Global Call 2022

V Monumental Graphic Tzompantli

Taller de Gráfica Nahual

Taller de Gráfica Nahual is honoured to invite the international artistic community and the general public to the Tzompantli Gráfico Monumental, which is being organised for the fifth consecutive year; for us it is an achievement to have broken the record of participation in each edition as it has meant the initiation of many people in the craft of printmaking; the configuration of a community where collaborative work is nourished by the skills, enthusiasm and experiences of all the participants; and the possibility of reaching different spaces to disseminate and show our work.

This project arises from the fusion between ink and mezcal, which has allowed us to expand TGN’s universal graphic network. The first Tzompantli in 2019 was experimental and the results of the call for entries were so positive that it became a tradition that even managed to overcome the difficulties of being in the health contingency period during 2020 and 2021, when the record of participation and exhibition spaces throughout the country and the world was surpassed.

The Great Tzompantli or «Huey Tzompantli», is a wall of skulls that has its origins in pre-Hispanic Mexico during the post-classical period, a period of militarisation in Mesoamerica in which the Mexica empire had its splendour, with Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, as its main god; According to his worldview, the blood of the dead in battle was the necessary sacrifice for the regeneration of life, a religious precept that justified the expansion of the empire and the subjugation of the rest of the peoples; This is how the Huey Tzompantli arose, a coercive monument that showed military power through the exhibition of a gigantic wall built with the skulls of enemy warriors pierced by a stake in the temporal region.

Over the centuries the Tzompantli has become an element of cultural identity related to the Day of the Dead, one of the most important celebrations for the people of Mexico, during this festivity we find diverse representations made with a great diversity of techniques and materials, Taller de Gráfica Nahual joins the celebration with the largest Monumental Graphic Tzompantli in the world that will be exhibited on the walls of our facilities located at the corner of Monte de Piedad and Tacuba, Centro Histórico, Mexico City, as well as in four additional venues to be determined soon. In total, five banners printed on canvas will be produced for the exhibition.

Taller de Gráfica Nahual has organised this great collaborative project in the framework of Day of the Dead for four consecutive years, in its first edition in 2019, 104 people participated, 66 women and 38 men, for the second edition in 2020, in full health emergency by COVID-19, 135 people participated, of which 89 are women, 43 men, 2 preferred not to say and 1 person answered: other, the average age was 32 years, the person with the youngest age was 4 years old and the oldest 67. In the 2021 edition 144 people participated, 88 women, 48 men, 5 other, 2 preferred not to say and …1 rabbit. In the 2022 edition 180 people participated, of which 107 were women, 68 men, 2 preferred not to say, 2 people answered, other, and 1 rabbit, the average age was 35 years, the youngest person was 6 years old and the oldest 69.

People have joined from the following states of the Mexican Republic: 

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

The TGN team has printed around six thousand prints to create the monumental pieces that have been exhibited in the following venues:

• Casa de la Ciudad, Oaxaca, Oaxaca de Juárez, México 
• Facultad de Filosofía en la Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango, Durango, México
• Casa Ciclista de Guadalajara, Santa Teresita, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México 
• Museo Metropolitano de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo León, México
• Taller de Gráfica Nahual, Ciudad de México
• La Nahuala Galería, Ciudad de México 
• Edificio de Cultura y Arte del Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente, ITESO, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México 
• Fábrica de Artes y Oficios, Tláhuac, Ciudad de México
• Primaria, Ricardo Flores Magón, Tláhuac, Ciudad de México
• Museo Regional de la Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango, México 
• Espai d´Arts Can Batlló, Barcelona, España
• Universidad Intercultural del Estado de México
• Ayuntamiento de Mexicali, Baja California, México 
• La Última Lucha Pulquería, Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, México

Bases:

• The proposal is to make 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, may participate. 
• Taller Nahual will provide a 23×23 cm MDF plate with a thickness of 3 mm. In addition, if the participant requires it, he/she can ask for technical and conceptual advice.
• It will be possible to participate with linoleum plates measuring 23 x 23 cm.
• Those who wish to join and have no experience in the technique of engraving will receive theoretical and practical advice, as well as the loan of tools to execute the piece.
• Participants from other states of the Mexican Republic must send their engraved plaque ready for printing by parcel**.
• People from other countries can join in by sending their digitised drawing so that the Commission Adopts an Artist from Abroad can engrave their proposal***.
• We made it to the fifth edition and we are celebrating! If you have participated in all the previous editions, you are a candidate for your fifth participation to be crowned with the Golden Gouge.

