Slideshow: Workshop on ‘cardboard books’ draws crowd for Argentine artists

There was an impressive turnout of campus artists, Spanish speakers and others for the workshop “How to Make Cartonero Books,” which took place Nov. 11 in the 1965 Room of the University Union. The session was led by María Gómez and Washington Cucurto. The principals of the Buenos Aires-based publishing house Eloísa Cartonera — which pioneered a new economic model with the unique art form known as cartonera books — were visiting UW-Green Bay last week as part of the yearlong Common Theme focus on global citizenship.

The workshop began with a slideshow followed by a demonstration and then do-it-yourself creativity by participants. Students bound pages of “Evita Lives” by Nestor Perlongher, “El Joyero” by Ricardo Piglia, and other titles were “Some Dollars,” and “That Woman.”

The Eloísa Cartonera cooperative originated in the early 2000s with the Argentine economy in crisis and people taking to the streets to scratch out a living. Among them were the so-called cartoneros, who scrounged containers and cardboard to recycle and re-sell. A group of artists, designers and writers — also hard hit by the economy but willing to lend support — developed a plan for a cooperative that would pay reasonable wages to the cartoneros and transform the waste cardboard into handmade art books to be sold at inexpensive prices. Background on the workshop, cooperative and more can be found here.

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– Photos by Kimberly Vlies, Office of Marketing and University Communication