Kuti#70

# 7 0

TALVI / WINTER 2023 ILM AIS TA S AR JAK U VA A FREE COMIC S

SALALIITTOTEORIAT CONSPIRACY THEORIES

#70 TALVI / WINTER 2023–2024

© Taiteilijat / Artists

ISSN 1796-587X

www.kutikuti.com

Toimitus ja julkaisija / Editorial & publisher Kutikuti Päätoimittaja / Editor-in-chief Pauliina Mäkelä / HARMAA Avustava toimittaja / Assistant editor Tommi Musturi Taitto / Layout Pauliina Mäkelä Kansi / Cover Pauliina Mäkelä Painos / Print-run 5 000

Kirjapaino / Printer Printall AS

Mainosmyynti / Ad sales kutimagazine@gmail.com

Tässä numerossa / In this issue Benny Johnson (US), Kolbeinn Karlsson (SWE), Evelina Babaeva (RU), Irina Poleshchuk (BY/FI), Pinja Salmi (FI), Luca Scandurra (IT), Erika Ruonakoski (FI), Sasha Davydenko (BY), Maren Wiese (DE), Marco Toxico (CO), Francisco Sousa Lobo (PT), Joseph Callioni (FR) Kuti-lehteä julkaiseva Kutikuti ry on vuonna 2005 perustettu nykysarjakuvaan erikoistunut yleishyödyllinen ja taiteilijavetoinen yhdistys. Voit tilata Kuti-lehden myös kotiisi. Suomeen neljä numeroa sisältävän vuositilauksen hinta on 20 euroa, ulkomaille 26 euroa. Teet tilauksen kätevimmin kotisivuillamme osoitteessa www.kutikuti.com. Kuti-lehden seuraava numero ilmestyy maaliskuussa 2024.

Kuti magazine is edited and published by Kutikuti, a nonprofit and artist-driven comics association.

You can also subscribe to Kuti. The subscription fee is 20 euros for one year (four issues). Abroad, the subscription costs 26 euros per year. All issues feature translations in English. The best way to subscribe is to visit our website at www.kutikuti.com. The next issue will be out in March 2024.

E R E P M A T I I L P KU 4.3.

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contemporary art

GALLERIA HUUTO ti–su | Tue-Sun 12–18

Panimokatu 1, Helsinki galleriahuuto.fi

TAIDEKESKUS AHJO & JOENSUUN TAIDELAINAAMO ma suljettu ti, to-su 10-16 ke 10-19 Kirkkokatu 23, 80100 Joensuu

www.joensuuntaiteilijaseura.fi

Kuva / Image: Georg Andreas Böckler. 1664. Architectura Curiosa Nova. Pauli Fürsten

Tämän Kutin numeron on toimittanut HARMAAtyöryhmä, joka tutkii totuuden jälkeistä aikaa ja sen haasteita filosofian ja kuvataiteen näkökulmista. Ryhmä selvittää huijatuksi tulemisen, itsepetoksen, paranoian ja toimijuuden välisiä suhteita ja etsii tietä ulos ajallemme tyypillisestä yksinkertaistavasta ja aggressiivisesta vuorovaikutustavasta.

Numeron teemana ovat salaliittoteoriat sekä kysymys jaetun todellisuuden merkityksestä.

Kysymme, mikä saa yksilön irrottautumaan valtavirtaisista tiedon muodoista, tekemään ”omaa tutkimustaan” ja hakeutumaan kohti mielikuvituksellisia tarinoita asioiden todellisesta tilasta.

Salaliittoteorioihin liittyy absoluuttisen uskon ja totaalisen epäilyn vuorottelu, eräänlainen uskon dialektiikka. Yhtäältä totuutta jahdataan, siihen uskotaan, ja se on aina tuolla jossain, jonkun pimittämänä tai juuri paljastumassa. Toisaalta virallista totuutta epäillään, se asetetaan täysin kyseenalaiseksi, yleensä viitaten hämäriin taustalla vaikuttaviin voimiin, jotka hallitsevat meitä juuri hallitsemalla totuutta.

