All Eyes on Comics in Novi Sad
The three day conference “Comics, Heritage and Contemporary Art” finished gathering over 90 experts, comic artists, comic theoreticians, illustrators, comic festival managers and comic lovers.
Focus of the conference during the three days of October 2022 was to explore comics as a bridge between heritage, social practices and contemporary art. The Conference was held during a Comic City festival of the European Capital of Culture which included various programs inspired by comics such as exhibitions, comic fair, music programs, comic book promotions etc. The conference served as a platform to discuss the broader character of comics in heritage and the impact of such projects on their producers and audiences, sharing knowledge of this practice across the sector for those engaged in or wishing to develop this area of practice. It included panel discussions, lectures, workshops, zine production and fun activities such as sketch battle and parties.
The program started with a scholarly and academic contribution, setting the basics for further discussions about comics such as comics in the museums and in site-specific circumstances.
The opening evening of the Conference was meant to introduce the themes in a fresh and inspiring way with a guest speaker, one of the most prominent comics artists of Europe today- Uli Lust. Ms. Ulli Lust focus was to specifically discuss her takes on documentary storytelling and graphic journalism, since this is a topic that has been mostly unknown to local Serbian audiences, and this is also one of the main focal interests of the Remix Comix project: how to document and visualize stories of marginalized groups in urban societies?
During the first day the focal point of the contributions was on heritage and the last two days topics were focused on Balkan Memories and Comics and Contemporary Art.
Over 80 participants in the conference also had the opportunity to listen to some of the most important comic authors such as Aleksandar Zograf, Boris Stanić, Barbara M. Eggert, Eva Hilhorst and others.
One of the guest speakers was also Akinori Oishi, an internationally acclaimed multimedia artist from Japan. He presented his work which is an excellent example of how comics arts can leave the zines and museums and enter unknown territories of shopping malls and windows of cultural centers and pubs and bars, schools, and offices.
At the end of the Conference art collective Kuš! From Latvia presented to the audience the fresh copies of the zine they had been making throughout the weekend with 20 participants involved and a Zombie Walk.
One of the comments from the audience for the end:
“Great way to bring people from different European countries together to explore the past, present and future of comics. A very wide variety of topics and programming, which surprisingly fit very well together with the mix of more serious and fun topics related to comics. Great networking opportunity to bring our communities closer together.”
During next year 4 more artistic residencies will take place in Amsterdam, Prague, Ljubljana and Pančevo ending with a conference in Ljubljana.
Stay tuned for more info!
Programme – Friday – Day 1 – Heritage
Opening of the Conference
Programme – Saturday – Day 2 – Heritage
Seminar: Memory through Comics
In this seminar, Yasco Horsman and Mathijs Peters, two cultural scholars from Leiden University (The Netherlands), will invite the audience to reflect on how trauma’s from European and human history have been visualized in comics. They will talk about Art Spiegelman’s Maus and In the Shadows of No Towers, Keiji Nakazawa’s Barefoot Gen and Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. How can comics relate individual and collective memories, and how can those be read?
Seminar: Representation through Comics
In this interactive seminar, poet and art critique Canan Marasligil (Brussels, Amsterdam) proposes an exploration of the many voices who turned to comics to tell their stories: artists and writers with a variety of backgrounds and fluid identities and experiences, many times marginalised by mainstream cultures. Canan will invite the audience to look at the work of comics artists from LBGTQ+ and migrant communities, people whose experiences are oftentimes pushed into the gutter. What happens when they take on comics? What can we learn from their work?
Workshop: Seeing the Creative District with New Eyes
Get out of your frames! In her workshop Barbara Müllerova (Curator of Lustr-Festival in Prague) will take the participants out onto the streets, where she will introduce the basic methods of ‘deep mapping’. How to get familiar with the environment, its inhabitants and users the best we can, so that it can be made into art? Specific methods of deep listening, alternative mapping and anthropological observation will be proposed to the artists and curators interested in site-specific art, as well as basic philosophical ideas of this approach coming from the field of critical cartography.
