The International Picturebook Festival presents: Comic Continent

The International Picturebook Festival presents

Comic Continent gloomy and cheerful

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2018 My heritage – Gloomy and Cheerful Müncheberg Buckow Frankfurt (Oder) Gorzów Wlkp.

Tbilisi Lviv Vilnius Marijampolė Kanuas Vladikavkas Waldsieversdorf Minsk Moscow

p. 8-33

_ 2017 Truth and Lie Müncheberg Buckow Cottbus Frankfurt (Oder) Gorzów Wlkp.

Tbilisi Lviv

p. 38-73

_ 2016 Sketches from the future Müncheberg Buckow Frankfurt (Oder)

Słubice Gorzów Wlkp.

Zielona Góra

Cover: „About trees and humans“, taken from Trees by Piotr Socha

p. 76-77

_ 2015 The World in transition – explain it to me!

Müncheberg Buckow Frankfurt (Oder) Słubice Gorzów Wlkp.,

p. 78-79

_ 2014 Childhood before 1989 Buckow Müncheberg Frankfurt (Oder)

p. 80-81

_ 2013 The Gloomy and the Cheerful Müncheberg Trebnitz

p. 81-82

Illustrations from Jutta Bauer [2]

The International Picturebook Festival presents #Network #Calls for Illustration #Jurymeetings #Residencies #Festivals #Illustrator Slams #Travelling Exhibitions #Food & Party & Bus [3]

Dear enthusiasts and friends of the art of illustration,

for six years now, illustrators from Central and Eastern Europe have been coming together at the International Picturebook Festival “The Gloomy and the Cheerful” to share their interaction with the image. Here, illustration is never a decorative element, but a central narrative component of the stories. Pictures give us access to worlds that would remain inaccessible to us by words alone. And not only because we are not able to speak all the languages represented at the festival, but because they are a languages for themselves. Since the first year of the festival we have been exploring the extent to which images can be understood universally, across borders and across cultures, but we have never been looking for the ONE generally valid answer – since it is not the primary concern of art to be unambiguous, it is precisely this multidimensionality that is one of its greatest potentials. Art is reflected in viewer's senses and can only become its individual meaning through our personal confrontation with it.

All that inspired us to open up a dialogue with one another: about what we have seen, what we have heard, what we have thought about in silence and what we have said to others. Two years ago, a new format of encounter was created within the framework of „The Gloomy and the Cheerful": the residency, exhibition and network Comic Continent.

Young illustrators from Germany, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Georgia come together in Müncheberg and its surroundings to work together, to inspire and be inspired, but also to discuss and challenge each other. While in 2018 it was Jutta Bauer from Hamburg who led the workshops as mentor, the participants of 2018 benefited from the experience of the Polish illustrator and graphic artist Piotr Socha from Warsaw. "My Cultural Heritage" was the thematic epicentre of the Comic Continent in 2018, and already at the jury meeting this was reflected in different perspectives of the participating artists.

The theme and the different (above all biographical)

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approaches contributed to a very constructive variety of aesthetic manuscripts and thematic focuses at the residency.

The word "continent" can be traced back to the Latin terra continens, i.e. the "contiguous country", and it is precisely this connection between lands and countries that seems to us to be a good starting point for further thinking. The Comic Continent also was the starting point for the International Picturebook Festival to travel far to the East. Starting at the German-Polish border region right across Europe up to the Caucasian mountains: in the small Lithuanian town of Marijampolė, school kids worked on the subject of truth and lies, in Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia artists exchanged ideas on cross-border cooperation and only 200 km further south, in Tbilisi, around 100 spectators of all ages came together for Georgia's first live Illustrators´ Slam.

The complexity of our continent challenges us to get to know people and cultures that fill it with life. It opens our eyes and ears to all our collective but also very personal images and stories. It allows us to create a reality in which heterogeneity fertilizes what belongs together and nourishes cohesion instead of endangering it through misunderstandings and fears.

On the following pages, we are delighted to take you on our two-year journey with and on the Comic Continent and to be able to sketch you its cultural heritage, at least in its most visible contours, with a review of six years of the International Picturebook Festival "The Gloomy and the Cheerful".

Barbara Anna Bernsmeier Natalie Wasserman Oliver Spatz

Dear Reader,

Dear Picturebook Fans,

This catalogue presents participants and partners of the project of the International Picturebook Festival “Comic Continent”. “Comic Continent”: the title promises fun, but also sets high standards. This continent brings together participants from Belarus, Georgia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Ukraine – a good selection from the great variety in Europe.

The International Picturebook Festival has become a highlight for Müncheberg and an established part of the cultural curriculum in kindergartens and schools of our city.

Europe is growing together. The project’s topic for 2018, “My cultural heritage”, shows how important it is that this is not only a political process. Growing together requires exchange between societies, both within and beyond the European Union. That is why the Federal Foreign Office supports cooperation with the countries of the Eastern partnership and Russia through projects like “Comic Continent”.

Whilst Europe remains a continent that celebrates its diversity, we nonetheless feel united by our values and our culture.

Eastern Europe has an especially rich tradition of picture books, comics and illustrations which is often too little known in Western countries. The decades-long artificial division of Europe has left its traces.

Projects like “Comic Continent” renew contacts between East and West and create a strong and lasting network that transcends borders.

