to the permanent collection works being credited
to Iain Baxter alone (Interview. Conducted by Ryan Smith, 2019). Perhaps this
uncommonness played a part in this error, but ultimately became questioned
that NETCO works, as a single name, neither Iain nor Ingrid’s would suffice in
crediting the works properly.
Looking at this issue in the contemporary provides insight into its continued

35

existence—a recent discovery of the lithograph print stamped by the N.E. Thing
Company, titled P+L+P+L+P=VSI/VSI Formula No. 10 (1970), is currently held
at the MoMA and is credited to Iain Baxter& (formerly Iain Baxter). I question
the credit as the work was produced in 1970, during which both Iain and Ingrid
Baxter acted as NETCO’s co-presidents. I have learned that efforts to reaccredit
NETCO works to Iain Baxter& alone have been made via phone call to at least
one predominant museum in recent years. I suspect that my discovery of the
MoMA mis-credit brings to light that this issue may exist elsewhere, too.
The fallout between people in relationships who separate is all too apparent. According to statistics, roughly 39% of marriages end in divorce in British Columbia as of 2003 (Embree). How does this affect a working relationship between
two business owners? How does this affect artistic collaboration? Did sexism
add to the already adverse reality of a separation?
Discussing these findings concerning the new printing of Companies Act is
vital because of researching the N.E. Thing Co. involves both Iain and Ingrid
Baxter. Ingrid herself (along with Iain) has been a valuable source of inspiration
to remake this particular work. Interventions on occasional plates to reinterpret
history in the new edition of Companies Act is a very small action, however continued dialog in regard to her mis-credit remains important. Continued research
into possible mis-credited NETCO work, requesting amendments to be made is
at least one result of this project’s research.

Figure 23. “P+L+P+L+P=VSI/VSI Formula No. 10” (1970), N.E. Thing Co.
Image: http://www.moma.org.

36

18. View the work in MoMA’s collection here: https://www.moma.
org/collection/works/71703?artist_
id=397&locale=en&page=1&sov_
referrer=artist.

Figure 24. N.E. Thing Co. chronology (1978) Image: Companies Act (2020)

37

CONCLUSION: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FIELD
OF PRINT DESIGN
Returning to Kramer’s concept of the facsimile is useful to bring this together
into a conclusion. It gives others working in the design field of facsimiles some
new tools and concepts. He has, of course, made a significant contribution to
the field of facsimile publishing, but, his definition has overlooked things like
the patina that books take on overtime and how that these aesthetic qualities in
some cases add to a facsimile and that his guidelines for verisimilitude through
an exact copy are useful in many contexts, but in some instances, like Companies Act (2020), a non-exact copy that acknowledges the time passed on
or historical contexts is also important. In this book’s context, the gritty photocopy-like quality compliments the original production method, a rough, yet
useful form of publishing. Issues of sexism that may exist in historical texts are
possible shortcomings that remain in facsimiles, too. By studying the facsimile,
and determining specific areas that fall short of a new edition, I have defined
a new facsimile, one that includes (or dis-includes) elements important in the
re-publishing of historically or culturally essential books.
In the Companies Act (2020), the new edition successfully takes on these new
ideas about book reprinting. On September 22, 2020, the edition of 500 was released worldwide through the prominent artist book distribution company, D.A.P.
and artbook.com and through Brick Press’s website, brickpress.ca. Besides
being accessible for the first time in over forty years, the new edition of Companies Act has responded to a new definition of what a facsimile is and can be and
is also a valuable tool for researchers in the field of art history that are interested
in the N.E. Thing Company.
By reinterpreting Kramer’s concept of facsimile, through editing, graphic design
and production, this project has become a new work that incorporates art and
design. It makes the rare first-edition accessible and, at the same time, established a new story, stemming from the individual copy used for its reproduction.
By including visual elements through design into the new edition, it departs with
the idea that time passes, ideas remain. Therefore, in my opinion, successfully
determined that facsimile production needs more flexibility as not to loose valuable opportunities in future book reproduction. I term this a reinterpreted facsimile, and through Brick Press I will be continuing to pursue this line of research
and studio practice.
38

In addition, the revelation about Ingrid Baxter’s historiographical minimization
that has come about as a result of producing this reinterpreted facsimile holds
much promise for future research. Moving towards a better understanding of
Ingrid Baxter’s mis-credit and ongoing sexism in the arts is something that I am
keen to keep at the forefront of my research in the years ahead.