Salaliittoteoriat saattavat yhteisen totuuden etsinnän oikosulkuun ja johtavat maagiseen ajatteluun, jossa pieninkin yksityiskohta on merkityksellinen. Kokonaisuus aukeaa vain asiaan vihkiytyneelle, heränneelle. Mikä omassa ajassamme tuottaa salaliittoteorioiden edellyttämää äärimmäistä epäilyä ja vankkumatonta uskoa? Vai onko kuvattu epäuskon ja uskon vuorottelu pikemminkin peri-inhimillinen ilmiö? Onko maaginen ajattelu erottamaton osa olemassaoloamme?

Tämän Kuti-numeron sarjakuvissa ja teksteissä epäily sekä epäusko, maaginen ajattelu ja totuuden etsintä saavat mielikuvituksellisia muotoja. Tervetuloa viidakkoon, jäätikölle, seinien sisään, ihmisten nahkoihin, ajattelun harmaalle ja hämärälle alueelle!

This issue of Kuti is edited by the HARMAA work group, which investigates the post-truth era and its challenges from the viewpoints of philosophy and the visual arts. The group examines the relationships between dupery, self-deception, paranoia and agency, searching for a way out of the antagonistic and aggressive mode of interaction that is typical of our time.

The issue explores conspiracy theories and the significance of a shared reality. We ask what exactly makes individuals distance themselves from mainstream forms of knowledge, “do their own research” and gravitate towards fanciful stories about the real state of affairs.

Conspiracy theories are characterised by an alternation of absolute faith and total doubt, a kind of dialectics of faith. On the one hand, people hunt for the truth and believe in it; it is always out there, withheld by someone or just about to be disclosed. On the other hand, the official truth is suspect; each and every part of it is questioned, usually referring to obscure forces that work in the background and, by controlling the truth, control us all.

Conspiracy theories cause a short circuit in the common quest for truth and lead to magical thinking, where the tiniest detail is meaningful. The whole is accessible to only the initiated, the awakened. What is it in our own time that produces the extreme doubt and unwavering faith called for by conspiracy theories? Or should we rather understand the alternation between disbelief and belief as something profoundly human? Is magical thinking an inseparable part of our existence?

In this issue of Kuti, doubt, disbelief, magical thinking and the quest for the truth acquire fantastic forms. Welcome to the jungle and the glacier, into the walls and human skin, to the grey and obscure zone of thinking!

Koneen säätiön rahoittama HARMAA-työryhmä toimii Helsingin yliopistossa (harmaa.org/fi).

HARMAA is funded by the Kone Foundation. It is based at the University of Helsinki (harmaa.org).

Benny Johnson: Aikahorjunta / Time Faltering 1 What is this? 2 The grass we walk on 3 It tells our bodies it’s soft 4 And we believe it 5 We accept this grass as truth 7 And so 8 We drink from our jugs 9 And we ask for our blessings A And we think of how many vessels B Carry us though-out our day C How strange it is D To be carried E And to accept whatever is carrying us F As truth G So... We build new fantasies And they build new associations New recipes for new realities New truths and untruths

1 Seeking truth does not have to make our dreams unreal 2 For, in our dreams, there is another kind of truth 3 A truth that is beyond the realities of living in a physical body 4 My body is tired from the pull of gravity 5 My mind is tired from the passing of time 6 I swim so I can be held by something 7 And I dream so that my understanding of truth may shift as I rest

Kolbeinn Karlsson: Tervetuloa viidakkoon, kuninkaani / Welcome to the Jungle my King 1 Come into the jungle, my child 2 Awake, my king, and be welcome

1 The whole jungle is here for your coronation / Giggle

1 The monkey and the tiger have dressed up for you 2 Every animal in the jungle bows to you as one, my king / Bow! Harder! / Stop being pussies

1 The wise old zebra has a gift: Behold, your majesty! The jungle’s three greatest criminals. 2 I guarantee that their crimes are all beyond contempt! / How will my lord punish them for their crimes?

