Category: AltCom

Welcome to the big AltCom 2018 post!

Only a week left now until it all starts, so I thought it was time to post a bunch of related stuff.

First, you should check out the program. There will be exhibitions, a workshop at Fanzineverkstaden, a comics fair, several really interesting talks, from a panel about the dictatorship in Chile, to thoughts about the future of Sweden, to an analysis of the social/cultural climate in Iraq under Saddam to presentations of various comics projects and a Balkans panel that could lead anywhere…

Here’s my introduction to the theme:

HOW TO SURVIVE A DICTATORSHIP

Sweden is normally seen as a true democracy, but we’ve only had universal suffrage for about 100 years and the right to vote can’t be taken for granted in the long run. Even now, there are sections of society not covered by democracy, and there are parts of our lives that we have no direct influence over when we vote every four years. For example, corporations are not democratically structured, even though work takes up so much of our lifetimes. If you are undocumented or homeless, it’s easy to see how you’re not really included in the democratic process. Furthermore, the decisions are made by people who can earn more in a month than many of us get in a whole year.

Sometimes, people are even coming here from other countries to escape dictatorships, but we close the door in their faces as if they were contagious. Loud voices are talking about the dangers of foreigners, especially refugees. As if being born outside Sweden automatically turned you into a scary psycho rapist or terrorist.

This is of course bullshit, perpetuated by the kind of politicians whose goals are to make our democracy even less inclusive and less democratic. It’s important to judge both people and politicians by their actions rather than their rhetoric and nice words. When they claim to love their nation, it’s usually code for something much darker.

Several of the guests at AltCom were born outside Sweden, yet they are hardly scary at all. Rather, they may have valuable experiences to share.

What would happen if, after the election, these loud voices would have enough power to actually abolish democracy for all or parts of the population? How would we handle such a situation? What are our strategies for surviving a dictatorship?

AltCom is not only a comics festival but also a forum for discussing these and similar issues.

And because we don’t know when to stop, we took the opportunity to also organise a new edition of the Wormgod noise festival TRAUMA, this time in collaboration with Noise Against Fascism. At Plan B:

AltCom 2018 is organised by Tusen Serier in collaboration with CBK, Koshk, Wormgod, Noise Against Fascism, Fanzineverkstaden, Panora, Plan B etc, with support from Region Skåne, Malmö Kulturstöd & Kulturrådet.

Join the anthology for AltCom 2018: HOW TO SURVIVE A DICTATORSHIP!
Send us comics about your thoughts, experiences, strategy tips and tricks on the subject.

As always in AltCom, we will hand the book out for free during and after the festival.

WHAT we want:
Pages: 1-5, black/white
Language: English
Format: 140x182mm (a little bit smaller than A5) +5mm bleed on all sides
Files: High-resolution, preferably .TIFF
If you are unsure what we mean by “high-resolution” or “bleed”, please ask. Lots of artists don’t know, and it’s better to ask than to send us files that we can’t use.

WHEN we want it:
Deadline: May 15

WHERE we want it:
Send submissions to:
submissions [at] altcomfestival [dot] se

Please help share this invitation to anyone who might be interested! Here’s the Facebook event.

As usual, no one gets paid for participating. But on the other hand, no one pays to get it either. Everything is voluntary.

And yes, we do accept comics that have already been published elsewhere, as long as we like them and they fit into the theme.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL:
AltCom 2018 will take place August 23-26, in Malmö, Sweden (venues & program will be released during the coming months), with exhibitions, international guests, a comics fair, etc.
This year we combine the comics festival with the TRAUMA noise festival.
More information will be found at
altcomfestival.se
Table reservations etc will be available later…

AltCom 2018 is organised by Tusen Serier in collaboration with CBK, Wormgod, Panora, Noise Against Fascism etc, with support from Malmö Kulturstöd & Kulturrådet.

The AltCom experience of 2016 is over, as much as something like this is ever over, because when a festival like this is at its best, it lingers in your soul/mind/5D construct.

We actually managed to create this separate plane of existence. A space that is its own thing and when it’s over it’s like you’re going back home, even if you already live in the same city. And when I say “we”, I don’t mean me, I don’t mean the organizers or volonteers, I mean all of us who took part in it. The guests/exhibitors/musicians/visitors. The smokers and drinkers. The ones who woke up, went to the festival and stayed until they passed out or went home (sometimes when the morning sun had come out and the birds started singing, sometimes when the wine was over, sometimes when it was just the right time to go). The ones who arrived late at night, the ones who left early. This international family that’s made up of people you almost only meet in these liminal existences. These special relationships with people you meet a few times a year, in different parts of the world, that you consider to be friends even if you hardly know most of them in any deeper sense.

It started with the preparty sessions where a few of us sat down with some wine after putting up exhibitions, discussing anything from printing techniques to working conditions to drug culture to Pokémon Go to the effect the internet has on communication and on underground and zine culture. Then it all grew as the actual festival started. People meeting, inspiring each other, giving birth to new collaborations, extending invitations to future events, other worlds to visit in the future. An intersection of pasts, present and futures.

Many of us will meet again, because this part of the comics culture is borderless by nature and part of a network of recurring aquaintances, but we may never meet again in this exact same constellation of people.

And then there’s the story of the lost luggage that arrived just in time for the Saturday afterparty so we could complete the exhibition a few hours before it closed, the stolen items, the missed flight, the missing guest, like an offering to the god of Branquignole. Maybe the price to pay for everything else running more or less smoothly. Sleep was another casualty, but what are you gonna do?

So thank you to everyone who came, who let people stay in their homes, who participated, volunteered, carried tables, held talks/performances/workshops, who brought their art or simply their presence. For an AltCom festival that became something beyond the sum of its parts. Not unlike the language/artform of comics itself.

As you may have noticed, a lot of my life has circulated around AltCom this last time.

I would like to tell you all about it in an engaging way that really makes you understand why you should come, like all the exhibitions, parties, filmprogram, talks & workshops and the comics market and the free book that you can find all over the festival. But I simply don’t have time, so instead I’ll just send you to the festival’s website, which by now is almost completed with all the information you might need:

www.altcomfestival.se

Hope to see you there!

The AltCom festival anthology arrived from the printer yesterday!

It’s a 100 page book with comics relating to WORK by an assortment of international artists and it will be given away for free before, during and after the festival. Some of the featured artists will also be present at the festival.

Read more about it here.

The festival takes place July 28-31 in Malmö. See you there!