In cooperation with Goethe Institute (China), Nanjing University of the Arts, “Comics Über Grenzen Hinweg: Ausstellung Mit Anke Feuchtenberger, Orang Und SC” will be held at Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts on October 19 through to November 18, 2013. The exhibition is divided into three parts: Anke Feuchtenberger, Orang, and Special Comix(SC), in addition, there will be graphic works, documents, books, animations and video installations to introduce the works and manual relationships between the famous German comic artist Anke Feuchtenberger, Orang, and Special Comix(SC). The organizers will invite the artists to be present at the site, to exchange their ideas on the possibilities of comic.

Anke Feuchtenberger is a leader artist of the new German contemporary comic. She grew up in East Germany, she was active in the art circles through the comic. Due to the influence of comedy, poster art, and feminism, her artworks are full of introspection, balderdash and symbolism, the combination of painting techniques of expressionism and poetic languages, breaking through the simple stereotyped impression of the traditional comic.

Anke Feuchtenberger is currently a teacher in Hamburg, as a star professor, she has cultivated a large number of excellent young cartoonists and illustrators such as Sascha Hommer, Jul Gordon. Initiated by Sascha Hommer in the colleges of Hamburg in 2003, the comic magazine Orang has become a key platform for the exchange of German contemporary comics and world comics.

Coincidentally, Anke Feuchtenberger’s works started to spread onto the internet, inspiring and giving birth to a new independent comic project – “Special Comix”, which continues today. “Special Comix” was initiated by young cartoonists Tang Yan, Zhang Xun, Hu Xiaojiang in 2003, initially attempting to preserve the fleeting talent and thinking of the creations of the comic, to create texts and slices of imagery. With gradual diversification and specialization of internet communities, “Special Comix” started to encourage artists to record their lives and fantasy by using the comic, in the form of a collection, to maintain the artistic sensitivity and sharpness, which attracts a group of fans from around the world. Like Orang, “Special Comix” has become the communication link of the Chinese regional and international alternative comics, due to which, “Special Comic” had also won the “Alternative Comic Award” of Angoulême International Comics Festival in France.

The exhibition is aimed at offering an opportunity for two similar and dissimilar Western and Eastern young comic communities established through the influence of Anke Feuchtenberger an in-depth face-to-face communication, for mutual encouragement and inspiration. Under commercial and political pressures, whether the comic keeps distant from the frames, carrying a sincere and interesting voice, whether young artists are interested in the continuation of introspection and question, whether they have the courage to have an open vision to explore the inner spirit and real world, to seek an “imagination of transcendence” and “real beauty”, which are the core issues for the exchange exhibition.

About the exhibition

Organizers: Goethe Institute (China), Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, Media College of Nanjing University of the Arts

Partners: Special Comix, Orang

Opening Time: 14: 30 pm, on October 19, 2013

Duration: October 19 – November 18, 2013

Venue: Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts

Address: No. 15 Huju North Road, Nanjing

Free admission

Curators: Zhang Xun, Tang Yan

Curatorial Assistant: Liu Ruoyi

Participating Cartoonists:

Ana Alberobello, Anusman, Shamila Banerjee, Verena Braun, Anke Feuchtenberger, Oranga Cover, Jul Gordon, Anna Haifisch, Sascha Hommer, Line Hoven, Hu Xiaojiang, Jin Ningning, Lei Lei, Leng Leng, Li Luo, Li Xianglan, Luo Rongrong, Maotiaogao/ Jumping Cat, Marijpol, Moki, Claes Norman, Paul Paetzel, Qin Hui, Tang Yan, Till Thomas, Wang Fanqiao, Wen Ling, Wu Miao, Ivory Tower, Little Dragon Flower, Chimney, Yao Jianjiang, Yucco, Yu Xiao, Zuo Ma, Zhang Wen, Zhang Xun, Zhi Hai.

Accompanying Programs

1 Workshop: Creation of Comics

Moderators: Professor Anke Feuchtenberger, Sascha Hommer, Jul Gordon

Time: 9:30 am - 17:00 pm, on October 16, 2013

Venue: Media College of Nanjing University of the Arts

German-Chinese bilingual

Brief: Orang will have a dialogue with “Special Comix” on a topic, inviting the artists and the students of the related professional to think about it ahead of the dialogue, to have an in-depth discussion of the specific works and working way, and sharing their experiences at the workshop.

Speaker: Sascha Hommer

Time: 14: 00 pm – 17: 00 pm, October 17, 2013

Venue: Media College of Nanjing University of the Arts

German-Chinese bilingual

Brief: Orang magazine has issued for ten years, and sticks to the standard of selection, of a globalization vision, taking use of the worldwide works, while also encountering various issues. The lecture will start from the background of Orang magazine, attempting to show the real situation of contemporary German comics.

Interviewers: Professor Jacqueline Berndt, Zhang Xun

Speaker: Professor Anke Feuchtenberger

Time: 15:15 pm – 16:15 pm, on October 19, 2013

Venue: Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts

German-Chinese bilingual

Brief: The interview will unfold around the creation and teaching experience of Anke Feuchtenberger, discussion on the cartoonists and comic creations in the upheavals of society and personal lives, as well as comic educational experiences. It will be presided over by Professor Jaqueline Berndt, a comic scholar living in Japan.

Moderator: Professor Jaqueline Berndt, Zhang Xun

Guests: Sascha Hommer, Jul Gordon, members of “Special Comix”, including Hu Xiaojiang, etc.

Time: 16:15 pm - 17:15 pm, on October 19, 2013

Venue: Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts

German-Chinese bilingual

Brief: The dialogue will involve the following issues:People have various expectations and doubts on mainstream comics and alternative comics, the positions, expectations, and positions and influences of the Orang and “Special Comic” in the local and global cosmic cultures, relationships and self positioned between contemporary art, new media and popular culture, comparisons of the creations and revenue cycles on the manual and digital ways, the relationships between collections, group exhibitions and monographs, and solo exhibitions.

Speaker: Professor Jaqueline Berndt

Time: 14:30 - 17:00 pm, October 20, 2013

Venue: Media College of Nanjing University of the Arts

German-Chinese bilingual

Brief: The lecture will help students learn the achievements of the current academic study of worldwide comics by the way of dialogue, focusing on the comics in Japan, North America, and Western Europe. Professor Jaqueline Berndt will provide the audiences two or three comics translated to Chinese language, including alternative comic or novel of illustration, as well as mainstream comic of Japanese-style.

Guests: Professor Anke Feuchtenberger, Sascha Hommer, Jul Gordon, members of “Special Comic”, including Zhang Xun, Hu Xiaojiang, etc., Professor Jaqueline Berndt

Time: 20:00 pm, on October 20, 2013

Venue: Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts

German-Chinese bilingual

Brief: Discussion of the collaborative selection of project topic by Orang and “Special Comix”.

Courtesy of the Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO