As a change of venue from the successful Sydney exhibition ADAPT 2005, the 2006 exhibition will be held in Melbourne Park Function Centre – the home of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, and take place over two days from July 13-15.
According to cofounder and organiser of ADAPT, Andy McCourt, this year’s ADAPT exhibition will continue to highlight the emerging convergence of the digital arts industries and printing industries.
“Digital convergence brings together the traditional graphics arts and printing industries with the high-end of the professional photographic industry. ADAPT will help to continue the digital convergence of these two industries,” he says.
“There is very little difference, any more, between the graphic arts and printing industries,” he explains. “They use the same technology the same programs and follow the same procedures to produce their work. For this reason the ADAPT exhibition is an opportunity for the printing industry to expand into the realm of digital possibilities,” he says.
The prestigious ADAPT awards are given to companies showcasing the most innovative ideas in the digital and photographic arts world. With the current digital revolution well underway in the printing industry, it is no surprise, that one of last year’s ADAPT award winners was a printing company.
“One of our last year’s winners was printing company Van Gastel from South Australia, who came up with the innovative idea to use their HP 5500 digital press to reproduce art works – a very lucrative move by them,” says McCourt.
In the spirit of ADAPT 2005 visitors to ADAPT 2006, will be treated to a large number of professionally designed exhibits, as well as a host of guest speakers and case studies. Of particular interest to visitors this year will be demonstrations in mat cutting and framing of images.
Epson has continued its support for the event and is once again the conference’s platinum sponsor, with fellow high-profile printing companies DES and Canon also sponsoring awards and workshops.
Marketing and communications director, Epson Australia, Michael Pleasants, says Epson is hoping to raise awareness of the capabilities of its Stylus Pro 800 series of printers.
“Digital art reproduction is a growing market for us, as people begin to realise the quality that our Pro 800 series of printers is capable of. We are looking forward to this year’s show where we will be showcasing some core graphics and volume products, ideal for this market,” he says.
At ADAPT 2005, Epson was a standout exhibitor mostly due to its UltraChrome k3 pigmented inks which have excellent durability and colour gamut. This year Epson will be showcasing its range of Pro Graphics Stylus Photo printers, as well as its Perfection V700 scanner.
On display at the Epson stand (stand 53) will be professional photographer, Matt Hoyle’s exhibition of prints entitled “The Yesterday in America exhibition” – and consisting of a series of large format prints all made on Epson inkjet printers and using the high quality K3 Ultrachrome inks.
Canon Australia, is a new exhibitor at ADAPT and has hired professional photographer Paul Fennel to conduct ninety minute workshops on art reproduction, image-capture and colour-management in digital printing at its stand (stand 51).
New exhibitor Starleaton Digital Solutions will promote the iconic Kodak brand to professional photographers with its range of wide-format inkjet media. Also new on Starleaton’s stand will be the Neschen ACC-18XE liquid coater which applies a protective aqueous layer to digital prints.
Borge’s Imaging, another first-time exhibitor, will be displaying its complete range of digital imaging requisites including Nikon, Canon and Epson wide-format printers, and the company will have a display studio at the conference.
Following on from last year Kayell Australia, will again feature the superlative range of Canson-Arches acid free rag media, as well as its range of Epson printers and Colorvison monitor and printer profiling technology.
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