1 So, you choose the leaves of healing / Giggle 2 Look how the leaves suck up and absorb their evil 3 You are truly a good and merciful king! We are so glad to have you! / They still look like shit.

1 Now, let's release them / Gay 2 Now, explore your realm my king / It’s yours to enjoy however you please

Evelina Babaeva: Putin's big loving family of clones

From the Fall of Soviet Ideology to the Rise of Aliens

I

remember overhearing a conversation between two Belarusian women in the early 1990s, when I was still a young girl. In a low voice, a woman in her sixties told her friend that the previous night, she had seen a moving dot in the sky. It had felt as if somebody was watching her. Agitated, she continued to explain that it had to be some alien force, a “they”. She had always known this. At that time, many people were saying that “they” probably caused the fall of the Soviet Union and “they” are responsible for the life we had at that time and for the suffering of the Soviet people. This “they”, who were always out there somewhere, was a fairly popular topic of conversation in the 1990s.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, during the continuous change of different social and political regimes in newborn post-Soviet countries, several newspapers and journals were constantly writing stories about eyewitnesses who saw UFOs and who were abducted by aliens or just happened to take pictures of the platelike and cigarlike alien ships or flying dots in the sky.

At that time, many people were saying that “they” probably caused the fall of the Soviet Union and “they” are responsible for the life we had at that time and for the suffering of the Soviet people.

In those days, the popular TV programme “Ochevidnoe i Neveroyatnoe” (“Obvious and Incredible”), which focused mainly on unexplained phenomena, was gathering a huge audience. People with different education and cultural backgrounds were sending letters to this programme asking the reporters to visit their places in order to investigate and to explain strange situations and phenomena. In the 1990s the taste for the mystery was everywhere: there was always a hidden reason why this season’s cucumbers had a weird taste, why the neighbour fell ill or why the summer was exceptionally cold.

The knowledge that had been provided by well-respected Soviet academic scientists was not enough to explain these strange legends, stories, facts and innumerable manifestations of saints and martyrs all around

post-Soviet countries. At the same time, pseudoscientific explanations were attracting more and more interest. After the long reign of the Soviet regime, which did not allow any alternative vision of the world and did not recognise religion, the 1990s blossomed with all possible and impossible varieties of the truth: new-age literature, courses in astrology, new Christian sects and UFO science.

This sudden explosion of interest in the presence of alien civilisations in the sky above often very small villages led to the publication of very debatable articles. Thus, in 1990– 2000 we would encounter stories about humanoid aliens in Siberia, in the unknown villages in southern Russia, or in Belarus and Ukraine practically on a monthly basis.1 Following this line, some official news outlets turned their attention to the problem of extraterrestrial civilisations.

For instance, one newspaper reported that on 26 April 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev was meeting with the staff of the Uralmash factory in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), and the workers wanted to know how the USSR government was dealing with unidentified flying objects. The President replied that groups of researchers engaged in studying such phenomena actually existed. The former head of Kalmykia, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, even claimed that UFOs had flown over Elista, and he himself personally had encountered aliens. While the project which was supposed to investigate abnormal phenomena was running, almost 3,000 messages were received about the observation of 300 events classified as “extraordinary or anomalous phenomena”.

In 1991, the astronaut Pavel Popovich founded and became the director of the All-Union UFO Association, which began researching extraterrestrial life forms. The two-time Hero of the Soviet Union repeatedly claimed to have seen a UFO from a passenger plane while flying from Washington with a delegation of the Academy of Sciences.