I am confident that the participants enjoyed the various events, especially the eight-day stay in Märkisch-Oderland. However, despite the origin of the word “comic”, the ninth art is not only about funny things. A look at the works that were created in the course of the project confirms this. Just as good picture books are not confined to the use of the colours rose and azure, illustrating our cultural heritage is not restricted to the depiction of positive aspects. Culture is also a mirror for distortions in our societies.

However, I want to stress an optimistic viewpoint: the fact that we can have an exchange about our cultural heritage across borders, and a successful dialogue between our societies that includes young artists, justifies the hope of a better and common future in Europe.

Dirk Wiese Coordinator for Intersocietal Cooperation with Russia, Central Asia and the Eastern Partnership Countries Federal Foreign Office of Germany

Telling stories both with words and with images is very important for our children – it leads to an interactive way to deal with language, images and symbols. Children and teenagers become actively involved in the stories and are creatively active themselves. Playing with their imagination children and young people have thus created a collection of various pieces of art that express their thoughts, feelings and emotions.

Meetings and readings with illustrators have become popular events for our families. These afternoons and evenings are a very welcoming opportunity to spend time together and discuss the worlds that open up in the landscapes of the illustrated books.

Dr. Uta Barkusky Mayor of the city of Müncheberg

“ Dear friends of the Picturebook Festival, since 2013 Eastern Brandenburg has become a gathering point for people of all ages interested in meeting outstanding illustrators from Central and Eastern Europe. Visiting workshops, lectures or the illustrators´slam they take more than a glimpse behind the stories – they dive into the adventurous world of picture books. As a sponsor of this unique festival our institution „Plattform Kulturelle Bildung“ is very content to contribute to the diversity of the German-Polish border region by supporting the creative and artistic potentials of young people living at both sides of the river Oder.

Therefore we hope that you enjoy this rather cheerful than gloomy catalogue as much as we do Ulrike Erdmann Director Plattform Kulturelle Bildung Brandenburg

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Participants, guests and team of the Picturebook Festival and Comic Continent, November 2017 in Müncheberg.

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JURY STATEMENTS ( Jury 2017 )

Katerina Sad

Vera Aleksandrova

Anton Valkovsky

Anton Valkovsky curator and art historian Otar Karalashvili founder of Book Art Center Tbilisi Sarah Wildeisen librarian, picture book expert Sigutė Chlebinskaitė illustrator and founder of Land of Books in Vilnius Natalya Gayda illustrator and animator

Talking to future participants I can say that the most crucial thing is the IDEA. It should be easy to see, read and understand. It could be something very funny or also something really conceptual. It all depends on what is valuable to you. The breathing language of your expression makes that your audience is with you and totally attracted to your story.

Even very naive illustrations can tell us some truth, so please, remember this.

Reviewing 300 pictures and then some in one sitting – that sounds like a description of a real hell for people with visual sensitivity which was the case with all the jury members. But thanks to those members and to Barbara Anna Bernsmeier and Oliver Spatz, the hell turned out to be major fun. It was amazing how some of the things could be felt by the whole group, although we all came from different countries and cultures. And equally amazing how in some cases we had to play “12 angry men” (only we were not 12, and there were women, come on, it’s 2019 after all!) to defend some of the works to be chosen in the final shortlist.

For me it was an extraordinary experience to participate in the Comic Continent: Firstly, as a jury member in 2017, secondly as a host for the exhibition in Vladikavkas and thirdly as curator of a pop-up exhibition in a bus during the residency “My Cultural heritage” in 2018, tightly developing ideas with the artists. In my opinion, the Picturebook Festival is a model project in the field of cultural diplomacy, setting standards for international projects and demonstrating how culture and art can be a tool for cross-boarder interaction, understanding and exchange. The 2018 project has set an example for collaborative reflection of the international team on the topic of difficult heritage.

( Jury 2018 ) Otar Karalashvili founder of Book Art Center Tbilisi Sarah Wildeisen librarian, picture book expert Vera Aleksandrova foreign rights manager at Samokat Publishing House Katerina Sad illustrator Alexey Lunev artist

We focused on two illustrations from each of the participants. It was a great challenge for us as we were supposed to find the potential for creating a picture book. That was like seeing the future!

It really felt we did something important there, connecting ourselves and creating better understanding between the elements of the book illustration chain: from emerging young artists to established ones to art directors to editors to art critics and teachers.

Katerina Sad is an Ukrainian artist, who creates illustrations combining easel graphic tools and graphic tablets. Graduated from Odessa Art school and Lviv National Academy of Arts.

£ Vera Aleksandrova is the foreign rights manager of Samokat Publishing House and based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. She studied journalism and worked for many years in a social Circus project.

Comic Continent jury meeting in Minsk at Gallery for Contemporary Art «Ў», September 2018. Otar Karalashvili, Anna Chistoserdova, Vera Aleksandrova, Katerina Sad, Oliver Spatz, Alexej Lunev, Sarah Wildeisen and Barbara Anna Bernsmeier (from the left).

Anton Valkovsky is a curator, cultural manager and researcher of contemporary art from Volgograd, Russia. Since 2018 he is based in Berlin as a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in the German Chancellor Fellowship programme.

Piotr Socha in our main venue „Stadtpfarrkirche Müncheberg“, rebuild churchruin that functions as church, library and art-center.

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The International Picturebook Festival „THE GLOOMY AND THE CHEERFUL“ is a child of the German-Polish border region. It all began with the idea of providing a platform for the various perspectives on the art of illustration and bringing German and Polish artists together to actively exchange and share their points of view. The gloomy and cheerful aspects in illustration do not only have different traditions of reception, but also find very different ways of expressing themselves.

