We reported earlier on an exhibition that linked comics and visual arts in the Netherlands. It would seem that it’s caught on, because since then two similar initiatives were launched.
The Jan Cunen Museum in Oss, a museum which specialises in local ephemera and post-war fine art, last week launched the Kunstkraker initiative. This project aims to use comics in art education, and consists of a special comic book, a theatre show and an online game. The book, Het Hoofd Van De Kunstenaar – Drie Maal Bellen (The Artist’s Head – Ring Three Times) features new work by up and coming cartoonists like Jeroen Janssen and Maarten van de Wiele and by a number of contemporary visual artists, and is aimed at children of about 12 years old. A theatre show by the same name, based on the book, can be seen at the Groene Engel theatre in Oss until May 4th. During that same period, original art from the book is also on display at the museum.
Kunstkraker was developed in close collaboration with the Suske En Wiske Children’s Museum in Kalmthout, Belgium (the legacy of Willy Vandersteen, one of the founding fathers of the Belgian comics scene). Their contribution consists of the Kunstkraker Game, an online game about comics and art and how they interact. Incidentally, DE Kunstkraker is also the title of one of the most recent albums in the Suske En Wiske series, the comics series that Willy Vandersteen created.
Meanwhile, as they say, Dutch Comic magazine Zone 5300 and anti-discrimination organisation Artikel 1 have created an exhibition with work by fifteen cartoonists about discrimination, since “Cartoons and comic strips are the best way to draw attention to serious subjects like discrimination.” The show debuted in the famed comic emporium Lambiek in Amsterdam, and is currently travelling through the Netherlands (until April 6th it’s located at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Exposorium), and features work by established Dutch cartoonists like Jos Collignon and Peter de Wit, but also up-and-coming talent like Kito and Floor de Goede. The exhibition is aimed primarily at secondary school students, and can be rented by schools and organisations.
(according to the Radio Netherlands article this translates as the woman on the adverts desk saying “Bald, non-religious, middle-aged, disabled, unpleasant, fat dwarf seeks someone to discriminate against.” The man replies “For tomorrow’s paper, please.” Art by Peter de Wit)
According to Marianne Plug of Artikel 1, “Humour is a good way to reach our target group. Discrimination is a perennial problem and especially in recent years the atmosphere in the Netherlands has hardened. With these comic strips you can hold a mirror up to people in an appealing way. Pointing the finger doesn’t help” (quoted on Radio Netherlands). However, the aim of the exhibition is not provocation – according to Ms Plug, if a cartoon only means to provoke, “then by definition a cartoon isn’t good. A joke that aims to offend isn’t a good joke by definition.”
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