Kubuni - Talk about African comic culture November 8, 2021

1. 1. To the Interview
  2. About the Exhibition

To the Interview

Poster on the occasion of the exhibition and discussion “Kubuni – Comics from Africa” in November 2021 at the Dresden Central Library.

A new world of art comes to Dresden. Discover the Francophone comics featured in the “Kubuni” exhibition in conversation with the director of the comic festival in Brazzaville, where the project originated.

“Kubuni”is a Swahili word—Swahili being the most widely spoken language on the African continent—and means “drawing”: this is the name of the Institut français d’Allemagne’s upcoming traveling exhibition, which highlights the diversity of African comic art and brings it to life for German audiences.

The original exhibition was conceived for the “Cité de la BD d’Angoulême” museum and was on view there from January through September 2021. After Berlin, the exhibition is now coming to Dresden.

OnNovember 8 at 7:30 p.m., the art of Kubuni was presented at the Central Library, followed by a tour of the exhibition.
Following a welcome address by Mayor Dirk Hilbert, Joëlle Epée Mandengue—curator of the original Francophone exhibition and director of the “Bilili BD Festival” in Dresden’s sister city, Brazzaville—discussed African comic culture with Prof. Dr. Karen Struve (University of Bremen), she presented African comic culture and offered an introduction to the unique visual worlds of the featured authors.

An event organized by the Institute français Dresden as part of the Dresden-Brazzaville city partnership of the State Capital of Dresden —in collaboration with the Central Library and the Center for France | Francophonie at TU Dresden—
In French with German translation.

November 8, 2021, 7:30 p.m.
Central Library, Schloßstraße 2, 01067 Dresden

Conversation between Joëlle Epée Mandengue and Prof. Dr. Karen Struve
Welcome remarks: Dresden’s Mayor, Mr. Dirk Hilbert (Dresden-Brazzaville City Partnership)
Moderator: Sylvia Kindelberger (Dresden Municipal Libraries)
Translation into German: Dr. Matthias Kern (CFF, TU Dresden)

Free admission with advance registration at zentralbibliothek[at]bibo-dresden.de.
Admission: In accordance with current COVID-19 regulations

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About the Exhibition

The exhibition “Kubuni: Comics from Africa” serves as a roadmap that explores comics from Sub-Saharan Africa—past, present, and future—through three key themes.

Given that comics from the African continent are the products of vastly different historical and cultural heritages, can we even speak of “the African comic”? Even the status of comics and their creators varies from one country to another: While in some regions they are regarded as “illustrated literature” for children, in others they are classified as caricatures—or even merge with caricatures, illustrations, animated films, and video games to form a single, unified whole.

Even though we cannot speak of THE one, indivisible African comic with a uniform graphic style, aesthetic and thematic similarities can still be found among the various works. The French-, English-, or Portuguese-speaking colonial legacy, as well as the influence of manga resulting from the global spread of Japanese culture, play an important role in this context. These diverse external influences, combined with a genuine return to local cultures and Afro-centered themes, have fostered the creation of comics that clearly demonstrate their connection to the continent.

This traveling exhibition is a bilingual adaptation of the exhibition at the Cité internationale de la bande dessinée et de l’image in Angoulême, which was curated by Joëlle Epée Mandengue (director of the Bilili Festival in Brazzaville) and Jean-Philippe Martin (Cité de la BD). The adaptation was coordinated by the Office for Books and Publishing at the Institute français in Germany.

November 1, 2021 – November 30, 2021
Central Library, Schloßstraße 2, 01067 Dresden
Admission: Free

Photo Gallery: Exhibition & Discussion “Kubuni – Comics from Africa” November 1–30, 2021