Why Taller Imagen del Rinoceronte TIR
After an intense couple of weeks of research in Mexico, working on a project about Printmaking Workshops and its relation to social, political and community issues, I came back full of passion of what is happening there.One of this workshops was :
TIR
Taller Imagen del Rinoceronte.
El TIR was established in 2006 with the objective of having a free, open space for education and workshop formation for children, young people and adults in printmaking and art in general.
The idea seems simple but it has so many challenges.
It is a cultural space created by the initiative of Humberto Valdez, with the support of INBA (National Institute of Fine Arts) and CONACULTA (National Advice for Culture and Arts).
The delegationl of Tlalpan in Mexico City gives the space for the workshop, whilst a collective of people cover the cost of equipment, materials and all other needs.
Young people are involved in maintaining, promoting and sharing knowledge with each other. As well, they find ways of funding themselves in order to continue developing their work. As part of the agreement with the council they must give workshops to the community in History of Art and other practical workshops.
I was impressed of how limited the workshop was for the amount of people interested in working there. But by no means this is a limit for the collective. They organize themselves to make the best use of their two presses and working areas.
Humberto explained to me that the doors are open for anyone, without any need of previous knowledge on the technique.
It is a place in the south of Mexico City, where magical and creative dialogues are born. One can see diverse techniques such as drawing, printmaking and street painting interventions.
TIR ‘s artistic production has a constant promotion through exhibitions and street demonstrations. All these create an energetic enthusiastic environment where exchange between cultural institutions, workshops, artists and audience takes place in a successful way.
I wanted to support that workshop and bring Humberto and one of the artists that work in TIR to be part of this exchange and to show their work.
Unfortunately Humberto was not able to come to UK, but instead sent his right hand at TIR Orietta Aguilar. An energetic woman who is mainly in charge of managing the projects and applying for grants. I am very happy to host this Mexican artists and work with them during these events.
erika servin