“I personally once encountered something incomprehensible that we could not explain”, Popovich asserted in an interview with Russian and Ukrainian television channels. “We flew at an altitude of approximately 10,200 metres. I looked out the porthole and saw an object, a triangular-shaped object, bright white, that was above us. There were no signs of engine operation. It looked like an

Text by Irina Poleshchuk Related content by author ☞

isosceles triangle with a side of about 100 metres. There are no such aircrafts on Earth.”2 The interesting fact of these stories and pictures of the aliens and the UFOs is that they appeared in journals with a focus on the religion and the significance of the church. The famous journal “Nauka i Religia” (“Science and Religion”) emphasised that we lived (1993–1999) in a time of unexplained phenomena and West is no longer the source of the threat. The usual logic and habits did not work and the best scientists could not help to save us (not even the US or blockbuster superheroes). Often, the appeal was either to become a born-again believer in “strange things” or to rely on the Christian faith and to follow Christian values.

From time to time, witnesses testified that the UFO appeared accompanied by an epiphany of Christian saints in the same places, to show that the saints were protecting us from the threat of the alien civilisation. For almost a decade, this weird fusion of UFO and bornagain Christianity was much stronger than any political party or political debate on TV. As late as 2011, a monument was erected to honour aliens in a region of Perm, Molebka, which was the area they supposedly visited most.

Now, looking back to these strange times, I wonder: were people trying to replace the loss of a totalising ideology with a new kind of rationality? Were they unable to tolerate the freedom that had appeared so suddenly after seventy years under a totalitarian regime?

Were the aliens saviours, or just silent spectators? Or was the passion for UFOs yet another conspiracy theory about aliens who, in all secrecy, exercise power over us?

Thirty years on, in the late evenings, I am still looking up into the sky and trying to identify dots or other strange shapes. I am still hoping to find answers which could explain these times of turbulence and the reasons why things happen the way they happen. ❚

Volozhin, a small town in Belarus, is famous for its stories of the appearance of UFOs. There is still a community there that is gathering eyewitness reports: https://www.ufo-com. net/observes/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=4062

1

“Kak v SSSR iskali NLO?” (“How They Searched for UFOs in the USSR), 18 February 2023: https://lenta.ru/ articles/2023/02/18/nlo/

2

Pinja Salmi: Aamurutiini / My morning routine 3 Good morning! Welcome to my morning routine as a lizard living in a human society / I like to wake up to human screaming in insufferable pain. Good vibes only. 4 But first coffee! Haha, don't talk to me before coffee! 5 I also like to add some protein! 6 Then it's time for my skincare. I shed about once a month. 7 Still I like to take care of my skin. Right now I'm really into Korean skincare. 8 Of course nothing beats human blood. 9When my skin is well moisturized / The human face will slide on better! A And then some pink lipstick! OFC! B I added my contact lenses off camera. / Today I chose a blond wig.

OutfitDuunin check! nimi Now I'm off to brunch with my girlfriends. Thnx for watching!

JenniC Varila:

Oletko ihan varma, Albert, että tämä on oikea reitti?

Sinäkö epäilet, Carl? Oletko nyt heidän puolellansa?

a... ntikausia! ... mutt velleet jo tu olemme kä

Eeeen

Me emme ole eksyksissä.

Suu tukkoon!

öitä! rtajia! Tieteentekij Me olemme uranuu ru heidät periköön! h! thagoras! Py Pi Py h!

Hö ! lei ali G Galileo Tuomasta! koo, fanitan pyhää Ken näkee, se us

Luca Scandurra: Kohti Totuusmaata / To the Truthland 1 Albert, are you sure this is the right way? / Are you doubting, Carl? 2 No, no...it’s just...we have been walking for hours! 3 We are not lost! Shut up!

4 We are pioneers! We are people of science! Galileo Galilei! Pffu! Pythagoras! Blah! May the devil take them! Seeing is believing, I’m a fan of saint Thomas!

Albe

rt?

Niin

?

aan! mitä? Lähde litom kö ät ed Ti a! oj lu i e!

Vo le totuuden ihan its Paljastan maailmal

Paleltaa...

