Wednesday, June 27, 2012

CTC International Print Biennale 2013

Taller Cultural “Luis Diaz Oduardo”
Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
December 18, 2012 - January 5, 2013

CRAM International
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
March 29 – April 3, 2013

Background to Project Idea

This International Print Media Event is a natural development stemming from a 3-year series of self-financed events, residencies, exhibitions, and related exchanges between CRAM International and Taller Cultural "Luis Diaz Oduardo".

During this three-year period of collaborations it became extremely obvious that the economic realities of post-revolutionary Cuba made it virtually impossible for one of its major cultural institutions to maintain and operate its various studios and art programs. It was during this time that CRAM Press Co-Founders Alan Flint and Tobey C. Anderson were asked and encouraged to assist Taller Cultural Director Tamayo Zamora in revitalizing the Taller Cultural print workshop that had been virtually unused for over 20 years.

We realized that revitalizing this studio offered many opportunities to stimulate hope, new initiatives, and the production of new art, not only for Cuban artists but artists in Canada and other countries.  T
o begin the process to create and implement new developments for the arts community in Cuba, the key was to export a "collective curatorial" model and a form of institutional art support used in Canada to stimulate dialogue and blend with the collective model in Cuba.

Project Description

The CTC International Print Biennale 2013 is a pilot project designed to establish a bi-annual international print media event, co-organized and developed by Taller Cultural and CRAM International in partnership with Centre 3 – The Print Studio in Hamilton, Ontario. The first formal developmental meeting for the CTC Print Biennale was held in December 2011 in Cuba at Taller Cultural.  


Although the project is regionally based in Canada and Cuba, it is envisioned as a global exchange. The two country’s regional artists worked in collaboration to combine their collective models and put these plans in motion. This international artist-run collaboration has the potential to expand incrementally over the span of the next few decades.

The project draws on the experience of a specific art community. This includes those concerned with contemporary print media art practice, such as artists, administrators and critics. The project plan proposes an event that provides context to facilitate the development of a national program from a multi-national perspective. 


Between the three instigators of this international project is over 100 years of experience on a "grass roots" level as:  independent artists, creative directors, program managers, educators, event coordinators, collaborators, curators, consultants, advocates, and organizational project developers.  The biennale draws on a much larger group, however, when the combined experience of the two artist collectives are considered.

Project Outline

The main activities of the event include artist travel, international dialogue, exhibition exchange, networking, residencies, creation, collaboration, and documentation.

Year One Target: 12 international participants from print collectives in Canada, Germany, Mexico, United States, EU, and other countries
 gather in Cuba for the events; publication of a catalogue and video documentation; touring an exhibition of works to venues in Cuba, Canada, and internationally in 2013; preliminary planning of 2015 biennale in Canada. 

An internationally recognized print curator/artist will present the exhibition and curatorial thesis about the prints in the exhibition. The participating print studio collectives make the print selections using the “collective curatorial” model.

International print media curators and artists will introduce the events: exhibition, panel discussions, open studio sessions, workshops, demonstrations, and artist talks. The main activities of the event include artist travel and exchange.

A stand-alone project to ship donations of a printing press, equipment, materials, and art supplies to Santiago de Cuba augments and is interwoven into the CTC International Print Media Biennale 2013.

Contact CRAM International