Malmö University Comics Hub (MUCH) and K3 Monster Lab In collaboration with activist art group Party of the Dead Invite to K3 Halloween 2024 Exhibition:
The Voices of the Dead
October 29 to November 16 in K3 Open Space, Niagara building Art activism, satire, comics, workshops and calaveras.
Thursday October 31, 14-16
Grand opening with activities in and around K3 Open Space:
Draw your inner critics
Listen to the sound of the monstruous
Make contact with the Dead
Take part of comics and satirical drawings
Join the movement of Late Bloomers
Early November: Monster writing workshops, presentations and standup comedy. Dates not decided (but will be within opening hours of Niagara building)
Malmö University Comics Hub (MUCH) is a platform för research, artistic development and cooperation within the field of comics, hosted by the School of Arts and Communication (K3) at Malmö University. K3 Monster Lab is a research group looking into monsters and the monstruous, hauntology and creative practices, from a feminist and posthuman perspective. Contact: Åsa Harvard Maare asa.harvard@mau.se
The Party of the Dead is an art activist group located in Tbilisi and Cologne, using actions and installations to critique how the dead are used rhetorically in political pro-war discourse in today’s Russia. @partyofthedead @партия мёртвых
much contributed to Ystad Comics Festival with an academic Friday, focusing on fanzines.
For the 4th time much presented an academic day in collaboration with Ystad (formerly Skillinge) Comics Festival. This time the research presented focused on fanzines. Among the presenters were Ýrr Jónasdóttir, head of Ystads Art Museum, who presented the museums huge collection of artist books. Anna Nordenstam, Professor of Literature at the University of Gothenburg, who presented her ongoing research on fanzines, and senior lecturer Anders Høg Hansen, Malmö University, who discussed his recently published book Mix Tape Memories: Movement and Difference in Life Writing in relation to the praxis of fanzine-making. See the full program below:
Dr. Harriet EH Earle. Photo: Sheffield Hallam University
We are happy to announce that Dr Harriet EH Earle FHEA, Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing, Sheffield Hallam University, will present a keynote.
Harriet Earle (Hattie) is a lecturer and researcher in comics and popular culture. Her current research brings fibre arts and needlework into conversation with comics. What connections can we make between these two artistic forms and to what end? If we broaden our working definitions of comics to include narrative needlework, how does our understanding of both fields change – who is included and what is gained? Hattie considers the politics and poetics of the needle as a tool for creating narratives that give voice and power to [previously] silen[ced/t] communities.
Friisgatan 12, 211 46 Malmö, Sweden Längd: 2 h Boksamtal om ”Serier för vuxna” (Lystring). Tisdag 28/5 Klockan 18-20 Rum för serier, Friisgatan 12, Malmö
I 272 sidor storformat berättas ett stycke vild och lätt osannolik litteraturhistoria om serieförlaget Epix med den excentriske förläggaren Horst Schröder i spetsen. Kokain gömt i kopieringsmaskinen, åtal för olaga våldspornografi och en kidnappning av en femåring är endast några av de ämnen som berörs. Men framför allt är det en berättelse om en grupp unga eldsjälar övertygade om att seriekonsten är ämnad för något större.
Robert Aman, bokens författare, samtalar med serietecknaren och tidigare Epix-medarbetaren Gunnar Krantz. Samtalet leds av Fredrik Strömberg.
Boken kommer finnas till försäljning på plats
Mer information om boken: Under 80-talet förändrades den svenska seriekulturen i grunden. Ingen symboliserar denna förändring mer än den excentriske Horst Schröder och hans förlag Epix. I Epix, Pox, Tung Metall och en rad andra tidningar introducerade Schröder svenska läsare till tidens mest betydelsefulla serier från hela världen. Allt tydligt märkt med ”Serier för vuxna” i ena hörnet på omslagen för att markera att det rörde sig om ett innehåll väsensskilt från Kalle Anka eller Fantomen. Under en period på tio år fick Epix uppleva både triumfer och skandaler. Nu berättar alla inblandade för första gången hela historien om det mytomspunna förlaget som var en adrenalinspruta rätt i hjärtat på serie-Sverige.