Workshop: Story-Catchers for Comics and Theater
In this workshop, Karolina Spaic and Sebo Bakker will present a board-game called Storycatcher. The participants are invited to play the boardgame, that helps to trigger the imagination, and to ‘catch’ new stories. Can these methods be used for graphic storytelling, and even for graphic journalism? The game has been played on many occasions, during festivals and performances. It also invites the comics readers to play with the option to create comics as a theater play. What about comics as a performance?
Balkan Memories: taking inspiration from history, trauma and heritage in the works of Blaz Vurnik, Boris Stanic and Aleksandar Zograf (Forum talk, film-screening, presentations, Q&A).
On Saturday, we will have a special programme on “Balkan Memories”, including talks with Blaz Vurnik (graphic novel script writer from Ljubljana), and comics artists Boris Stanic and Aleksandar Zograf (both from Pancevo). They will all present their newest books, in which the memories, hallucinations and legacies of Balkan histories are very present. Since they all have a very different approach, this panel talk will also invite the audience to rethink memories through comics, and how we can visualize and revitalize history.
The special programme “Balkan Memories” will be ended with a screening of the film “The Final Adventure of Kaktus Kid”.
The Final Adventures of Kaktus Kid.
“Final Adventures of Kaktus Kid” was made by the Serbian cinematographer Djordje Markovic, starring the world-acclaimed Serbian comics artist Aleksandar Zograf.
About the film:
Aleksandar Zograf, a renowned cartoonist discovers an unusual comic book from World War II. The comic’s hero is Kaktus Kid – a small cactus trapped in his pot. Intrigued, Zograf investigates into the life of Kaktus Kid’s creator – little known artist Veljko Kockar. He soon discovers that Kockar was arrested just after the liberation of Belgrade in 1944. He was charged for being a Gestapo agent and executed. Zograf’s investigation reveals a far more complex story: Kockar’s identity and artistic works were stolen, he possibly has an affair with the girlfriend of a guerilla soldier and he drew anti-communist propaganda for the Nazis. As he explores the story and pieces together the scraps of evidence 70 years after it happened Zograf is faced with his own personal and artistic dilemmas: why do these little drawings have such power to give consolation but also lead to violence?
Day 3: Contemporary Art
Presentation: The Tremendous Treasure of Belgian Comics
Roel Daenen is a comics connoisseur and heritage professional from Belgium. He will explain how and why Brussels has become the European capital of comics. Because it was here, in the first half of the twentieth century, that great masters like Hergé, Jijé, Franquin, Jacobs, Rosy, Vandersteen, and many others developed storytelling and graphic aspects of the medium as they went along. In the slipstream of this activity was the promotion, marketing and what we loftily refer to today as ‘participation’: readers who were allowed to have a say in whether or not to retain comic characters or series. There are also various popular, well-attended comics courses both here and abroad. In Brussels alone, the would-be student has a choice of three different schools. And yet in this happy-go-lucky, comic-loving land, there are major long-term problems and challenges that few people really acknowledge.
Seminar: Comics in the Museum
Barbara Eggert is a comics curator, scenario-writer and comics scholar from Austria. She will invite the audience to discuss and reflect on how we experience comics in a museum. Do we like to watch original drawings, put to a wall? Are there other ways how to show comics? She will share her experiences and research on comics in the museum, by using theoretical approaches and practical examples from her past experiences, for example at the Next Comics festival in Linz.
Presentation: Comics and Contemporary Art in Zines
Is print dead? Not when you ask David Schilter, the founding father and editor of the legendary tiny A6-zine Kuš! From Latvia. Kuš! Motivated and mobilized a whole new comics scene in Riga, Latvia, the Baltics and parts of Eastern and Central Europe. Hence Kuš! has, with all its charm, showed how zine-making is a great and powerful method to bring comics closer to new readership. In this presentation David Schilter will present Kuš!, it’s present and future.
Presentation: Comics in the Public Space
You’ll find them all over Novi Sad, in restaurants, museums and galleries: the window drawings of Akinori Oishi. In this presentation, the world-acclaimed multimedia artist from Japan will explain the ideas behind his project “Window Drawings”, that he realized in the city of Novi Sad. Through these window drawings he finds a way to make contact with the citizens of Novi Sad, and change moods in the public space.