Ole kiltti, Albert!

Ihan varmasti on mahdotonta, että Maa on pyöreä. Meidän olisi pitänyt olla ylösalaisin jo tunteja sitten!

Olemme jo melkein perillä, tunnen sen!

menen hakemaan Sori, Albert, mutta tamaan sinut. apua. Palaan pelas

1 Albert? / Yes? 2 I’m cold... /Oh God! You know what? Go away! I will show the world the truth by myself, Carl! 3 Please Albert! I’m sure it’s impossible that the earth is round! We should have already been upside-down by hours! / We almost arrived, I feel that! 4 Sorry Albert, I’m going to call help. I will come back to save you.

Olkoon niin! En kaipaa

sinua!

En kaipaa heikkouttasi...

aipaa En k

En kaipaa surkeaa naamaasi!

Ja kaiken kaikkiaan...

ketään pelastamaan henkeäni!

Kahden tunnin kuluttua

1 Fine, I don’t need you, Carl! / I don’t need your miserable face! 2 I don’t need your weakness...And overall... 3 I don’t need anyone to save my life!!

4 Two hours later

PUUH! PUUH! PUUH!

Magalhães!

Kuka on Magalhães?

Minä olen!

s...

Olen... aika varma, että Eratosthene

… ei mennyt Pohjoisnavalle!

Ei ehtinyt mietteiltään!

n....

... ole

Minä.

1 PANT! PANT! PANT! / Magellan! Who is Magellan? I am Magellan! 2 I’m... I’m pretty sure Eratosthenes... ...didn't go to North Pole! Too busy thinking!

3 I’m... I am...

En koskaan anna periksi!

2 I will never give up!

n

Minähääääääääää

saaaaanoooooin, Caaaaaaaaarl!

! uh pu uh pu

2 I tooooooooooold youuuuuuuuuu Caaaaaaaaarl! 3 pant pant!

Hei Albert! Tervetuloa maapallon toiselle puolelle!

n! e s n i Ties ! n e s n Tiesi

TO TU

US

1 Hi Albert! Welcome to the other side of the earth! / I knew that! I knew that! / Truthland

MA

A

Löysimme hänet!

Olen pahoillani...

Voi ei... Olisit kuunnellut minua, Albert!

Loppu.

2 We found him! / I’m sorry... 3 Oh no... I told you Albert! 4 The end.

Text by Erika Ruonakoski Related content by author ☞

Agatha Christie on the Supernatural Curses, witchcraft and characters fascinated by spiritism play an essential part in many stories by Agatha Christie. Usually, however, she provides a natural explanation for allegedly supernatural phenomena. Her stories reveal a humorous and warm attitude towards people’s desire to believe in something that transcends everyday reality. In our time, there appears to be no room for this kind of attitude: either you are on the side of reason or against it…

The text contains spoilers from Agatha Christie’s Dumb Witness.

Now I’m convinced, Mr Poirot, that unknown to herself Miss Arundell was a medium”, says the companion of a recently deceased woman in Dumb Witness (1937). According to the companion, Arundell had started to emit ectoplasm – matter in which spiritual entities can find form – in a séance: “On that evening I distinctly saw a luminous ribbon issuing from dear Miss Arundell’s mouth! Then her head became enveloped in a luminous mist.”

For the amateur spiritists Julia and Isabel Tripp the same event predicts death: “[There was] a luminous haze gradually surrounding Miss Arundell’s head – an aureole of faint light. It was a sign – we know that now – a sign that she was about to pass over to the other side.”

In Christie’s stories, spiritists typically create a universe of their own that is hard to challenge from the outside. They acknowledge the doubts entertained by others, but their need to believe in the possibility to receive messages from beyond the grave is too strong for them to view their séances critically.

Our world of randomness, where most of things are in view but hard to understand, may appear grey and meaningless; it fails to engage our imagination. It is hard work to make sense of the complicated interrelationships within it, and so it is no wonder that some are more drawn to an idea of a world where we can find some kind of a plot, hidden goals and a battle of good and evil.

