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“Ediciones Vigia” and the Aesthetics of Bricolage

Summary

During the decline of Soviet communism printing supplies had grown scarce in Cuba. A group of artistic entrepreneurs formed their own collaborative press, publishing hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind art books of astonishing detail and startling originality. The artists and poets enriched printed books page by page with hand-crafted artistic additions and alterations, creating unique literary masterpieces. Juanamaria Cordones-Cook, professor of Spanish and researcher of Afro-Hispanic literature, has helped Mizzou build a collection of these illuminated texts. The Ediciones Vigía collection at the Museum of Art and Archaeology, named after the Plaza de la Vigía in Matanzas, Cuba, contains 70 of these art books.

Outcomes

Cultural Bricolage is a collaborative, multidisciplinary conference sponsored by Mizzou Advantage and hosted by the MU Department of Romance Languages and Literatures. The upcoming conference is centered on the topics of artistic creation, production, and entrepreneurship (inspired by the Ediciones Vigía), and is taking place at the University of Missouri campus November 11-12, 2012. Keynote speakers include:

  • Rolando Estévez Jordán, principal designer and artist of Ediciones Vigía,Winner of Cuba’s National Prize of Book Design
  • Ivo Zander, Anders Wall Professor of Entrepreneurship at Uppsala University, co-editor of Art Entrepreneurship (Edward Elgar, 2011).
  • Sharon Alvarez, Associate Professor of Management and Human Resources at Ohio State University, current Program Chair of the Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division.
  • Nancy Morejón, Poet Laureate and winner of Cuba’s National Prize for Literature, frequently published by Ediciones Vigía.
  • Ruth Behar, MacArthur Fellow and Victor Haim Perera Collegiate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan, author published by Ediciones Vigía.
  • Jeanne Drewes, chief of Binding and Collections Care in the Preservation Directorate at the Library of Congress.

View the trailer for Juanamaria Cordones-Cook’s documentary Ediciones Vigía: Poética visual / Visual Poetics below. For more information about this documentary contact Juanamaria Cordones-Cook.

Related Iniative(s):
Media of the Future, Sustainable Energy,

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