Workshop: Comics in Journalism
Comics Journalism is an emerging genre, that invites readers to gain information through drawings, infographs, and comics. Eva Hilhorst is the editor of “Drawing the Times”, a platform for graphic journalism that published reportages, interviews and reflections about current affairs – all in comics style. Among the many contributors to Drawing the Times are Victoria Lomasko, Aleksandar Zograf, Lucie Lomova and Judith van Istendael. In this interactive workshop, Eva Hilhorst will show how comics can be a journalist medium as well.
Sketch Battle, drinks, and laughter.
The Remix Comix conference will the ended with a Sketch Battle competition: both professional and amateur comics artists can compete, during a cozy get-together, who appears to the fastest, funniest, or weirdest in drawing cartoons, mini-comics, or just random sketches.
October 28-30th
Fabrika, entrance 2 (ex Route 66), Bulevar Despota Stefana 5, Novi Sad, Serbia
Friday, October 28th – Opening Night
| 5 p.m | Opening of the Remix Comix exhibition: ‘May the Children on the Street Play with Your Eyes!’ |
| 6 p.m.–6:30 p.m. | Opening of the conference |
| 6:30 p.m. | Keynote speaker, artist Ulli Lust (Austria): ‘Documentary Storytelling & Graphic Journalism. Real Life Stories.’ |
| 8 p.m. | Buffet – Live Drawing – DJ Crni Dule |
| 8 p.m. | Concerts @ Proizvodnja |
Saturday, October 29th – Heritage and Collective Memories in Comics
| 10 a.m.–5 p.m. | (Fan)zine Making Workshop: Oskars Pavlovskis, Kuš! (Latvia) |
| 10 a.m.–10:15 a.m. | Welcome and introduction |
| 10:15 a.m.–11:30 a.m. | Seminar: Memory through Comics: Spiegelman, Nakazawa, Satrapi Yasco Horsman and Mathijs Peters from Leiden University (TheNetherlands) |
| 11:30 a.m.–12:45 p.m | Seminar: Representation Through Comics Poet and comic critic Canan Marasligil (Brussels, Amsterdam). |
| 12:45 p.m.–1 p.m. | Coffee break |
| 1 p.m.–3 p.m. | REMIX: Parallel workshops 1. Workshop: Seeing the Creative District with New Eyes Barbora Müllerova (Curator of Lustr-Festival in Prague) will take the participants out onto the streets, where she will introduce the basic methods of ‘deep mapping’. 2. Workshop: Story-Catchers for Comics and Theater ZID-theater (Amsterdam) will present a board-game that helps to trigger the imagination, and to ‘catch’ new stories. 3. Presentation: Wisdom and Madness Kiss Serbian comic book artist Mileta Poštić and educator Jelena Bobić will present the comic he created for the Uroš Predić exhibition at the Gallery of Matica Srpska. |
| 3 p.m.–4 p.m. | Lunch |
| 4 p.m.–6:30 p.m. | Balkan Memories Three comic book artists will present their work on the local and regional collective memories of World War II. With Blaž Vurnik (Slovenia), Boris Stanić (Serbia) and Aleksandar Zograf (Serbia). |
| 6:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m. | Film screening ‘The Final Adventure of Kaktus Kid’ (Đorđe Marković) |
| 7:30 p.m | DJ Dub Dubba |
| 8 p.m. | Concerts @ Proizvodnja |
Sunday, October 30th: Contemporary Art in Comics
| 10 a.m.–10:15 a.m. | Introduction and Welcome |
| 10:15 a.m.–11:15 a.m | Presentation: The Tremendous Treasure of Belgian Comics Comics editor Roel Daenen will reflect on the newest comics news from Belgium, this apparently happy-go-lucky comic loving land. |
| 11:15 a.m.–12 p.m | Seminar: Comics in Museums Barbara Eggert, Next Comics Linz (Austria) |
| 12 p.m.–12:45 p.m. | Presentation: Comics and Contemporary Art in Zines David Schilter, Kuš! (Latvia) |
| 12:45 p.m.–2 p.m. | Lunch |
| 2 p.m.–2:45 p.m. | Presentation: Comics in Public Spaces Akinori Oishi, multimedia artist (Japan) |
| 2:45 p.m.–4 p.m. | Workshop: Comics in Journalism Eva Hilhorst, (The Netherlands), editor of Drawing the Times (platform for Graphic Journalism) |
| 4 p.m.–5 p.m | Forum Conversation and Closing Session: The Power of Comics |