Just as we animate natural phenomena and see human figures in the knots in wood or slices of toast, we may be tuned to perceive

both human and supernatural intentions where there are none. The world appears as a playground of invisible forces.

Through characters with a rationalist world view, Christie casts a critical eye over the mindscape of spiritists and those who are terrified by the prospect of being cursed.

Interestingly though, she tends to depict her overly rationalistic characters as tedious and arrogant. This ambivalence leads us to ask how she wants us to view the spirit world. Are

Conspiracy theories, vaccine refusal or denial of historical facts ultimately question the legacy of the Enlightenment: self-critical use of reason and trust in the significance of science. the spirits channelled by a medium real or not? Is the wickedness of human beings an even more dreadful force than the supernatural? Apart from a few horror stories and works of fantasy, in Christie’s narratives the balance tends to tilt in favour of rationality: phenomena that seemed supernatural receive a natural explanation, which in turn helps to solve the murder mystery. Miss Arundell does not secrete ectoplasm – she is suffering from phosphorus poisoning. It is the phosphorus that makes her head glow.

The battle between the scientific and non-scientific world views is hardly new. Today,

however, it seems almost impossible to view the camps forming on each side with the warm humour that was typical of Christie. The stakes are high. Conspiracy theories, vaccine refusal or denial of historical facts ultimately question the legacy of the Enlightenment: self-critical use of reason and trust in the significance of science. Through conspiracy theories and vaccine refusal, new spiritualists become a part of post-truth movements in a wider sense. For this reason, it is difficult to see astrology, predicting the future with tarot cards, and belief in angels merely as empowering forms of belief and therapy that have nothing to do with politics.

Where are reason and freedom ultimately located? Perhaps they cannot be possessed, but only practised. The ectoplasm issuing from the medium’s mouth is made of gauze and photographs, but in many other cases, it is more difficult to see how things stand. All the same, beliefs have an ethical dimension, for it is by sharing some kind of epistemic foundation that we become a community. Is this foundational structure now about to fall apart, or was it always a mere fantasy? What could bring us together again? ❚

Literature  Christie, Agatha. 1937. Dumb Witness. London: Collins.  Hyvönen, Ari-Elmeri and Niko Pyrhönen. 2023. Salaliitto­ teorioiden politiikat: yhteiskuntatieteellisiä näkökulmia.

Tampere: Vastapaino.  Peters, Michael A. 2022. “New Age Spiritualism, Mysticism, and Far-Right Conspiracy”. Educational Philosophy and Theory 55, https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.202 2.2061948.

Sasha Davydenko: The King’s New Dress. Post-truth.

1 Jeez! / The King is naked! / Shh! / I can see his nipples now! / The King is not naked, he wears invisible clothes only smart people can see! / 1112 A.D. IQ test is invented / Amen! 2 You are too young to judge the King! / Our father King is always right! / Am I stupid? / Meow! / The King is mad, but he is my King! / It is not my work to think! 3 I'm not here. This is not happening. / Can we pay our taxes with invisible money too? / Is he the real King? / The Trolls stole our King. Now a Changeling is on the throne! This is as true as the earth being flat! / Not everything is clear. / It is too much!

Marco Toxico: Face by Face 2 It's a big risk to have a face. 3 Too many holes that can become infected at any time, anywhere. 4 In most cases a small asymetry is a life sentence to loneliness, mockery or infinite hate for oneself. 5 I can't stand seeing faces. 6 Even small details out of place are absolutely unbearable. 7 I imagine others think the same about me, and so they should. 8 After finishing school I did not go to university, nor did I look for a job. 9 I live in a small house that belonged to my grandma until she died two years ago. A (Just when I turned 36) B My family supports me without asking too much. C They always called me "weak" or "the retarded who can't make eye contact". I think it all seems natural to them.

