Bandung Comics Conference in June 2013

http://www.5isc2013.org/

From the website:

Welcome to the 5th International Scholarly Conference 2013 to be held at Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in Bandung, Indonesia on 14-16 June 2013. This conference is co-organized with the International Manga Research Center (imrc), Kyoto, which has already held four similar Comics Studies conference, in Kyoto (2009), Cologne (2010), Bucheon (2011), and Kobe/Kyoto (2012), and it is generously supported by Goethe-Institut Indonesien. Under the title “Comics Alternatives: From Graphic Diary to Manga Style”, this conference sets out to engage comics artists and researchers as well as representatives of different sorts of graphic narratives in dialogue about the potentials of the comics medium.

This thematic orientation arises from the observation that alternative comics in the strict sense (for example, graphic diaries) and manga-style comics (from derivative to original creations outside the Japanese-language market) are treated as separate categories in international comics discourse, but that they have actually a lot in common due to their position towards the mainstream. Although in different ways, they are both “alternatives”.

Our conference aims at an interaction of these two kinds of contemporary comics by striving for a balance between scholarly papers and artist talks. With a special focus on inner-Asian networking, creators, critics and curators will discuss aesthetic and cultural “alternatives” within and by means of graphic narratives.

After the conference, we intend to publish an edited volume possibly with NUS Press consisting of both scholarly essays (not necessarily centered on the artist talks but related to them if appropriate) and visual works of the participating artists.


Well, me, Hong Teng and Yong Hwee will be there. If you are in the area...