The 2007 Venice Biennial
The 2007 Venice Biennial The Metabunker reports from the 2007 Venice Biennial in two parts, one on the pavilions and one on the International and Arsenale exhibitions.
Matthias Wivel is the administrator of the Metabunker. He is Head of Research at Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen and a co-founder and the current chairman of the Danish Comics Council.
Christian Skovgaard’s “Owl”
Christian Skovgaard’s “Owl” The Metabunker presents a new comic by Christian Skovgaard – “Owl.”
Who Drew the Original Spider-Man? The Debate
The week before last, I posted a link to Morten Søndergård’s article on the first Spider-Man stories and Jack Kirby’s possible involvement in them on the Comics Journal messageboard. This sparked an interesting debate about the validity of Morten’s hypothesis, involving some of the foremost specialists on Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby and early Marvel. I…
Patologier II
Efter længere tids hi, er Seriejournalens efterhånden eneste læseværdige skribent, Berti Stravonsky, tilbage med en ny udgave af sin Blog for supersamlere! Det er nærmest som at læse en ornitologs logbog. En ornitolog med speciale i andefugle. Check det ud!
The Pendulum Swings
Lo, the pendulum swings. Things have happened so quickly in comics these last years that we are already seeing a backlash against the type of comics that broke the century-old mould and expanded the field of comics as expression and art, until recently almost universally embraced amongst ‘progressive’ comics cognoscenti. There is a new establishment…
Hype: Stejl fart
Christoffer Zieler, der i en årrække har tegnet Maltes spalte bag på Universitetsavisen, har en blog, Stejl fart, hvor han (og makker ‘The Bizzle’) løbende lægger sine tegninger – satiriske enkeltbilledgags, striber, animation – op. Check det ud – registret er bredt og humoren nifty.
Hype: Tove Jansson/Moomin Exhibition in Copenhagen
On Friday night, at the so-called ‘Kulturnat,’ the exhibition space Frederiks Bastion, on Christianhavns vold, will open the exhibition “What’s This?”, showing original sketches and drawings for one of Tove Jansson’s classic Moomin stories in strip form The Moomin Trolls and the End of the World (1946/47). If I were in Copenhagen, this would be…
BLÆK Sold Out!
We have just received notice that the big anthology of Danish comics and related visual art, BLÆK, edited by myself and T. Thorhauge, designed by Frederik Storm and with cover art by Jan Solheim, has sold out from the publisher. From its frenetic creation, including the criticisms of economical mismanagement and political censorship, as well…
The Venice Biennial pt. 2 of 2: The International Exhibition and the Arsenale
This is the second and last installment of the Metabunker review of this year’s Venice Biennial. Read the first part, which deals with the national pavilions, here. Also, be sure to check out our extensive photo reportage from the show. While the national pavilions provide the core of the Biennial, affirming the continued belief in…
Incarnations
The great Titian show in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, which will move on to the Accademia in Venice next year, is close to being the best of both worlds. It is based on substantial new research, particularly of technical nature, and it unites a large number of the great masterpieces of the last 25…
Re: Christophe Blain, et. al. II, now with update!
Pepo has responded to my comments on his description of the visual qualities of Christophe Blain’s comics a couple of days ago. He emphasizes that, in comparing Blain with McCay and Herriman, he is not making a straight comparison of quality, but one of kinship. I got that the first time. He goes on to…
The Venice Biennial pt. 1 of 2: The Pavilions
Managed to catch the Venice Biennal on its last legs, when I was in the Serenissima last week. It proved to be an exhilarating surprise. Usually, it is a slog mitigated by perhaps a handful of interesting work and, if you are lucky, a standout or two. Circumnavigating the national pavilions especially tends to be…
Hype: Cool-Looking Exhibitions in Århus and Malmö
An interesting-looking exhibition with several young great artists – wish I could go, but I probably won’t be around those parts for quite a while. Also, check out Artboks’ website and MySpace). And, in Malmö, the C’est Bon Kultur crew, will be opening a show of the great Martin tom Dieck’s work on Saturday. Same…
Titian Country
Yesterday I was in Pieve di Cadore, Titian’s birthplace and the hometown of his family. It was something of a revelation to see. His pictures make more sense when one considers the landscape he grew up in. His house, which is preserved as a museum, is situated on a hillside, with tall trees towering over…
Comix at Brandts – The Flix!
Finally, the Bunker crew have pooled their individually snapped flix from the opening, the weekend before last, of the exhibition Comix, at Brandts klædefabrik in Odense, Denmark. Hop over to our photo gallery for a (nigh-)virtual tour (as they say) of the exhibition, as well as images of some of the best cartoonists of the…