From the very beginning, however, the dialogue with the pictures has been central. Events connecting illustrated books with performances and music as well as workshops invited children, young people and adults to take an active part in this discourse. The first year of the festival also carried the desire – and the urgent need – to think further and use the potential of the GermanPolish border region to open up a door to Central and Eastern Europe. Guests from Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Russia and Ukraine joined in and made us want to discover the continent of images and people even more deeply. When Barbara Anna Bernsmeier joined the team in 2015, the festival did not only pick up the idea of a residency for young artists, but also realized the need to find new paths to further networking of the international illustration scene. In 2017, the comic Continent took shape and now is already looking forward to every new door.

In 2015 the Illustrators’ Slam as one of the main events of the Picturebook Festival was born: Two illustrators draw on a big screen, accompanied by live music, finding artistic answers to crucial questions like “What was the biggest lie your parents ever told you?”, “What is the first memory of your life?” and “Who is living inside your nose?”. The Slam travelled from Müncheberg over the border to Słubice and Gorzów, and then even further to Tbilisi and Lviv at the end of 2018.

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Poland

van Gogh achieve success? Yes, after death. During his lifetime he sold one painting.

Piotr Socha was born in 1966 and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. He has worked as an illustrator for various well-known Polish and international newspapers and magazines as well as for the Polish TV station Telewizja Polska. He is considered as one of Poland's most popular cartoonists. In Germany he is mostly known for his illustrated books. „Bienen“ won the award „Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis“ in the category of non-fiction books in 2017. In Austria it was awarded as the best science book of the year in the category of science books for children. He lives and works in Warsaw.

_ If you illustrate, what is there first – the story or the esthetics/style of illustration?

Both things are important. A good story as well as a good idea to tell it. It's hard to find an original story that nobody has mentioned before. Books have already been written about (almost) everything. Nevertheless, there are new versions of stories known for hundreds, thousands of years. New translations of the classics of literature are still appearing, people are still laughing and are touched by the fates of ancient heroes. Old stories told in a new, contemporary language move the next generation of readers.

A good illustrator can tell an old story anew, in an original way. He can find a language that revives these old stories and shows their universal, timeless character. Good stories do not age.

Do you have any artistic role models? And if you do, how do you deal with this artistic “heritage»?

Artists walk in black cloaks, berets, smoke pipes, carry palettes of paint and brushes in their hands, paint still lifes and naked models, drink absinthe, die of tuberculosis at an early age. I don't wear black

cloaks, I don't smoke pipes, I don't drink absinthe, I don't paint with a brush, I don't paint still lives, I didn't die young. I don't call myself an artist. It sounds too pathetic and I don't like pathos. I just try to be a good graphic artist, illustrator. I want to do my job as best as possible and not to pose for someone I am not. I am hidden behind my work. I think that what I do is more interesting than myself.

I´m eager to keep learning all the time. Today I am a better illustrator than 10, 20 years ago. I try not to be boring, I like new challenges, I don't like to repeat myself, although it's difficult to escape from myself.

I am as good as my last drawing. My language is drawing. The world often seems funny and terrible to me at the same time, tragedy is mixed with comedy. I like to draw a world reflected in a curved mirror.

What makes an illustration a good one? And what makes an illustrator a good illustrator?

This is a difficult to answer. I feel it intuitively, but I can't name it. Power of expression? Originality?

Precision of performance? Excellent workshop? I think that a good illustration does not have to be an exact reflection of what it illustrates. A good illustration is an added value to the text. The brilliant Bible illustrations made by Gustav Dore are a work of art in itself, they are brilliant. I have been collecting illustrated books for years. Mostly these are books of cartoonists, illustrators drawing in a completely different way than I do. I admire them, although I draw differently. It's great that beauty can look so different. I have many masters, I admire many artists completely different from each other.

Often brilliant works are created by amateurs and even children. What makes an illustrator a good illustrator? Hard work. Medium talent + hard work = development, progress, maybe success. Big talent + laziness = zero. Get up in the morning, have a cup of coffee, have breakfast and then work, don't wait until the Muses arrive. And so for 20, 30 years or more.

Daily work, concentration on the goal, perseverance, a bit of happiness, maybe, although it does not have to bring an interesting effect (success?). Did Vincent

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Would you please describe the impact of the COMIC CONTINENT on you – in short three words…

Before I left, I thought I would be bored at these workshops, that I would sit and watch others work, but I was open to surprises and did not get disappointed. It's great that I was invited, although I don't feel like a mentor for anyone. I tried to be rather an older, more experienced colleague, who does not know the answer to every question since there is no ready recipe for making a brilliant illustration, but will gladly share his knowledge and experience. I am very happy that I had the opportunity to meet so many young people, illustrators from countries that are often divided by politics and often difficult history. Fortunately, we were all curious, open-minded and devoid of prejudices. We were looking for what unites us. Culture unites us and that is its role.

Meetings and joint actions of young people from Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Poland, Belarus have a deep meaning. Politics is not everything. Personal relations and dialogue are important.

£ Piotr Socha from Warsaw was the mentor of the Comic Continent residency in 2018. He is a big fan of the soviet cartoon character «Cheburashka» and likes to draw on windows and over-sized trees.

Starting in the stone-age: with his book Bees Piotr Socha became internationally known for his educating and entertaining style reaching out to all age groups.

