The best German comics of 2018 and narrative strategies in contemporary art
With the Bild-con-Text project, the Kunstverein Kunsthalle Hannover e.V. is showing award-winning comic art for the first time in a cultural centre in the context of contemporary art in an exhibition. In addition to original drawings and artefacts from the studios, the exhibition also provides insights into the different working methods of the artists. Local and invited foreign artists from both genres will provide background information and guidance in various working space and workshop formats.
Based on the works of eight selected national and Lower Saxon artists, common intersections, but also different approaches and modes of action will be put up for discussion with the 2018 Max and Moritz Prize winners. The Max und Moritz Prize is the most important award for graphic literature and comic art in the German-speaking world. It is awarded by an independent jury of experts. ‘The Best German Comics’ was conceived as a travelling exhibition by the initiator of the Kunsthalle project, Darjush Davar.
As part of the project, the award winners Oliver Mielke and Hannes Radtke, as local players in the comic scene, as well as the Stricher Magazin drawing collective will provide insights into their work, including by setting up an open comic workshop during the exhibition period. Another area – also for networking and professionalisation – will be workshops on drawing and photographic storytelling for young people and adults. Participants learn basic techniques from professionals using practical exercises:
– Breaking down a story into picture sequences (storyboard)
– Means of image composition to make the storyline comprehensible
– Basic elements and codes of comic visual language
Participatory formats have also been developed for the second part of the visual arts exhibition. A special working space is planned with the Dresden-based urban artist Jens Besser, who will not only explore mural concepts with the participants in the outdoor space, but also facilitate the transfer using monotype and drawing techniques. Jens Besser is not only a great painter and draughtsman as an urban artist, but is also active as a social critic with his murals, essays, books, exhibitions and events.
Olga Guseva, alias Olga Guse, in turn provides insights into her work with a workshop that is offered to fellow artists with and without a migration background. The artist works as a media artist and film director on current social issues and deals visually with omnipresent problems such as environmental pollution and the consequences of consumer society. Her experimental videos, accompanied by music, are characterised by black and white drawings and the animation of bizarre ball-jointed puppets that act as protagonists in front of watercolour backgrounds.
The works of other invited artists also refer to literary or musical sources and formulate complex, narrative associations, often of a very personal nature, such as in the series of paintings by Jan Eeckhout or in individual works by Pepa Salas Vila and Jens Hoff.
On the other hand, the Berlin painter Markus Willeke is interested in the general availability of culturally influential image arsenals that flood us daily through film, television and the Internet. His pictorial worlds are only superficially nourished by the graphic grids of large billboards, advertising boards or comics, but are characterised by the gestural painting style of graffiti and street art. Willeke’s pictures do not tell stories, they show the subcultural excesses of media-stimulated fantasies without beating about the bush.
The installations by Berlin-based artist Motoko Dobashi present themselves as narrative landscapes painted on ceilings and walls, not unlike the black-and-white motifs shown by Christian Hahn at the Hamburger Kunsthalle in 2003 under the title ‘Brutstätte und Schwärmer’, which borrowed from mangas, comics or computer games. Sebastian Neubauer also works with similar strategies in his installations, objects and videos.
In this way, the Bild-con-Text project also offers for the first time a diverse opportunity to perceive contemporary art in the context of the comic genre, from which the artistic strategies of the invited participants can be derived.
Participating artists (visual arts):
Jens Besser, Motoko Dobashi, Jan Eeckhout, Olga Guseva, Jens Hoff, Sebastian Neubauer, Pepa Salas Vilar and Markus Willeke
Participating artists (comics):
Sarah Burrini, Reinhard Kleist, Ulli Lust, Oliver Mielke & Hannes Radtke, Stricher Kollektiv, Christopher Tauber and students of the HBK Saar
Exhibition duration:
Sunday, 2 February, until Sunday, 23 February 2020
Vernissage: Saturday, 1 February, 7 pm
Opening hours: Fri 4-8 pm, Sat and Sun 2-6 pm
Admission: 3 euros, reduced: 2 euros
Curators: Harro Schmidt and Dariush Davar
to watch and join in:
Open studio-workshop of the Stricher Kollektiv in the centre of the exhibition
Supporting programme:
Saturday, 1 February, 7 pm
Vernissage
Welcome: Harro Schmidt and Darjush Davar, curators
Greeting: Cultural Office Hanover
Introduction: Katinka Kornacker, jury member of the Max and Moritz Prize, managing director of Comix Hannover
Thursday, 6 February, 4-8 p.m.
‘Comic reportage’ – workshop with the Stricher Kollektiv
On the basis of a short excursion, (visual) impressions and situational events are collected, sketched and then turned into a comic in the studio workshop in the exhibition under guidance.
From 16 years, costs: 5 euros, reduced: 3 euros, please register!
Saturday, 8 February, 6 pm
‘Comic vs. narrative art’ – panel discussion
With participating artists and the curators Harro Schmidt and Darjush Davar
Moderation: Dr Norbert Nobis
Admission free
Sunday, 9 February, 11 am – 6 pm
‘Photo-Comic’ – Workshop
The workshop teaches storytelling in image sequences as well as the design and arrangement of the photos created in a comic layout. An existing picture story will be recreated with the participants. The scenes are captured using the participants’ own smartphone camera and then edited. This blurs the boundaries between real and drawn props.
From 14 years, costs: 5 euros, reduced: 3 euros, bring your smartphone if available, please register!
Tuesday, 11 February, 6 pm
‘Der Stricher’ – Reading
The Stricher Kollektiv presents the anniversary edition of the comic and illustration magazine ‘Der Stricher’. Book table with small editions and unique pieces from the collective.
Free admission
Thursday, 13 February – Saturday, 15 February, all day
Murals at the Kesselhaus
Graffiti by urban artist Jens Besser
Sunday, 16 February, 4 pm
‘The three ??? – The ritual of the snakes’. Comic reading
Christopher Tauber and Calle Claus read from the new ‘Die drei ???’ comic ‘Das Ritual der Schlangen’. Multimedia comic fun for children and adults. Afterwards, the artists will sign their comics.
Free admission
Saturday, 22 February, 2 pm
Workshop talk & live drawing
Together with Oliver Mielke and Hannes Radtke, curator Darjush Davar will give an insight into the creation and production of the audience award winner ‘Nigunegu’. The comic figures will be created live on screen.
Free admission
Sunday, 23 February, 12-16 hrs
‘Folding zine’ – workshop with the Stricher Kollektiv
Participants fill a DIN A3 sheet with comics and illustrations. Afterwards, the members of the Stricher-Kollektiv will show how this can be turned into a small magazine and even reproduced.
From 10 years, costs: 5 euros, reduced: 3 euros
Sunday, 23 February, 4 pm
Finissage
Closing of the exhibition with participating artists and visitors.
Guided tours:
Sunday, 2 February, 4 pm
Comics and narrative strategies in art
Guided tour through the exhibition with Harro Schmidt and Darjush Davar
Sunday, 23 February, 4 pm
Comics and narrative strategies in art
Guided tour of the exhibition with Harro Schmidt and Darjush Davar
Date by arrangement
The best German comics
Guided tour for school classes and groups of 10 or more. Curator Darjush Davar provides insights into the creation of the exhibited comics and the working methods of the award winners.
Contribution towards expenses: 2 euros per perso
Bookings for the workshops and guided tours:
Tel. 0511 / 213 48 60 (Monday to Wednesday 11 am – 4 pm)
Email kunsthalle@kulturzentrum-faust.de