Robert Aman – kulturskribent och serieforskare – har inte bara intervjuat Schröder och Epix-redaktionens mångtaliga medarbetare, utan även svenska och internationella seriestjärnor som publicerat sig i Epix tidningar, konkurrenter som gått i klinch med Schröder (eller tvärtom), journalister som rapporterat om förlagets förehavanden, kritiker och aktivister som helst av allt önskade att tidningar som Epix och Pox inte existerade. Och många fler.
Serier för vuxna berättar ett stycke vild och lätt osannolik litteraturhistoria. Kokain gömt i kopieringsmaskinen, åtal för olaga våldspornografi och en kidnappning av en femåring är endast några av de ämnen som berörs. Men framför allt är det en berättelse om en grupp unga eldsjälar, övertygade om att seriekonsten är ämnad för något större. Denna bok slungar läsaren tillbaka till 80-talet och innanför väggarna hos redaktionen på Frejgatan 19 i Stockholm, där luften var tjock av stora förhoppningar, brinnande entusiasm, gnisslande konflikter – och svart rök från Horsts pipa.
Boken är rikt illustrerad med omslagsbilder, utdrag från serier, pressklipp och fotografier, varav flera aldrig tidigare har publicerats.
Symposium at Malmö University November 15–16, 2024.
Comics, with their unique blend of text and visualization, offer a rich field for artistic research, particularly in terms of their material components from the techniques used in creating the comic to the tools used to reproduce the comic. As an artistic research symposium, Drawing Connections aims to look at the material aspects of comics creation, exploring how these elements shape storytelling within the medium. While comics are a globally practiced form of storytelling, much remains to explore about the tools, techniques, and tactility that contribute to what makes the story tick.
The symposium will address the role of comics in artistic research to emphasize how practical research in comics can facilitate inquiry and generate knowledge, particularly in understanding and innovating the narrative structures within the medium. To that end, we want to invite reflexive practitioners as well as researchers who make comics to test theories on comics, but also those whose research focus on the materiality of comics production. While we recognize the significance of digital production and publishing in comics, our discussions this time will exclusively explore the materiality and craftsmanship of analog comics.
The symposium will take place at Malmö University and is arranged by MUCH (Malmö University Comics Hub) in collaboration with the Swedish Comics Archive and is designed to showcase how comics serve as a unique platform for narrative innovation, critical inquiry, and interdisciplinary dialogue. MUCH is a platform för research, artistic development, and cooperation within the field of comics, hosted by the School of Arts and Communication (K3) at Malmö University.
We welcome submissions that address, but are not limited to, the following themes:
Comics as a methodology: Looking at how comics can be used as a method to explore complex ideas about narrative structure.
The aesthetics of comics: Looking at how comics artists can use design and layout to influence the narrative experience.
Exploring production: Looking at how comic book production – including technological and material constraints – has influenced storytelling styles and formats.
Materiality and medium specificity: Looking at the physical aspects of comics (such as material quality, publishing techniques, and formats) and their impact on the development of comics as an art form.
Archival research in comics: Understanding archival materials in the historical context of comic production and how past practices influence current trends.
Future directions: Anticipating new trends, technologies, and methodologies in the creation and study of comics.
Deadline for submission of 300-word abstracts and a short author note (c.150 words): June 30, 2024 to oskar.aspman@mau.se
We hope you will join us in exploring the aesthetic, narrative, and theoretical potential of comics!
Dr. Harriet EH Earle. Photo: Sheffield Hallam University
We are Happy to announce that Dr Harriet EH Earle FHEA, Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing, Sheffield Hallam University, will present a key-note.
Harriet Earle (Hattie) is a lecturer and researcher in comics and popular culture. Her current research brings fibre arts and needlework into conversation with comics. What connections can we make between these two artistic forms and to what end? If we broaden our working definitions of comics to include narrative needlework, how does our understanding of both fields change – who is included and what is gained? Hattie considers the politics and poetics of the needle as a tool for creating narratives that give voice and power to [previously] silen[ced/t] communities.