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Ukraine

Daryna Dubyk was born in 1996 and is currently a student of Graphic Design at Lviv National Academy of Arts. She participated in different exhibitions and contests in her hometown as well as in Poland.

_ If you illustrate, what is there first – the story or the esthetics / style of illustration?

In my working process there is an idea in the first place and then comes the style. However both the story and the form in which the story is represented are equally important to me.

Do you have any artistic role models? And if you do, how do you deal with this artistic “heritage»?

There are certain artists I love, but they are so different from one another that it`s hard to say anything about the specifics I follow. The problem I`m facing now is not following a certain style, but actually the lack of stylistic diversity. Even though we have access to enormous amounts of visual references it`s hard to find something unique, something original, as “trendy styles” are usually on the surface and highly professional, stylistically extraordinary illustration can be at the bottom just because it doesn`t have enough ‘likes’.

What makes an illustration a good one? And what makes an illustrator a good illustrator?

I guess it depends on the task. Childrens` book illustration requires certain characteristics, for magazine illustration there are other demands, some illustrations are just personal expressions of the artist. Regardless of the task specifics, there are some features I personally believe to be important (if we consider illustration as a piece of art). ‫׵‬٨ Willing to give (emotionally) more than you want to gain. ‫׵‬٨ Finding balance between following the rules and breaking the rules (which means there still is a content and a form and they should work together in some way, and the form itself has some rules too, such as composition, color palette etc.

But all these things shouldn`t stop your imagination, your creativity especially in the early stages of the work.

Would you please describe the impact of the COMIC CONTINENT on you – in short three words…

People, growing, opportunities.

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Georgia

Sonia Eliashvili

Draw yourself in the most cheerful moment you could think of in the future.

was born in 1982 in Tbilisi. She has Masters’ degree in Graphics and Illustration of the Academy of Arts of her hometown. In 2018 she published the picturebook „Land unter im Zoo“ for the Frankfurt Book Fair and took part in the Comic Continent for the second time.

_ If you illustrate, what is there first – the story or the esthetics / style of illustration?

For me the story dictates the esthetics of the illustration. I find it impossible to illustrate Winnie the Pooh and Shakespeare in the same style and I find this challenge interesting.

Do you have any artistic role models? And if you do, how do you deal with this artistic “heritage»?

Maybe the illustrator Vladimir Radunsky could be my role model. The invaluable advice that he gave young illustrators when he was in Tbilisi is always on my mind when I'm working.

What makes an illustration a good one? And what makes an illustrator a good illustrator?

Illustrations should be done sincerely, whatever technique one puts in his/her drawings is always visible.

Would you please describe the impact of the COMIC CONTINENT on you – in short three words…

Good education, hard work and then being able to liberate one's mind from all that knowledge and go crazy.

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Russia

Sasha Grach was born 1990 in Cheboksary, where she studied Foreign Languages and Philology. Since 2012 she is part of the group of artists “Printmaking Cheboksary”. She works as a teacher of print technique.

_ If you illustrate, what is there first – the story or the esthetics / style of illustration?

I usually work with some concepts, ideas and formats of artistic books. I´ll try to describe my way of thinking while working at the Comic Continent. I wanted to show the biggest impression of my childhood: a family boat ride down the Volga…we were sailing. Returning to my childhood I saw the great figure of my father, almost everything is connected to him. So I made this long waves book as a symbol of the idea of huge endless water – water which is much bigger than a person, and as the idea of being influenced by someone (in my case my father), when one person becomes the whole world. The pattern I use in the book is inspired by Japanese artists, for me this quote is meaningful, since it speaks about influence. So when I turn back in memory, I ask myself – where am I in all these waves, boats, emotions?

What makes an illustration a good one? And what makes an illustrator a good illustrator?

As for me, a good illustration makes you think and is interesting esthetically.

Would you please describe the impact of the COMIC CONTINENT on you – in short three words…

CC is so lovely, has such a warm atmosphere, it melted my heart and I want to be braver in my art works.

Do you have any artistic role models? And if you do, how do you deal with this artistic “heritage»?

I was taught linocut by several artists. I use that knowledge in my practice, but every time I try to find something to make the comprehension wider.

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Ukraine

Ernest Khoroshok was born in 1986, originates from Cherkasy in Central Ukraine and lives in Kyiv. He works as a computer and graphic designer and prefers to draw in black and white only.

_ If you illustrate, what is there first – the story or the esthetics / style of illustration?

For me, of course, the story and the idea are important in the first place but also esthetics play a big role. This tool gives you the opportunity to show your idea and makes an illustration attractive to the recipient, helps to emphasize the atmosphere and the images.

Do you have any artistic role models? And if you do, how do you deal with this artistic “heritage»?

It’s always hard to name artists I love, because I’m just subscribed to many on Behance and Artstation and I don’t remember their names. But I can always name people as McBess, Interesni Kazki, David Hockney, Max Kostenko, Van Gogh.

What makes an illustration a good one? And what makes an illustrator a good illustrator?

I think a good illustration is one that impresses, evokes emotions (better if positive), makes you think about it for a long time after looking at it.

Would you please describe the impact of the COMIC CONTINENT on you – in short three words…

Cozy creativity.

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Russia

Vlada Myakonkina was born in 1976. She studied at the Moscow Textile University and the British Higher School of Design. She works as a designer, as an artist and also as an Art Director at Samokat Publishing House.

_ If you illustrate, what is there first – the story or the esthetics / style of illustration?

