Global Call 2022

IV Monumental Graphic Tzompantli

Nahual Graphic Workshop

Taller de Gráfica Nahual, a self-managed space that aims to support the creative processes of self-taught students, researchers and those interested in developing artistic projects focused on engraving and drawing techniques, has the honour to invite the international artistic community and the general public to participate in the IV Tzompantli Gráfico Monumental. 

A large part of our social and cultural identity has its origins in the pre-Hispanic past, where the concept of death, invested with sacredness, was part of a duality: life and death, complementary opposites that generate movement, the energy that makes possible the continuity of the cosmos. It was in this context that the Huey Tzompantli originated, a wall of human skulls pierced by a stake in the temporal region which, in addition to fulfilling a religious function of the cult of death and sacrifice, was a sign of Mexica military hegemony that fulfilled a coercive function for the whole of society. Over the centuries, the Tzompantli has become a cultural and aesthetic element related to the celebration of the Day of the Dead. The so-called «Great Tzompantli of Mexico», discovered by specialists of the INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History) is located in the Historic Centre of Mexico City, a few steps away from the Taller de Gráfica Nahual (TGN) and the Templo Mayor.

To commemorate the Day of the Dead 2022, the Tzompantli Gráfico Monumental will be exhibited on the walls of our workshop, located on the corner of Monte de Piedad and Tacuba, Centro Histórico, Mexico City, and in four museums to be determined. Five pieces will be printed on canvas.

Taller de Gráfica Nahual has organised this great collaborative project in the framework of Day of the Dead for three consecutive years, in its first edition in 2019, 104 people participated, 66 women and 38 men, for the second edition in 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 health emergency, 135 people participated, of which 89 were women, 43 men, 2 preferred not to say and 1 person answered: other, the average age was 32 years, the youngest person was 4 years old and the oldest was 67. In the 2021 edition 144 people participated, 88 women, 48 men, 5 other, 2 preferred not to say and …1 rabbit. 

People from states such as: Aguascalientes, Mexico City, Durango, Mexico State, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Yucatán, Zacatecas; and from different countries such as: Germany, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Spain, England, Italy, Nepal, Peru, Venezuela.

The TGN team has printed around four thousand prints to create the monumental pieces that have been exhibited at:

• Casa de la Ciudad, Oaxaca, Oaxaca de Juárez.
• Faculty of Philosophy at the Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango, Durango, Mexico.
• Casa Ciclista de Guadalajara, Santa Teresita, Guadalajara, Jalisco.
• Museo Metropolitano de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
• Taller de Gráfica Nahual, Mexico City, Mexico
• La Nahuala Galería, virtual exhibition
• Edificio de Cultura y Arte del Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente, ITESO, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

Although the health contingency has not allowed us to work in person in the 2020 and 2021 editions, we have shown that through the virtual space we can continue to dialogue and create despite the distance, and although the contingency period has been extended more than expected, we know that with your participation, collective care, organisation and cheveridá we can once again break the world record for Tzompantlis Gráficos Monumentales.

Rules 

• The proposal is to create a skull with the technique of high relief engraving.
• The theme is free under the concept of Tzompantli.
• Teachers, students and interested members of the public from all over the world, with or without previous experience in engraving, can participate. 
• Taller Nahual will provide a 23×23 cm MDF plate, 3 mm thick, and if the participant requires it, he/she can ask for technical and conceptual advice.
• It will be possible to participate with linoleum sheets of 23 x 23 cm.
• Those who wish to participate and have no experience in the technique of printmaking will receive theoretical and practical advice on how to execute the piece.
• Those who wish to participate from other states or countries must send by parcel their engraved plate ready to print.
• The registration and collaboration process will be through the following form: https://forms.gle/oRuJHYVyo1PiyrMr8

Important dates:

• Registration phase: From July 4 to August 23, 2022
• Delivery phase of the material to be engraved (DM plate): from 12 July to 23 August 2022***.
• Phase of submission of drawings for foreign borders: from 12 July to 22 August
• Delivery phase of engraved plates: From 12 July to 31 August
• Deadline for delivery of engraved plates: 31 August 2022

Participation fee and benefits:

The recovery fee to produce the monumental works and hold the exhibitions, is $350.00 MXN, will go towards the purchase of wood, fabric, threads, papers, inks, printers’ equipment, production and logistics equipment, sewing equipment, photographic record for virtual exhibition and catalogue, museography and curatorship.