Författarsamtal med Liv Strömquist om boken Den rödaste rosen slår ut, om romantisk kärlek från de gamla grekerna till reality-tv. Författarsamtalet arrangeras av Kultursamverkan vid Malmö universitet i samarbete med universitetsbiblioteket.
Måndag den 13 maj kl 17:15 – 18:15. Niagara, Hörsal C. Nordenskiöldsgatan 1.
The conference will take place online September 8-9, 2024.
Please submit your proposal by May 1, 2024.
Interest in comic studies have generated wide and varied interests from an exploration of visual language and narrative in sequential art to the use of technologies in comics, to considerations current questions in both contemporary society and history. These have led to fruitful research which cross disciplines and produced diverse and complex scholarship. Richard Scully have written extensively on political cartoons and their relationship with imperialism and colonialism. Amy Matthewson’s Cartooning China examined the British popular satirical magazine Punch and situated the series of cartoons of China and Chinese people within their geopolitical frameworks. Sheena Howard and Ronald Jackson’s Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation brought together a range of critical essays exploring contributions of Black graphic artists. Collections such as Drawing the Past Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (2022), edited by Dorian Alexander, Michael Goodrum, and Philip Smith, brought a range of scholars to unite around the broad theme of the historical imagination in American popular media.
There is still an evolving consensus on which the methodologies that scholars specialized in fields of history and social sciences could use when engaging with comics. Often, research focused on comics-formatted primary sources is pigeonholed into literary study, or in other cases the linguistic framework of describing and analyzing comics fails to translate to a discussion of material culture. As the range of demonstrated methodologies is vast, and as the advancement of comics-based research offers new potential for the study of history and the social sciences, it is a crucial time to reflect and take stock of current practice and possible future directions.
We are interested in all aspects of comics-format works, comics and graphic novels, and methodologies and themes that might address (but are not limited to) the following:
Representation in comics
The challenges of comics-based research studies as applied to the study of history
Historical aspects of visualities and comics in particular
The future of comics in research
Archeology and comics
Ancient and medieval history in comics
The effects of digital tools in comic studies
Comics and the politics of methodology – race, gender, sexuality, class, etc.
The transnational, transcultural, and/or interdisciplinary nature of comic studies
Teaching history with or through comics
Teaching comics-based research methods
Comics in memory studies
Tensions and concordances between art history and history of comics and graphic novels
We are now accepting proposals for papers (20 minutes) and panels (of 2 or 3 papers). Graduate students are also invited to submit a poster, which will be displayed online for the duration of the conference. The poster section will enable asynchronous comments, and a presentation session where participants give a short 3-5 minute summary of the poster content. Please submit the following to comprehendingcomics@historyincomics.org or elizabethallyn.woock@upol.cz by May 1st 2024:
abstract of 300 words
a biography of 50 words including your name, email, affiliation, and gender pronouns
This will be an online conference hosted by the Comics Lab at Palacky University, Czech Republic. Given the international spread of contributors, participant time zones will be considered when scheduling panels. The conference will take place September 8-9, 2024.
Tracing, re-tracing and transferring -an experimental and artistic approach to Töpffers use of autography
Gunnar Krantz 2024 – After R. Töpffer. Lithographic print.
Materiality plays a significant role in all artforms. In comics, it is predominantly the inked black line that is used to construct the narrative. Inking – putting black india ink on top of pencil drawings to make them suitable for mechanical reproduction is a practice that is deeply intertwined with comics and often taken for granted.
Inking comics has not been subject to any deeper artistic problematization, nor extensive scholarly interest. This is unfortunate since inking was a crucial part of Swiss artist, author, and cartoonist Rodolphe Töpffer’s (1799-1846) innovation ”literature en estampes” [graphic literature]. What did Töpffers artistic practice consist of? What kind of paper did he draw on, and what pens and ink did he use?
Other methods relating to Töpffers work that need further attention are tracing and autography. Did Töpffer, as Kunzle suggests (2009) trace his own drawings, how does the autographic printing method work, and finally; how does this relate to contemporary comics?
In this seminar, Gunnar Krantz, comics artist and professor within the arts in visual communication will present the results of an experimental workshop in autography conducted in Febraury 2024, using the method described by Töpffer and relate it to a survey of relevant literature. The seminar will be held at Malmö University and on zoom.