The first is an idea.

Do you have any artistic role models? And if you do, how do you deal with this artistic “heritage”?

For me, the artistic “heritage” is “everything and nothing”.

What makes an illustration a good one? And what makes an illustrator a good illustrator?

The same thing that makes a person a good person.

Light head and lots of work.

Would you please describe the impact of the COMIC CONTINENT on you – in short three words…

The art residency was an opportunity for me to work together with interesting artists.

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Russia

Olga Ptashnik was born in 1991. She obtained a Master in Applied Physics and Mathematics and has an additional education in the art of illustration. She contributed to numerous exhibitions and published two picture books.

_ If you illustrate, what is there first – the story or the esthetics / style of illustration?

The story. I believe in the saying "the medium is the message". So through the years I found different sounds of materials for myself and now I use them based on the story I work on.

Do you have any artistic role models? And if you do, how do you deal with this artistic “heritage»?

I don't think that I have any particular role model, but sure I look at different people and try to analyze their artistic way of working. As I didn't study art at school or university, this actually was my way to learn something.

Olga Ptashnik and Piotr Socha at the Illu-Slam in Müncheberg drawing live: «What heritage do you dream of?», November 2018.

What makes an illustration a good one? And what makes an illustrator a good illustrator?

I am not sure there is an impersonal answer for this question. For me a good story can be more important then good graphics and vice versa. But talking about a good illustrator – I think it is a person who tells us something important about ourselves.

Would you please describe the impact of the COMIC CONTINENT on you – in short three words… out of borders.

Sonia Eliashvili, Daryna Dubyk, Anna Sarvira, Olga Ptashnik, Safiya Vardevanyan, Daria Tsesarskaia, Piotr Socha, Ernest Khoroshok, Tetiana Zahachevska (left to right), November 2018.

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Ukraine

Anna Sarvira was born in 1986 in Zaporizhzhya. She graduated from the Kyiv Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture. She is an illustrator and designer of posters and founder of the Pictoric Illustrators Group. Her works were chosen for the Bologna Children's Book Fair in 2017 and 2019.

_ If you illustrate, what is there first – the story or the esthetics / style of illustration?

I think both are important to me, but sometimes I go more for style and form.

Do you have any artistic role models? And if you do, how do you deal with this artistic “heritage»?

I get inspiration from many illustrators, artists and also folk art. I think that the most important thing is not to just copy someone but to understand why this artist did that, what he/she was thinking, what was the idea, what in this picture makes me think it's better than others.

What makes an illustration a good one? And what makes an illustrator a good illustrator?

I don’t know about illustration – sometimes those rules just don’t work. However, I think that a good illustrator is always developing and changing. I am convinced that if you are doing the same thing for ten years over and over again it is bad. Moreover, it is my biggest fear – to find a style I’m comfortable with and be scared to change it.

Would you please describe the impact of the COMIC CONTINENT on you – in short three words…

Freedom and communication. I got the chance to experiment and I met many interesting people with different points of view, different styles, traditions and heritage.

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Germany

Marie Schwab was born in 1994. Since 2015 she is a student of Visual Communication at the University of the Arts Berlin.

_ If you illustrate, what is there first – the story or the esthetics / style of illustration?

It really depends on the content. Sometimes it is fun to go with the flow and just draw without overthinking anything too much. Then again, if I am illustrating a magazine article or designing a poster, I need to think a lot about the content and what the image needs to convey before I am starting to sketch anything.

Do you have any artistic role models? And if you do, how do you deal with this artistic “heritage»?

I really like the esthetics of the 1920s – there were so many great artists like George Grosz, El Lisitzky or Kazimir Malevich. I find it fascinating that the works feel so fresh and relevant to me, even though they were created a century ago. Also Expressionism and Cubism really inspire me. When I go to a museum I always take a sketchbook with me, so that I can sketch the paintings that inspire me the most. And sometimes that sticks and I am "translating" something from a painting into my own work. I think that for me it is really important to learn from other artists in order to find my own style.

Marie signing her silk print at the exhibition opening at Writers’ House of Georgia, Tbilisi, December 2018.

What makes an illustration a good one? And what makes an illustrator a good illustrator?

I would say that a good illustration should tell a story or convey an emotion (or both?!). It should have a good composition and well-picked colors. I would say that an Illustrator is a good one, if he or she is able to say something with his or her work.

Would you please describe the impact of the COMIC CONTINENT on you – in short three words… enriching, fun, inspirational!

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Russia

Daria Tsesarskaia was born in Tomsk in 1997. She studies illustration and book graphics at the Stroganov Moscow State University of Arts and Industry.

_ If you illustrate, what is there first – the story or the esthetics / style of illustration?

For me the base of the style of illustration is always the text and my own feelings and thoughts about it.

I´m always artistically interested in the esthetics of my illustrations but it always has to be connected to the story. So, the story goes first!

Do you have any artistic role models? And if you do, how do you deal with this artistic “heritage»?

I have an artistic role model that my professors gave me. I'm thankful for it and often use it. Sometimes it's not enough, because Russian academic art school is very strict and a little bit conservative. So, I have to be brave enough to break the rules. Once one of my professors told me to always seek for “acuity” in my work. That was the best advice I ever got.

What makes an illustration a good one? And what makes an illustrator a good illustrator?

