Around the World
A participatory project created during the pandemic to connect artists and enthusiasts through drawings, stamps and a collective publication.
The project
During the months of the pandemic, when travelling was impossible, Print Club Torino launched Around the World, a participatory project that turned immobility into an opportunity for shared encounters and creativity. An open call invited artists, illustrators and enthusiasts from all over the world to send an image, drawing or illustration of their “place of the heart”: a real or imaginary place they would have liked to visit as soon as possible. The materials received became the starting point for a choral journey of images, desires and visual narratives.
Stamps and dream places
Thanks to the collaboration with Fablab Torino, the collected drawings were transformed into laser-engraved wooden stamps inspired by the Japanese tradition of eki-stamps. Introduced in the 1930s to enhance the identity of railway stations, these stamps represent symbolic elements of the territory, such as monuments, animals or landscapes, and still today they exist in both physical and digital form. This lively and fascinating practice drove the imagery of Around the World, where each stamp embodied a symbolic stage of the journey: a real or imaginary destination reflecting the individual experience of the participants, becoming at the same time part of a collective and shared narrative.
A passport to treasure the experience
At the end of the project, an artist's passport was produced: a hand-printed publication in two-colour risograph and handmade bound, in which each page collected one of the destinations illustrated. Each participant then received his or her own “Around the World” kit directly at home, containing the passport and its laser-engraved stamp, symbolising his or her contribution to this collective journey. Around the World demonstrated how creativity can be a vehicle to cross borders, explore new inner horizons and stay connected, even from afar. An invitation to travel with the mind, cultivating curiosity and a desire for discovery.
