Since the art of printing was invented by Gutenberg in the 15th century, the methods of producing printed material have changed dramatically, developing from a craft into an industry and from hand-composing into desktop publishing.

History is being made - every hour and every minute of every day! Every newspaper is fighting to be the first with the news. The editorial staff work permanently against the clock. Right into the small hours. The deadline is 3.a.m. Up to then there is nothing but tension and stress!

With the transition from hand-composing to machine-setting and from the printing press to the roller press, the DASA demonstrates how technology has changed and how people have been affected. Demonstrations of the traditional crafts of hand-composing, letter-press, book-binding and lithography make the setting and printing technology easy to understand.

Craft work was followed by factory machines. New inventions speeded up the processes, but people literally became caught in the treadmill. See for yourself what it is like to work a platen press. From below, your feet supply the power and up above you insert the paper by hand. Although the whole body is moving this work is anything but balanced!

Listen for yourself to the noise the printers were exposed to on the old roller presses. No "easy ride" for those working on them. The price to be paid for the new technology was the workers’ health. Noise and nightshifts, solvent fumes and all sorts of printing chemicals made it difficult to cope for very long. And nowadays? The world keeps on turning. Occupational safety and health has banished the hazards of yesterday, but work continues to involve many types of pressure even today. The introduction of new tools has produced new problems.