1 I don't mind that contempt. 2 Makes me almost never have to see them, which is, in itself, a huge gain. 3 In exchange for that peace of mind, I take care of the few plants that remain in the house. 4 The house is cold. I think the fertilizer fails or the pots are not adequate because very few flowers grow. 5 But it doesn't matter much, the few that come out are beautiful and symmetrical. 6 I recently had a fit of rage (for reasons not worth telling) and uprooted a plant from the garden. / Nothing is the same. 7 The roots left horrible deformed holes in the face of the mud. 8 When I realized the horror I was seeing, my guts turned. 9 No more water for them, in a few weeks they will be dry and will not hurt again. A For my family, it will be another foolish act of the poor idiot who has to be supported. / I feel safe. B Although now I know, deep down, the huge risk involved in having eyes.

Maren Wiese: Nainen seinässä / The Woman in the Wall 1 My mother didn't believe me when I told her about the woman in the wall. 3 She whispers to me in the night 6 She told me all about your secrets.

3 My mother says that all my friends forgot my name. 5 That's ok / I can forget their names as well. 6 I run my hands along the wall. It is covered in little bumps. 7 This spot is where her heart is

1 She loves me not / She loves me not

1 When the woman left / She told me not to worry about the walls. / I would get used to them eventually. 4 I really think that she loves me / I really think I love her too.

Francisco Sousa Lobo: Pussyfoot 1 I must say that I'm chronically afraid of delusional people. I avoid confrontation even if madness is screaming at my face. 2 It often starts with religion.

When I was a kitten there was a tale about twelve P.T.S.D. gentlemen from Galilee and a mourning mother who became certain the man had risen from the dead. 3 He only showed up to eleven of the gentlemen with P.T.S.D., for one had commited suicide. His name was Judas. 4 When I called on this invisible risen man in times of trouble, neither him nor Mother Mary came to me. No words of wisdom – nothing. 5 Still, I admire his sayings and actions. I just don't know about the P.T.S.D. gentlemen's lucidity. The story wasn't written down until a hundred years had passed, which makes it slightly eccentric.

1 Other tales had strong political affiliations attached to them. I remember being confronted with tales of misdemeanours of left-wing politicians in my home country. 2 The extreme right would peddle certainties / He looks gay / Who, the P.M.? Oh, he is definitely gay. / That girlfriend thing is just a smokescreen.

3 He stepped on the national flag while in exile in Paris. There are accounts! He practically danced on it as if it was trash. Your hero Nelson Mandela is a terrorist, by the way... 4 Conspiracies and lies are not a privilege of the fascists, though. Many people on the left will insult anyone who would contradict their cuckoo beliefs. JFK? Deep State did it. 9/11? Inside job.

1 I have two friends who fell down the rabbit hole when covid appeared. 5G masts and Bill Gates were to blame, then Bill started chipping people and the vaccines made them ill. / Ramble rant ramble rant / Mm-hm 2 Oh boy. My sadness and silence grew. I pussyfooted around those issues so I wouldn't lose a friend. Waking up the delusional is not a task I would choose lightly. I would prefer not to. / Join the cult 3 I would rather pray they don't read my comics and continue to visit the National Gallery with them. 4 And what stories are you working on? / Oh, nothing... / Nothing special.

Joseph Callioni: The River (or the Conspiracy of Flowers)

1 Early that morning I went for a walk around the lake. / There were more and more flowers, and their scent wafted everywhere. 2 I observed that something was off.

1 At first, I had been the only one to take notice of this. / Then my best friend had also noticed that something was about to happen. 2 I had told him about the flowers and of the strange fascination they seemed to arouse everywhere. / He pointed out that people were gradually disappearing.

1 Eventually he, too, had disappeared. / Perhaps he had been afraid and fled? 2 When it was getting dark, all the windows glowed with a strange light, and I knew that those who lived in the houses were no longer human beings. / But I didn’t dare to look inside.