Your participation includes:

• Production of 5 monumental works
• Management of 5 On-site Exhibitions 
• Production and management of 1 Virtual Exhibition 
• 1 Print of your work printed on fine paper.
• 1 Official double letter poster with all the pieces 
• Classes and advice 
• Loan of tools if required
• Acknowledgement of participation 

For the graphic edition of this great project and the TGN collection, each matrix will be printed:

6 copies on canvas:

• 5 copies for the banners that will be exhibited outdoors. 
• 1 copy for the TGN collection. 

5 copies on paper:

• 1 copy printed on fine paper for each participant.
• 2 copies for the TGN collection. 
• 2 workshop copies. 

(These copies will be put on sale in order to generate economic resources, considering that the TGN is a self-managed space that aims to give continuity to collaborative projects such as this one). 

Similarly, the pieces will be part of the digital collection to create the project’s catalogue and subsequently generate posters, stickers, digital elements and other applications, with the corresponding credits to disseminate the work of all the participants. ****

About the plaques:

Participants will be able to collect their plaques once the printing and exhibition phase is over, which will last for three weeks. The protocols, dates and times of collection will be published in October.

We look forward to your valuable participation in this fourth edition. 

Aspects not covered in this call for entries will be resolved by the TGN team.

*If you have no experience in engraving and you are enthusiastic about participating, you are welcome to join this project; once you make the corresponding payment and registration you will be able to collect your plaque, with it we will lend you a tool (gouge) so that you can join the face-to-face or virtual workshops (remember that with these tools we have shared workshops around the world and if you do not return it you will be taking away the opportunity to learn from thousands of people).

**If you participate from another state of the republic, the steps to follow are as follows:

1. You will have to make your engraving on an MDF or linoleum plate with 3 millimetres of thickness with the measures established in the call for entries (23 x 23 cm).
2. You must send your engraved plaque by courier on the dates indicated, once you make the payment (PayPal) and the corresponding registration, you will be given the delivery address.
3. For the return of your engraved plaque and print on fine paper, the TGN team will share various courier and packaging options, will provide logistical support and each participant will pay for their own shipping.  

If you participate from another country

The commission «Adopt an Artist from Abroad» will be created to support the carving of plaques for recorders from other latitudes, with the idea of generating an international community and breaking down borders.

1. You will have to register and pay through PayPal.
2. You will have to make your drawing with the established measurements (23×23 cm). 
3. You must digitise it and send it in jpg format at 300 dpi via email: graficanahual@gmail.com

Once we receive your drawing, we will transfer the image to an MDF plate and a local artist will be in charge of carving the plate so that it can be printed and be part of this great project.

4. The deadline is the 22 August in order to have enough time to engrave the pieces in Mexico City, thus facilitating the dynamics of participation.
5. Once the printing process and the exhibitions are finished, the TGN team will share various courier and packaging options, and will help with the logistics for participants to receive their carved plaque and print on fine paper. Each participant will pay the cost of shipping.

***Due to the ongoing pandemic, the classes and face-to-face consultations will be scheduled and shared in small groups, with strict use of masks and sanitary measures. We will publish the calendar with the dates and times of attention. 

We ask that when you visit us or arrange to meet with members of the team, you come with your sanitary safety kit, avoid crowds and help us to speed up all the processes of this call.  

If you take care of yourself, we all take care of ourselves!

**** By registering and paying the registration fee, I grant Taller de Gráfica Nahual the non-exclusive right to exhibit my work in face-to-face exhibitions and on the internet, in Mexico and in any other territory. 

The rights granted empower TGN to carry out all the procedures of management, reproduction and public communication of the IV Tzompantli Gráfico Monumental 2022, for its insertion in social networks and website tallernahual.com, in the terms expressed above, as well as to formalise any future exhibition of the Tzompantli Gráfico Monumental.

I hereby state that I have been informed and agree that for dissemination purposes the prints may be uploaded to digital platforms and viewed from the moment of this authorisation.

Contact options 

Instagram: @tallerdegraficanahual

TikTok: @tallerdegraficanahual

Facebook: @tallerdegraficanahual

Twitter: @TNahual 

WhatsApp: +52 5548335480