BYO Printmaking Collaborative presents Pass the Print: Relay Race. At the confluence of a group exhibition, exchange portfolio, and a contest, Pass the Print challenges artist collectives and community printshops (Teams) to create collaborative editions between their members and exhibit the resulting print at Confluence: SGCI 2027 Biennial Conference. Inspired by the surrealist game of exquisite corpse, the editions should be multi-layered prints made by passing the edition from one artist to the next. 

Pass the Print is an icebreaker project that BYO Print has played in the past to spark collaboration, relieve imposter syndrome from new members, and help artists get their feet wet (hands inky) working in a new-to-them space. It emboldens artists to respond to their peers’ images to move the composition forward while removing judgement and expectations on what is added to the print after their layer is complete. Affectionately nicknamed the printmaker’s exquisite corpse in our printshop, the project is inspired by that parlor game invented by Surrealists in the 1920’s to spark conversation during their gatherings.

“The exquisite corpse … reimagined the children’s game of “head, body, legs,” in which each participant adds to a drawing without seeing the preceding contributions, which are hidden by folding the paper. The results are strange, sometimes violent, combinations of images.” (https://www.artic.edu/artworks/119116/exquisite-corpse, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Prints & Drawings)

Removing the component of covering your predecessor’s image and instead asking the artist to add to a full composition creates a new sort of visual cacophony, with the hope that by the time everyone has added to the piece, some semblance of order has emerged. Typically the artist with the final layer has the greatest challenge - figure out how to resolve the image while acknowledging what came before.

Pass the Print: RELAY RACE! is an official “outside the box” project for SGCI 2027 Confluence conference in Pittsburgh, PA in fall 2027. At least half of the participating Teams should have SGCI membership, either the Team Lead or through a member org. Please reach out if you need more information, or visit SGCInternational.org

Key Dates:

August 31 - October 31: Open Call for Participants. Community printshops, artist collectives, or collaborative groups of 3+ artists are invited to apply to compete in Pass the Print: Relay Race during SGCI’s Round 2 call for conference participation. BYO Print may also invite artist groups to compete in the project to ensure a well-rounded and fair competition.

November 15, 2026: Ready! Set Go! Notification to all qualifying participants. Each Team begins their edition adhering to final requirements, minimum edition sizes, and other rules of the game. Begin on time to accumulate the greatest number of printed layers by the deadline! Document each layer with a photograph and submit them with your final print. Whichever collective has the greatest number of layers, wins!

September 1, 2027: Relay timer ends! One print from each participating group must be postmarked by this date and mailed to BYO Printmaking Collaborative for documentation. BYO Print will transport all submissions to Confluence and install for exhibition.

October 13 - 17, 2027: Pass the Print: Relay Race Exhibition and Attendee Voting! Use a provided rubric to vote for best print in multiple categories, including People’s Choice, Most Ambitious Matrices, It Really Ties the Room Together, and more.

Relay Race Rules: 

•Team minimum of three printmakers, no maximum number of people per Team.

•Prints must be 15” x 22” (half sheets)

•Each layer should address at least half of the sheet (matrix minimum 11” x 15”)

•The minimum edition size is 5, no maximum edition size. Editions should be reasonably identical, not variable editions. 

•Artists can print multiple layers, taking turns as in a relay race, so everyone contributes equally.

•No AI designs or digitally-printed layers please. (Reach out for clarification if needed.) 

•A rubric for tracking artist, media, and state information will be provided to each Team. Photographic documentation of each state is required for layers to count toward totals. 

Tips/Guidelines for Teams:

Pass the Print: Relay Race is not an exchange portfolio between Teams, but each Team can determine internal parameters for their own edition, including if it will be an exchange portfolio. One print from the edition must be submitted to BYO Print postmarked by the deadline (9/1/27) for exhibition and documentation, and it will be returned to the Team after the exhibition. 

Participants will create multi-layered prints by passing the edition from one artist to the next. Each state should be documented so there is a record of changes, ideally by photograph. Assign a Team leader to keep records and communicate with BYO Print. 

Exquisite Corpse reversal - artists don’t know what will happen to the print after their layer, but they can/should respond to the work’s previous layers. BYO Print recommends starting with more prints than the final edition size, in case of misprints.

The final layer should “really tie the room together.”