Balance and a purity of conception. A good illustration always speaks well and clear to the recipient, and does at least what the illustrator meant it to do. I don't know exactly what makes an illustrator a good one. To be a hard worker is not enough, as well as to have some talent. But I think good illustrators always keep their eyes wide open and have a lot of interesting thoughts.

Would you please describe the impact of the COMIC CONTINENT on you – in short three words…

The Comic Continent workshops were just great!

It helps me feel as a part of community consisting of extremely talented and interesting people. The atmosphere was bursting with creativity! I love that we all were working together in one place. I'm still inspired by the experience :)

«The illustrator and the threat of empty paper», three-minute drawing by Daria Tsesarskaia and Vlada Myakonkina at the Illu-Slam in Müncheberg, November 2018.

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Belarus

Safiya Vardevanyan was born in 1997 and is currently a Graphic design student at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts.

_ If you illustrate, what is there first – the story or the esthetics / style of illustration?

For me it always goes hand in hand. Sometimes style can help you find the right way to tell a story, and sometimes a text itself might lead you to visual images and a better overall concept of understanding.

Do you have any artistic role models? And if you do, how do you deal with this artistic “heritage»?

It is in fact really hard to choose one or two, because there is a lot of remarkable artists that affected me to some extent. In my view everything you've ever seen shapes your understanding of art. It doesn't have to be necessarily a painting or graphics, it could also be nature itself, a play or a poster for a musical.

What makes an illustration a good one? And what makes an illustrator a good illustrator?

It’s hard to value the importance of visuals but to me the most important thing in illustration is an idea behind the piece that might be quite trivial but nevertheless is overseen and feels oddly refreshing. I suppose an illustration is an exploratory tool, that's why a good illustrator always searches for something new, tries to look at the world from a different angle and never stops experimenting.

Would you please describe the impact of the COMIC CONTINENT on you – in short three words…

Path to new horizons. [ 30 ]

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Ukraine

Tetiana Zahachevska was born in 1987 and graduated from the Lviv National Academy of Arts in 2011. She is currently working as an illustrator of picturebooks, as a graphic designer and as a teacher in her hometown Lviv.

_ If you illustrate, what is there first – the story or the esthetics / style of illustration?

In my opinion the story is important. In most cases the story dictates the mood of the illustrated work, its style and esthetics. Having the narration in mind it is easier to stay orientated as an illustrator and know how to move on and take the next step.

Do you have any artistic role models? And if you do, how do you deal with this artistic “heritage»?

One of my main rules is the rule of «correct emotion». Exploring a story begins with the search for mood and emotions. Followed by gradually searching for materials and composition. Risking experiments. Searching for new connections between materials and feelings, determined by the mood of the story I illustrate.

What makes an illustration a good one? And what makes an illustrator a good illustrator?

The idea makes an illustration a good one. Hard work makes an illustrator a good illustrator.

Would you please describe the impact of the COMIC CONTINENT on you – in short three words… adaptation to the world, interesting experiments, self-development. [ 32 ]

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Germany

Marie Geißler was born in 1982 and studied visual communication with a focus on illustration at the Bauhaus University in Weimar and in Valencia. She is part of the drawing machine "Illumat", draws portraits for a publishing house in Berlin and enjoys illustrating children's and youth books.

She lives in Berlin.

_ If you illustrate, what is there first – the story or the esthetics / style of illustration?

Very good question, even it sounds stupid I think the esthetics come first. Sometimes when I get asked to draw something out of my comfort zone, I´m working hard to find a way which is not the classic way to show this topic, but my own way of esthetic for the story. So I´m quite open to any kind of story and then I try to crack the nut.

Do you have any artistic role models? And if you do, how do you deal with this artistic “heritage»?

I have some illustrators I admire for their style, their ideas and their way of telling a story. I deal with it by enjoying their work extensively and figuring out what their strength is. It´s an analysis of positive facts, and this helps me to see what I can make better or what I want to work on in my own work.

What makes an illustration a good one? And what makes an illustrator a good illustrator?

The idea behind is the base of a good illustration and the second important thing is a good line in combination of a technique that fits to the content. And it should never bore the audience, so if you can include a little irritation, it mostly always is a good idea.

Would you please describe the impact of the COMIC CONTINENT on you – in short three words…

I didn´t take part in the workshop, but gave one myself at the library in Gorzów, where I also had a reading. The workshop was for kids of a class of rebels and it was exciting, inspiring and very interesting :-)

Marie and Tetiana at the Illu-Slam in Müncheberg drawing live «What was the biggest lie your parents ever told you», November 2018.

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The International Picturebook Festival „The Gloomy and the cheerful“ 2015 had already realized the idea of an artists´ residency. The Future Lab brought together six upcoming illustrators from Germany, Austria and Russia exploring the topic „The world is changing, explain it to me!“. The German illustrator Nele Brönner was accompanying the group, giving insights and inspiring impulses for their artistic development of a series of works.

In 2016 the idea of the residency had time to mature and grow, so that the first Comic Continent could take off in 2017. The German illustrator Jutta Bauer was leading this residency, sharing her lifelong experience and encouraging the young illustrators to stress and emphasize what is ready to be shown. 10 upcoming illustrators from Germany, Georgia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Russia took part in this first Comic Continent and not just few of them would have loved to come back a second time. Since the Jury was discussing anonymized applications the unplanned happened: one of the participants of the first Comic Continent was so convincing in her works, that they decided to invite her – despite the fact that she already had been participating in 2017. Congratulations Sonia Eliashvili from Georgia!