| 5 p.m.–p.m. | Sketch Battle, drinks and laughter |
| 7 p.m. | Zombie Walk (Film Front) |
| 8 p.m. | Closing Party, DJ Zupany |
Comics-Zine Workshop
KUŠ! Comic Zine Workshop
KUŠ! Comic zine workshop, lead by artist Oskars Pavlovskis and co-founder of kuš! David Schilter, will be a collaborative comic drawing experience welcoming participants of any age and skill level. During the three day workshop we will work together with other participants. You will have the opportunity to take part in a journey through the process of drawing, printing and assembling a unique self-published comic magazine (Zine).
kuš!
kuš! (speak koosh!) is a comics art anthology from Latvia founded 2007 in Riga. Every issue contains comics from international and Latvian artists to a certain theme which changes every issue. The aims of kuš! are to popularize comics in a country where this medium is practically non-existent and promoting Latvian comics abroad.
kuš! doesn’t just publish comics on paper, but also organizes exhibitions, workshops, comics jams and other comics related events besides traveling to international festivals to spread the Latvian comics fever.
Oskars Pavlovskis
Oskars Pavlovskis is an artist from Riga, Latvia. Drawing comics is just one of the things Oskar does. While professionally working as a computer graphic artist, he is still looking around and enjoys working in different media – making short animations, illustrations, sculpting and 3D computer graphics. Oskars Pavlovskis has participated in various groups and exhibitions and his work has been published in international and local illustration and comic magazines.
About the Speakers
Ulli Lust, born 1967 in Vienna, moved to Berlin in 1995, where she studied graphic design. Her published work includes pieces of comics journalism featuring observations on modern life. Her most successful graphic novel “Today is the last day of the rest of your life” was translated into ten languages and won several awards, one of them the Prix de la revelation in Angouleme. „Voix de la Nuit”, an adaptation of the homonymous novel by Marcel Beyer, was released in 2013. A new autobio graphic novel „Alors que j’essayais detre quelq’un de bien” was on the shortlist for the golden Fauve at the Comicsfestival in Angouleme in 2018. Since 2013 she has been a professor for comics and illustration at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Hannover.
Akinori Oishi is born in Japan 1972, a self-declared “Drawaholic,” who draws huge patterns with his signature AKI SMILE characters every day. “I just want to share my happiness by drawing smiling characters.” He’s an internationally acclaimed and multiple awards winning character artist. His credits include winning the New Talent Competition Award at MILIA 2001 in France, and has been actively involved in the world art & design scenes.
You’ll find his drawing on many windows of Novi Sad’s tourist information, schools, shops, restaurants, offices, and along pedestrian areas in the city of Novi Sad.
Aleksandar Zograf is a Serbian cartoonist and one of the leading figures of the Balkan underground comics scene. His works have been translated and published in many European magazines, and his solo titles were translated, widely read and praised in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Japan, Poland, the US, the UK, etc.
Barbara Margarethe Eggert is a comics scholar and researcher of museum studies from Austria. She initiated the academic comics symposium at NEXTCOMIC, Austria’s annual comics festival. She also works as a freelance curator and writes scenarios for webcomics and graphic narratives using her nom de plume, Eggy.
Barbora Müllerova is the curator of the LUSTR illustration festival in Prague. She teaches illustration at the Scholastika college in Prague, and she likes zines and wilderness, both in nature and in drawing.