39

APPENDIX: COMPANIES ACT (2020) PROCESS DOCUMENTATION
Companies Act (1978) Disassembly Process
The disassembly process offered a unique opportunity to photograph the book
before it was taken apart. Particular attention was given to cover markings.
Figure 1. Front cover
markings.

Figure 2. Sun markings.

40

Figure 3. Back cover markings.

Figure 4. Markings.

41

Figure 5. Unknown bookseller’s price marking (pencil marking made between 1978 and 2012).

Figure 6. Spine with signs of use.

42

Companies Act (1978) Coming Soon Posters
Selected full-page scans of Companies Act (1978) were enlarged to advertise
Brick Press’s upcoming facsimile reprinting using a large-format plotter. The
posters were strategically hung in various locations throughout the Vancouver
Art Book Fair that took place at Emily Carr University in October 2019.
Figure 7. Pre-scanning
selection process.

Figure 8. 3 x 3.5 foot
page enlargement: Presidents of a Company
With Egg on Their Faces
(1977).

43

Figure 9. Selected large-format Companies Act (1978) pages hung behind Brick Press’s 2019 Vancouver Art Book Fair exhibitor table (used
as an impromptu introduction to the Companies Act facsimile project).

44

MDes 2020 Open Studio
Installation view of my MDes 2020 participation. The installation included the
disassembled copy of Companies Act under a vitrine, large-format pages
(coming soon posters), video-documentation of the disassembly process and a
low-fidelity version of Companies Act for viewers to read.
Figure 10. Vitrine displaying selected pages/
disassembly video loop.

Figure 11. Disassembled
cover under vitrine.

45

Preliminary Press-Checks
Spring 2020 press-checks (beginning of physical reproduction). Pictured: Selected pages for press-checks (chosen based off of content, ie. heavy-solid, photograph, photograph and text, text only etc.), example of problem in press-check
reproduction and roller-pressure check.
Figure 12. Offset presschecks to ensure each
type of page content
reproduces well prior to
beginning production.

Figure 13. Roller-pressure check. The press
rollers are inked up and
“engaged” to the plate
to determine if the lateral
pressure is even. In this
case, a sucessful test
(note the even bead of
ink across the printing
plate).

46

Figure 14. Problem area in reproduction (vertical line to the right side of sign). This marking could have been caused by a number of things,
like, excess water in rollers, paper grain direction, halftone shape etc. The end result determined a need to print the letter-sized sheet of
paper through the press short-grain (landscape), resulting in the issue no longer affecting the printed sheets.

47

One Metric Tonne of Paper
202,050 sheets of paper was required to print the 2020 edition of Companies
Act. At top-speed, I printed roughly 5,000 sheets per hour. 362 pages (each a
separate offset printing plate), in sets of 545 per to make an edition of 500 (plus
overage) books. Typically, I printed 30-40 pages a day (16,350-21,800 sheets).

Figure 15. One pallet of paper used for printing the inside contents of Companies Act (2020).

48

Climate Control
Offset printing requires climate control. Examples of how climate affects printing
are vast, some are: humidity and paper (paper absorbs moisture), a space that is
too humid results in paper that will form “waves” from taking in too much water
from the air, extreme cold, cold weather affects ink so much that it will not “attract” to an offset plate unless it (and the press rollers) are heated up and lastly,
extreme heat, hot ink loses its viscosity, causing it to “tone” (ink spreading onto
non-print areas of the plate, transferring to printed paper, making the printing
unusable).
The production schedule of Companies Act (2020) was met with extremely warm
temperatures in Brick Press’s studio. Despite a moderate, cool-air flow, the project required constant small-batch mixtures (4kg in total, mixed 100g at a time)
of ink and varnish. Aqua Varnish by Van Son (a printing ink company based in
Holland, NE) is a product that builds the “body” of ink. This is a fairly uncommon
trick of the trade, but in a pinch will build the body of ink enough so that it does
not tone the paper in press-rooms that lack adequate air-conditioning systems.

Figure 16. Ink, varnish and scale. The varnish has the consistancy (and colour) of honey
out of the fridge, requiring much effort to mix.

