Media Release

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For immediate release
April 28, 2006

Banff Centre session studies comic book content and culture

Comic Craze Symposium
May 4 to 6 
The Banff Centre
Information: 403.762.6281

At the busy intersection of art and material culture, the comic book occupies a popular and increasingly scrutinized position. From May 4 to 6, the Banff International Curatorial Institute at The Banff Centre takes the comic book down off the drugstore spin-rack and studies it from all sides. Artists, curators, scholars, collectors, and fans will gather at the Centre for the Comic Craze Symposium, two days of comic-centric panels, presentations, and parties.

Kicking off the Walter Phillips Gallery’s summer show, Comic Craze, which collects and reflects on the Canadian culture of comic books, ‘zines, mini-comics, and graphic novels, the symposium centres on four panel discussions on reading, publishing, collecting, interpreting, and curating comic books and comic book art.

Invited speakers and panelists include artists Rupert Bottenberg and Shari Boyle, writer Christopher Brayshaw, poet Christian Bök, publishers Andy Brown of Montreal’s conundrum press and Chris Oliveros of Drawn & Quarterly, University of Calgary comic scholar Bart Beaty, curator Bruce Grenville of the Vancouver Art Gallery, curator René deGuzman of San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts, Randy Scott, comic librarian at the University of Michigan, Vancouver-based broadcaster Robin Fisher, and Sylvie Gilbert, senior curator for the Walter Phillips Gallery and curator of Comic Craze.

A passion for the artistry and culture of this modern medium will string together each panel during the symposium, with topics revolving around the artistic and creative process, discussions on the interpretation of comic culture evolution, and the curator’s role in preserving and presenting this ephemeral form to the public.

On May 6, curator Bruce Grenville will workshop a critique of the Walter Phillips Gallery’s two current shows, Comic Craze and AA Bronson and Max Schumann’s show Conceptual Comics. The critique will feed into the development of a large-scale show coming up at the Vancouver Art Gallery, which will feature comics, anime, manga, animated cartoons, video games, graphic novels, and contemporary art. This workshop will gather ideas not only for the VAG show, but for all curators and artists looking at new ways of presenting modern media forms in exhibition.   

For more information on Comic Craze and the Comic Craze Symposium:
http://www.banffcentre.ca/wpg/

For high-resolution, downloadable images from Comic Craze:
http://www.banffcentre.ca/media_room/images/2006/bsaf/#comic