1 Gradually I sank through the thin membrane of the remaining reality. / My strength was fading. 2 I have always been walking in this river. / It dawned on me that nothing else had ever existed, and that the whole universe had hidden it from me.

Miten irrottautua "totuudenjälkeisen" ajan aggressiivisesta dynamiikasta? HARMAA kutsuu tutkimaan mahdollisuuksia, moniselitteisyyksiä ja harmaan eri sävyjä. Vastarinnan muodoksi se ehdottaa "epäsuoraa filosofiaa".

WWW.HARMAA.ORG

@HARMAATHINKING

KONEEN SÄÄTIÖN RAHOITTAMA HARMAA-TYÖRYHMÄ TOIMII HELSINGIN YLIOPISTOSSA.

LEHTI SARJAKUVASTA Sarjainfo on kulttuurilehti, joka on kirjoittanut sarjakuvasta vuodesta 1972 alkaen. Ilmiöt, haastattelut, kritiikit, pienlehdet, tapahtumat – kotimaassa ja ulkomailla!

LIITY SUOMEN SARJAKUVASEURAAN!

Suomen sarjakuvaseura ylläpitää Sarjakuvakeskusta Helsingissä (kurssit, tapahtumat) ja järjestää Helsingin sarjakuvafestivaaleja.

Seuran vuosijäsenyys (35 €, alle 18 v. 30 €) sisältää lehden tilauksen, neljä numeroa vuodessa. Saat myös jäsenkortin ja rahanarvoisia etuja yhteistyökumppaneiltamme sekä tuet suomalaista sarjakuvakulttuuria. www.sarjakuvaseura.fi

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Sarjakuvaseura

Kevään voi nyt kursseille a! ilmoittautu

KURSSIT AIKUISILLE Aikuisten kursseja järjestetään lähija verkkokursseina, aloittelijoista ammattilaistasolle asti. Aikuisten kursseille voivat osallistua 15 vuotta täyttäneet.

Sarjakuvailmaisu

KURSSIT LAPSILLE JA NUORILLE Järjestämme kursseja eri puolilla Helsinkiä js Espoon Karakalliossa.

Lasten sarjakuvakurssi

Käsikirjoituspiiri sarjakuvaa tekevälle

Aikataulu sovitaan ryhmän kanssa

Työkalupakki: komiikka ja tarinankerronta

Manga-kurssit

Comics for beginners

Lasten sarjakuvakurssit

VERKOSSA

ti 16.1.–16.4.2024 klo 17–18.45

ti 16.1.–16.4. klo 19–20.45

ke 17.1.–17.4. klo 16–17.45 ke 17.1.–17.4. klo 18-19.45

Thu Jan 18–Apr 18 at 17–18.45

ke 17.1.–17.4. klo 15-16.45 ke 17.1.–17.4. klo 17–18.45

Sarjakuvailmaisu

to 18.1.–18.4. klo 17.30–19

la 10.-su 11.2.2024 klo 12–15

Espoo: Sarjakuva- ja animaatiokurssi

Perjantaipaja kerran viikossa Lasten lauantai kuukauden viimeinen vkl Croquis-illat Kulttuurikeskus Caisassa

Kuvituskurssi

ma 15.1.–2.4. klo 19–20.45

Nuorten sarjakuvakurssi

to 18.1.–18.4. klo 16-17.45

Tutustu avoimiin työpajoihimme!

ma 15.1.–22.4. klo 17–18.45

Tilaa uutiskirje sähköpostiisi

Saat Sarjakuvakeskuksen ajankohtaiset tapahtumat ja alan uutiset tilaamalla Suomen sarjakuvaseuran uutiskirjeen sarjakuvaseura.fi

to 18.1.–18.4. klo 17–18.45

Datasta sarjakuvakäsikirjoitukseksi

sarjakuvakeskus.fi opetus@sarjakuvakeskus.fi Laivalahden puistotie 7, Herttoniemenranta, 00810 Helsinki