Wednesday 20th of March at 13:00 (CET) Location: Malmö University, Niagara building, Nordenskiöldsgatan 1. Room: NIC0541-K3 studio
Kunzle, David. (2009). ”The Gourary Topffer Manuscript of Monsieur Jabot: A Question of Authenticity. With the Dating and Distribution of Rodolphe Topffer’s First Published Picture Story, and the World’s First Modern Comic Strip” in European Comic Art, volume 2, Issue 2. doi.org/10.3828/eca.2009.2
The Organization Studies Group and the platform of Collaborative Future Making hereby invite for the 3rd symposium at Malmö University on the theme of storytelling and collaborative future making. The symposium will take place 7-8 May 2024. We invite a varied group of scholars from disciplines like design studies, leadership and organization studies, communication, comics research, art, architecture, education and urban planning.
The theme Storytelling and Collaborative Future Making addresses collaborative responses to making a sustainable and common future within diverse areas mentioned above. A common thread in the symposium is to explore the role that storytelling can have in crafting ethical foundations for work, organization, design, architecture, education and urban development.
Storytelling and collaboration for earthly survival mix with questions concerning how to collaborate and organize for human rights. While the 17 SDGs have been successful in mobilizing attention to questions concerning sustainability and inclusion, the embedded idea of balancing profit, people, and planet in actual strategies and practices seem to be off-track in practicing sustainable and inclusive development. Sustainability and inclusion are more and more at risk of becoming empty signifiers. Therefore, this symposium presents new ideas, concepts and approaches that allows for new understanding of how to work with all aspects of sustainability.
The symposium explores new ideas and approaches that mix storytelling and collaboration with questions concerning human rights and our relations to nature. These approaches might range from new embodied, relational, and material understandings of storytelling, the problematic and complex relations between small stories and grand narratives, visual narratives/comics, the relations between places, spaces, and stories, post-human, transhuman and Gaia storytelling, feminist, transgender, or queer storytelling. We also invite contributions of how to research and write differently in ways in which we take upon us our earthly responsibility. Such contributions may be inspired by engaged scholarship, reflexive inquiry, post-qualitative inquiry, or speculative fabulation. Finally, we also invite new approaches to understand the details how we work and collaborate and how they mix with issues concerning human rights and nature. These might comprise ideas from performative approaches to accounting, logistics, learning, collaboration, and planning.
If you want to join us, please submit an abstract of app. 500 words by 5 April 2024.
The event is free of charge. We don’t offer any accommodation, lunch, or dinner. We will make space for social arrangements in Malmö and organize a joint meeting place for dinner for those who are interested. Please send any queries to Kenneth, Hope or Per-Anders using the following emails. The venue for the symposium will be announced later.
I samband med utställningen Världar i tryck – sju serietecknare från Malmö ger Gunnar Krantz en föreläsning på Malmö Konsthall och via zoom. med titeln: Seriestaden 25 år. Från digital eufori till det analogas återkomst.
I år är det ett kvarts sekel sedan Malmö första gången kallades ”Seriestaden”. Mycket har hänt sedan dess. De tecknade serierna har fått egna utbildningar, blivande serietecknare har flyttat till Malmös och sedan stannat kvar. Förlag har startats, arkiv har skapats och på Malmö universitet finns idag en seriehubb som samlar både forskning och konstnärliga experiment. I samband med 25-årsjubileet visas utställningen Världar i tryck – sju serietecknare från Malmö på Malmö Konsthall. En utställning i vilken ges prov på seriernas förmåga till konstnärliga uttryck. I samband med utställningen ger Gunnar Krantz, konstnärlig professor i visuell kommunikation på Institutionen för Konst, kultur och kommunikation, K3 på Malmö universitet, en överblick över Seriestadens historia, framtid och den särskilda koppling till digital teknologi, som bidrog till dess skapande.
Introduktion till utställningen Världar i tryck – sju serietecknare från Malmö. Medverkande: Allan Haverholm, Saskia Gullstrand, Oskar Aspman, Lisa Ewald, Mats Källblad, Amalia Alvarez och Steve Nyberg