Drawing live «Who is living inside your nose?».

Illu-Slam at Parish Church Müncheberg featuring Sonia Eliashvili, Marika Haustein as illustrators, Heidi Jonsson and the Salty Matches as musicians and Barbara Anna Bernsmeier and Anton Mozgunov as moderators, November 2017.

Guests of the Picturebook Festival and Comic Continent at the Lokal in Buckow, November 2017. [ 37 ]

Germany

Jutta and participants of the first Comic Continent residency in Waldsieversdorf, November 2017.

Jutta Bauer was born in 1955 and studied at the Academy of Design in Hamburg. She published a large number of picture books. For a long time she worked as a cartoonist for the magazine „Brigitte“. In 2009 she was awarded with the special prize of the „Deutsche Jugendliteraturpreis“ for her life’s work. In 2010 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Prize.

_ Certainly the material influences the drawing, but does a material inspire me especially? Most likely it's the variety, depending on what the story needs.

What inspires me in any case and what I often use in illustration workshops is thick, absorbent paper.

People often fear a strong line...if you work with this paper and have good brushes and drawing ink, you can't get avoid a definite clear line or surface. (…)

And of course, the story and its protagonists play an important role in the working process. Which means bring back the character of the characters in the most appropriate way?

You don’t care about the world, do you!“ „Sure is!

® Jutta Bauer was mentoring the first Comic Continent residency in December 2017 in Waldsieversdorf. Her morning «prayers» and illustrated signs restricting entry into the workshop room for drunks became legendary. In February 2018 Jutta joined the touring exhibition of Comic Continent in Lithuania and held a workshop on Vilnius Book Fair.

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Russia

Valeria Beloborodova was born in 1988 in Wrocław and grew up in Woronezh, Russia. She studied Computer Graphics and Animation at the Saint Petersburg Film Academy and currently works as an illustrator and designer.

_ How would you explain, what the art of illustration means to you? In three words?

For me the art of illustration is the bridge between the soul of the artist and the soul of the viewer.

Which experience during the Comic Continent was the most important/ inspiring/ intriguing to you?

The whole festival was an unforgettable event, but if to allocate something , then I really liked the people who surrounded me- the participants, organizers, teachers and artists. I really enjoyed master classes with Jutta , I really liked the church that hosted the event , I was very impressed by the exhibition of the books of Anna Desnitskaya, loved the slam illustrators on the stage and I also liked sunrises and sunsets on the lake close to where we lived.

Which piece of literature, story or topic would you like to illustrate in the future? What do you especially like about this one ?

I believe that illustration is a very serious thing, I believe that it can change something in the souls of people, make us kinder and better, especially the strong impact illustration has on children. So I would like to illustrate stories, which can help children in this difficult world, for example the topic that we are all different, each unique and loved.

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Valeria drawing live at the Illu-Slam: ÂŤWhat was the most cheerful moment in your life?Âť, November 2017.

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Lithuania

Greta Duobienė was born in Kaunas in 1981 and studied Fine Arts at the Vilnius Academy of Arts and Art Therapy the University of Kaunas. She works digitally and with traditional techniques like linocut and ink drawings.

_ How would you explain, what the art of illustration means to you? In three words?

If I have to choose only 3 words to describe what illustration means to me, it would we – IMAGINARYDIFFERENT-WORLD.

Which experience during the Comic Continent was the most important/ inspiring/ intriguing to you?

First of all I would like to say, that it was great honor to be part of Comic Continent 2017, it was a huge inspiration and pleasure to meet so many creative and warm people. One of the best experiences during Comic Continent 2017 was to meet Jutta Bauer and to have an opportunity to talk about different processes of creating illustration and to hear some advice. It was a really life changing meeting.

Which piece of literature, story or topic would you like to illustrate in the future? What do you especially like about this one ?

I would like to illustrate some poems, Japanese haikus. I would also like to create silent book (book without or with very little text), to imagine, fantasize and to create your own version of the story. Now I am working on a book about freckles and where they came from. Freckles look beautiful to me, but I also want to imagine where they came from: is it from flower seeds or drops of joy, or something else…?

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Lithuania

Ieva Gvazdaitytė was born in 1988 and originates from the small Lithuanian town of Marijampolė. She was trained as an English teacher. Since 2015 she works in a library. She draws comics and illustrations and has been attending numerous festivals.

_ How would you explain, what the art of illustration means to you? In three words?

Creating new worlds Which experience during the Comic Continent was the most important/ inspiring/ intriguing to you?

Discovering genuine connections between Jutta, all of the talented illustrators and an amazing team of organizers. As for a most intriguing thing – probably the sweet German spaghetti :) Which piece of literature, story or topic would you like to illustrate in the future? What do you especially like about this one ?

Lithuanian folk tales and legends on the creation of the world always seemed interesting. They have a unique world of symbolism within them and give a chance to explore the roots of culture.

Draw yourself in the most cheerful moment.

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Georgia

Eter Gzirishvili was born in 1985. She studied Graphic and Fashion designs at the Academy of Arts in Tbilisi.

She designed book covers, textil prints and logos and takes part in various workshops.

_ How would you explain, what the art of illustration means to you? In three words? expression, emotion, story Which experience during the Comic Continent was the most important/ inspiring/ intriguing to you?

For me meeting with Jutta Bauer was the biggest emotion.

Which piece of literature, story or topic would you like to illustrate in the future? What do you especially like about this one ?