The registration and cooperation process will be through the following form: 

https://forms.gle/fQy7i6CoaeXYUCSv5

Important dates:

• Registration phase: 10 July to 28 August 2023
• Submission of material to be engraved (MDF plate): 11 July to 26 August 2023
• Drawing submission phase for artists from abroad: 11 July to 28 August 2023
• Delivery phase for engraved plaques: 11 July to 9 September 2023
• Deadline for submission of engraved plaques: 9 September 2023

Recovery fee and benefits:

The recovery fee to produce the monumental banners, hold the five face-to-face exhibitions and the virtual exhibition at La Nahuala Galería, is $500.00 MXN, will go towards the purchase of wood, fabric, threads, papers, inks, design equipment, communication, printing, production, logistics, sewing, photography, video, museography and curatorship.

Your participation includes:

• Production of 5 banners
• Production and management of 5 Presential Exhibitions 
• Production and management of 1 Virtual Exhibition 
• Production and management of the Inauguration in TGN
• 1 Print of your work printed on fine paper
• Theoretical and practical advice as well as the loan of tools
• Certificate of participation

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

• 5 copies on canvas with a finishing for the banners to be displayed. 
• 5 copies on paper
• 1 copy printed on fine paper for each participant
• 2 copies for the TGN archive
• 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).

Likewise, 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 badges:

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 fifth edition. 

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

*If you have no experience in printmaking and you are enthusiastic to participate, you are welcome to join this project; once you register and pay the corresponding payment you will be able to collect your badge, 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 give it back you will be taking away the opportunity to learn from thousands of people).

The face-to-face classes and tutorials will be scheduled and shared with small groups. We will publish a calendar with dates and times. 

We ask that when you visit us or arrange to meet with members of the team, you come punctually on the established date and time and help us to speed up all the processes of this call.

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

You will have to make your engraving on an MDF or linoleum plate 3 millimetres thick with the measurements established in the call for entries (23 x 23 cm).

You must send your engraved plaque by courier on the dates indicated. Once you have made the corresponding payment and registration, you will be given the delivery address, which is different from that of TGN.

For the return of your engraved plaque and print on fine paper, the TGN team will share various courier and packaging options, will support you with the logistics and each participant will pay for their own shipping.

***If you participate from another country

The Adopt an Artist from Abroad Commission will support you with the carving of your plaque, the aim is to break down borders to generate a universal artistic community. 

You will have to register and pay through PayPal.

You will have to make your drawing with the established measurements (23×23 cm). 

You must digitise it and send it in jpg format at 300 dpi to the following email address: 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.

The deadline is 28 August 2023 in order to have enough time to engrave the pieces in Mexico City, thus facilitating the dynamics of participation.

Once the printing process and the exhibitions are finished, the TGN team will share various courier and packaging options, will support with the logistics for the participants to receive their carved plaque and their print on fine paper. Each participant will bear the cost of shipping.

****. By registering and paying the registration fee, I grant Taller de Gráfica Nahual the non-exclusive right to exhibit my work in exhibitions in person 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 V Tzompantli Gráfico Monumental 2023 for its insertion in social networks and website http://www.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 published on digital platforms and viewed from the moment of this authorisation.

Opciones de contacto 

Instagram: @tallerdegraficanahual

TikTok: @tallerdegraficanahual

Facebook: @tallerdegraficanahual

WhatsApp: +52 5548335480