“Mobile press” (MP) is a collective workshop, ready to be installed anywhere. Its construction was inspired by street vendors, equipped with a small etching press and the necessary materials for the printing process.

During the first rounds with the cart, the MP looked for spots where people gathered and coexisted in the public space. Also, where people had time and the curiosity to make an individual print. The set of prints made in different squares, metro exits, parks and tianguis (mobile markets) shaped the first collection of people’s prints that represent the identity of some communities which coexist in the streets of Mexico City. Participants made prints on the surface of a recycled CD, using the drypoint technique. I chose the CD as a surface because it’s an object where we store information but it’s also distributed, sold and exchanged on the streets as part of an informal market and means of piracy. Thus, we are used to mark and scratch the surface of a CD to identify the information stored there. It made it easier to mark this surface that a blank page. A CD also allowed us to replicate a drawing many times, allowing participants to take a copy of their print while the Mobile Press kept one for archive.

Technical detail: Imprenta Móvil (199 x 90 x 62 cm), Wood, tires, press plate, felt, ink, baby powder, spatulas, press roll, vat, towels, apron, gloves, turpentine, alcohol, water; CD, markers and nails; acrylic paint, yellow pages, grey cardboard, copy paper, cotton paper.