Blaž Vurnik is a historian and curator for contemporary history and head of the museum department in the Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He also wrote several scripts for documentaries and graphic novels.
Boris Stanić is the author of several graphic novels and collections of comic books, which are characterized by strong graphic design, philosophical meanderings and observations. Among the most significant books are the biographical comics about his grandfather Radosav, The Assassination (a graphic novel about the Sarajevo assassination) and a collection of comics entitled Blatište (The Swamp).
Canan Marasligil (she/her) is a feminist writer, editor, artist, literary translator and curator of cultural programmes, whose practice span from performing to making podcasts. As an intersectional feminist who strives to challenge dominant narratives, she advocates for representation, equality and diversity. Her work has appeared in various media.
David Schilter is founder and co-editor of Kuš! (speak koosh!), a comics art anthology founded 2007 in Riga. Kuš! doesn’t just publish comics on paper, but also organizes exhibitions, workshops, residencies, comics jams and other comics related events besides traveling to international festivals to spread the Latvian comics fever.
Eva Hilhorst has been working as a graphic journalist for several years. Currently she is the editor in chief of Drawing the Times (platform for graphic journalism) and a teacher at several Art academies in the Netherlands.
Guido van Hengel is a writer, historian and cultural coordinator. He received his PhD in cultural history from the University of Groningen. In 2018 he published a book on visionary and utopian thinkers during the First World War and the interwar period in Europe. This book, the Seers (in Dutch: Zieners), was translated into Serbian and Croatian in 2020, and published by Clio (Belgrade). In 2021 he published The Pack (in Dutch: Roedel), a collection of reportages about stray dogs and humans in former Yugoslavia.
Jelena Bobić is a pedagogue who participates in the creation and implementation of educational programs and creative workshops for children, family programs and programs for young people. As part of her internship at the Gallery of Matica Srpska, she is involved in developing cooperation between primary and secondary schools and museums through the Gallery as a Classroom program.
Karolina Spaić is a theater maker and artistic director of ZID Theatre, The Netherlands. After having studied classical ballet and literature and gaining much experience in theater and youth She directs, coaches, advises, teaches, and writes about theater, art and cultural developments in the Netherlands and internationally.
Roel Daenen is a heritage professional from Belgium and the editor-in-chief of the acclaimed literary magazine Stripgids, according to the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant “the most beautiful comics magazine of Europe”.
Sebo Bakker has been involved with ZID Theater since 1992 and together with Karolina Spaic the driving force within the organization. As an actor, coach and trainer has participated in almost all of ZID’s performances. He also provides empowerment training and coaching and is involved in cultural events and festivals as a community host-presenter.
Mathijs Peters is a scholar working at Leiden University. He is interested in a wide range of fields, from political philosophy to film studies, and from aesthetics to Cultural Analysis. His latest book is about the cultural critique of the Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers (2020).
Mileta Poštić is a draftsman dabbling in illustration, comics and animation. He was teaching animation at universities all over the world. He co-owns an animation studio called Twice-Eyes where he works as an illustrator, animator and art director.Mileta will present the comic he created for the exhibition of famous serbian painter Uroš Predić together with curators from Gallery of Matica Srpska.
Oskars Pavlovskis is a multidisciplinary graphic artist from Latvia. Co-founder and Art Director of Animation studio Jauda. Published comics in (a.o) Kus, Kutikuti, Comixiade, Ligatura.
Vladimir Palibrk, Curator, writer and artist. After graduating at Comparative studies of world literature department at Belgrade University, Vladimir focused mostly on storytelling through various forms, including words, graphic art forms, and event production/network management as ways to externalize his visions. With more than 10 years of experience of working as a mediator and author both in challenging non-formal international setting as well in more structured official platforms and organizations worldwide gave him valuable experience in the nature of creative and team processes. He is based in Paris, France, since 2015.
Yasco Horsman is university lecturer in Film and Literary Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands, where he teaches courses on literature, cinema, comics and animation. He wrote essays on trauma, law, psychoanalysis, comics and animation in a.o. The Oxford Art Journal and The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics.
Remix Comix – Comics for Heritage 