49

Offset
Offset printing is a lithographic printing process that relies on the principle of
oil (ink) and water separating. This photograph taken in-between a plate switch
is a useful visual reference to explain the process. Each page requires its own
plate that is attached to a cylinder. On the plate, the print area (a positive image)
attracts ink, the non-print area attracts water, which separate from each other,
leaving only the print area with ink. Below the plate is a blue rubber blanket.
Once inked, the positive print is engaged by a lever to transfer onto the rubber
blanket (becoming a negative image), which then “offsets” off of the rubber blanket as a positive image onto paper that passes beneath. With each revolution
that passes (each page printed), the press re-inks the plate for the next sheet,
printing at speeds of up to 5,000 sheets per-hour.

Figure 17. Pictured: water fountain, plate with
inked positive image, blanket with negative
image and paper feed mechanism. Image:
Page from Companies Act documenting
NETCO’s restaurant, EYESCREAM.

50

Plates
Offset printing plates are typically made from metal that is coated with light-sensitive chemicals and are exposed with photo-negatives (making a positive
plate). Brick Press uses a modern plate-making process called CTP (computer-to-plate), a machine that makes print-ready plastic plates at a speed of two
minutes per plate. During Companies Act, I would typically make 50 plates at a
time at the beginning of the day then moving onto the press, which once setup,
requires only a quick plate swap before moving onto the next page of printing.

Figure 18. Plates ready
to go on the press.

Figure 19. Plates after
printing.

51

Volume Printing
The following photographs are visual representations of progress made during
Companies Act’s production.

Figure 20. Pages from the early to mid 100s. Once dry, re-boxed and organized for bindery.

52

Figure 21. First days of
printing.

Figure 22. Nearing the
200s.

53

Figure 23. One pallet shrinks, the other grows.

54

Inspections
On occasion, checking ink densities with a printer’s loupe (10x magnifing glass)
ensures correct ink flow.
Figure 24. Ink density
inspection.

Figure 25. Loupe closeup.

55

One Empty Pallet

Figure 26. An empty pallet representing the end of the printing process.

56

Bindery
Bindery is the process that comes after printing in book production. Bindery
includes tasks like: page collating (paginating before binding), binding (attaching
inside pages to a cover). Once bound, the next step in bindery is finsihing which
includes tasks like book-edge trimming, shrink-wrapping and packing.
Companies Act’s bindery process took place at Original Print Bind, a trade printing business that is owned by Moneca Kolvyn and is run as a two-person operation with her sister Mazel (who both began their career in the printing industry
in their teens in the 70s at Superior Reproductions in Vancouver). Coincidentally,
both worked at Superior Reproductions in 1978, the same shop that printed the
original edition of Companies Act in 1978. To further contextualize this discovery (made by the sisters while leafing through pages during the bindery process),
there were hundreds of print shops in Vancouver at that time.

Figure 27. Video-still of a bindery expert collating
twenty-four pages at a time by hand. This method
required fifteen sets of full shelves of twenty-four
pages x545 sheets to be paginated, nearly 200,000
lifts, aided only by a rubber finger slip. Hand-work
of this nature is an efficient, yet difficult skill learned
only with years of practice.
The similarity of the pages in Companies Act made
this “by hand” method more favorable than their tenbin, automatic collator.

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Figure 28. Two pallets of collated sets of pages. Each set is staggered for easy assembly.

58

Figure 29. Roughly sixteen stacks of collated “sets.” Each set contains twenty-four consecutive pages, once “married,”
(assembled) they will be put into an industrial perfect-binding (glue-binding) machine.

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Figure 30. Methodically stacked books from the perfect binder, ready for final trim, shrink-wrap, bar code and packaging.

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Bar Code & ISBN

Figure 31. A shrink-wrapped copy of Companies Act (2020) with Brick Press’s unique thirteen-digit ISBN (International
Standard Book Number) barcode.

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August 19, 2020
Marks end of production. The next steps prior to Sept. 22, 2020 (Brick Press
and D.A.P.’s launch date) will be to photograph and scan a finished copy so that
it can be added to Brick Press’s website for presale purchace and lastly, market
and distribute to Canadian vendors and university libraries.

Figure 32. A shrink-wrapped pallet of Companies Act (2020) books for Distributed Artists Publishers (D.A.P.).

62

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