DATE: October 10 to November 17, 2023
LOCATION: Aveiro Fanzineteca / José Estêvão Secondary School Library
CURATION: Vento Norte Cartonero
LOCAL ORGANIZATION: Aveiro Fanzineteca / UV Editions / Miguel Correia
NATIONAL ORGANIZATION: CES – Center for Social Studies, University of Coimbra / Animar
PARTNERS: José Estêvão School Group / National Arts Plan / Ultra Violenta Fanzine / Café Amizade

“THE UNIVERSE OF CARTONERO BOOKS” – AVEIRO

The Fanzineteca of Aveiro is hosting a literary exhibition of “cartonero” books, which is touring around Portugal.

It is a collection of handmade books from all over the world that carry messages from writers and artists who practice outside conventional publishing circuits.

In this collection of publications, we find vehicles for political, social, and creative intervention that give a voice to those who usually do not have one. They represent valuable and active statements by their creators and open doors to the democratization of the acts of writing and publishing.

Having emerged in South America during times of great social unrest and within already vulnerable segments of society, these initiatives found in this medium a way to improve their skills through writing and graphic creation.
They are, therefore, editorial proposals born out of precarious conditions, but which provide their creators with a new personal and creative dimension.

There is also an important ecological dimension in this approach, as it discovered a way to value common materials like cardboard, which here gains a new life cycle with added artistic and economic value.

This initiative fits within the philosophy of the Fanzineteca de Aveiro, as it shares an alternative and irreverent editorial attitude that Cartonero Books have in common with Fanzines.

PROGRAMME:

1 – Exhibition “The Universe of Cartonero Books”, Dates: October 10 to November 17 (Mon – Fri: 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM), Location: Fanzineteca de Aveiro – Library of Escola Secundária José Estêvão

2 – Presentation of the documentary “Carretera Cartonera” by Marta Mancusi and Anna Trento, with online commentary by Gaudêncio Gaudério (Vento Norte Cartonero Publisher), Date: Wednesday, October 18, from 2:20 PM to 4:45 PM, Location: Multipurpose Amphitheater of Escola Secundária José Estêvão

3 – Workshop for making Cartonero Books, Date: Wednesday, October 25, at 2:20 PM (For high school Visual Arts students), Location: Escola Secundária José Estêvão

4 – Poetry Reading, Date: Saturday, October 28, at 4:00 PM, Location: Café Amizade – Aveiro

5 – Mini-Exhibition “The Universe of Cartonero Books”, Dates: October 10 to November 17 (Tue – Sat: 11:30 AM – 1:00 AM / Sun: 4:30 PM – 1:00 AM), Location: Café Amizade, Aveiro

Location: Fanzineteca de Aveiro / Library of José Estêvão Secondary School
E-mail: fanzinetecadeaveiro@fanzine.pt
Dates: October 10 to November 17, 2023 (Soft opening on October 10 at 3:00 PM)

Curatorship: Vento Norte Cartonero
Local Organization: Fanzineteca de Aveiro / Edições UV / Miguel Correia
National Organization: CES – Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra / Animar
Partners: José Estêvão School Group / National Arts Plan / Ultra Violenta Fanzine / Café Amizade

CONTEXT

“The story of cartonera publishers begins with a touch of tragic fable.
Once upon a time, there was a country below the famous Equator line, plunged into yet another of its habitual cyclical crises.
It is in this context that the world’s first cartonera publisher emerged; today, it is estimated that more than 150 operate across the globe. Created by small groups of people connected to literary and cultural production, and in some cases by collectives with political and social concerns, cartonera publishers often function as interventionist initiatives to give voice and language to those who have long been silenced, and to make writing and reading practices more present in everyday life — especially among groups historically marginalized from literate culture.”
It can be said that the originality of the cartonero book lies in the material used for the covers and the artistic work they receive, because by employing cardboard (cartón in Spanish), the typical fate of this material in consumer society — ending up in landfills or recycling companies — is reversed through creativity, transforming it into part of an object that aims to be integrated under a different logic within the realm of symbolic goods.
In this sense, the choice of cardboard is linked to an act of ecological awareness in today’s struggle for the planet’s sustainability—a gesture that is also, in itself, a political stance.
Additionally, the result of the artistic interventions on the covers, using different techniques, gives the cartonero book a certain “aura,” as each copy becomes unique due to its singularity.
The exhibition presented here is just a small sample of the diverse universe of cartonero books. Visitors will be able to see what publishers from various countries in Latin America, Europe, and Africa produce, and the unique way they create their books. The guiding spirit is to enable the Portuguese {and Aveiro} public to discover this publishing approach, which was born out of hardship and has now spread across different remote regions of the world.

[Excertos de um texto de Gaudêncio Gaudério, Vento Norte Cartonero]

DETAILS

Publishers: 69
Countries: 18
Books: 194
Plus 25 additional books created in the territories where the exhibition traveled.

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