In the future, I think about a small book scenario that will be about fantasy characters, based on a sleeping fairy my mum used to tell me stories about... I think I’ll develop this scenario.

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Germany

Marika Haustein was born in 1984 and studied Design and Illustration in Kiel and Lucerne. At the moment she lives and works in Hamburg, where she realizes her own projects as well as works for various clients.

_

How would you explain, what the art of illustration means to you? In three words? work, fun, story (telling) Which experience during the Comic Continent was the most important/ inspiring/ intriguing to you?

The most important and most beautiful experience was the exchange with illustrators from different countries I knew so little about. It was interesting and inspiring to hear how people manage their lives on the background of all the various cultures and work contexts – and that yet we have so much in common due to our work.

Which piece of literature, story or topic would you like to illustrate in the future? What do you especially like about this one ?

At the moment I don´t have the ONE big project I want to work on. Topics I´m internsted in are mostly entangled to everyday life and the trouble that we encounter if we try to get everything done at once.

There is a quote of Miranda July: „All I ever really want to know is how other people make it through life – where do they put their body, hour by hour, and how do they cope inside of it.“ – that sums it up for me.

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Marika and Marie drawing a collective at Comic Continent residency, November 2017.

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Russia

Marie Muravski was born in 1993 in Seversk in Siberia. She studied Graphic Design in Tomsk. Afterwards she lived in the Czech Republic. Since 2014 she works as a freelance illustrator and loves to travel.

_ How would you explain, what the art of illustration means to you? In three words?

The world is full of various ideas. Everyone participates in shaping the future world. Illustration is

my humble way of doing my part consciously and thoughtfully, choosing ideas carefully. So, in three words, a gentle conquest of the world. :) Which experience during the Comic Continent was the most important/ inspiring/ intriguing to you?

I was impressed by the abundance of enthusiastic people at the festival. Organizers, young and experienced illustrators, translators, photographers, it seemed that each of them really enjoys their occupation, so the atmosphere of the festival was as inspiring as possible. During the interaction with Jutta Bauer and Iwona Chmielewska I’ve found my direction in those art issues which haven’t been resolved before but meant a lot to me. It feels like a great psychological and professional step forward.

Which piece of literature, story or topic would you like to illustrate in the future? What do you especially like about this one ?

This is a difficult question, since choosing a topic is a very long and thorny path for me and I don’t want to come up with an answer right now.

Let’s say that I’d like to draw something beautiful, intriguing and meaningful, who wouldn’t want it? :) PDF file

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Russia

Lilya Niauri was born in 1985. She studied Fashion and Textile Design in Moscow. Since 2013 she works as artist, editor and illustrator. 2016 she illustrated the animated film „White, white day“.

_

«City vs. Country Life», drawing by Lilya at the Illu-Slam in Müncheberg, 2017.

How would you explain, what the art of illustration means to you? In three words?

Phrases in a picture. It´s a figurative language.

Which experience during the Comic Continent was the most important/ inspiring/ intriguing to you?

The good contact with the curator and the participants.

Which piece of literature, story or topic would you like to illustrate in the future? What do you especially like about this one ?

World folk tales

Exhibition opening of the works of Comic Continent residency in Müncheberg, November 2017. [ 52 ]

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Ukraine

Oleksandra Promska was born in 1984 and works and lives in Rivne in Western Ukraine. She is a trained librarian and wrote her Ph.D. in History. She works as an illustrator also showing her work in exhibitions.

_

How would you explain, what the art of illustration means to you? In three words?

Be a storyteller.

Which experience during the Comic Continent was the most important/inspiring/intriguing to you?

Working under the guidance of the wonderful Jutta Bauer!!! Getting her advice and evaluation ... Again, many thanks to the organizers for this opportunity!

Which piece of literature, story or topic would you like to illustrate in the future? What do you especially like about this one ?

In 2018 I will try to implement original projects: a documentary graphic novel and a picture book.

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Ukraine

Margarita Winkler was born in 1992 in Czernitsi in the Carpathian Mountains, where she also attended her studies.

At the moment she lives in Lviv and works as an editor, translator, english teacher and a freelance illustrator, mostly designing book covers.

_

Margarita and Ieva drawing at the Illu-Slam: «What was the biggest lie you ever told your parents?», November 2017.

How would you explain, what the art of illustration means to you? In three words?

Feeling, thinking, making.

Which experience during the Comic Continent was the most important/ inspiring/ intriguing to you?

The most inspiring thing about the Comic Continent was that I got to be around fellow illustrators basically 24/7. I hardly ever get to meet other illustrators in real life, so I feel incredibly lucky that I had the chance to see how the other artists in residence worked and what techniques they used, and to discuss the struggles we all share. Meeting Jutta Bauer was also an important moment.

Which piece of literature, story or topic would you like to illustrate in the future? What do you especially like about this one ?

I’m not sure which story I’d like to illustrate specifically, but I’d want it to be something touching, dark, and sad in a beautiful way. Oscar Wilde’s “The Nightingale and the Rose” is the first thing that comes to my mind.

Draw yourself in the most cheerful moment. [ 56 ]

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In 2017 the Comic Continent was born: 10 upcoming illustrators from Germany, Georgia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Russia gathered under the professional guidance of the German illustrator Jutta Bauer. But not only their artistic approaches crossed and inspired each other. The first Comic Continent was embedded into the 5th edition of the International Picturebook Festival „The Gloomy & the Cheerful“ featuring Ilona Chmielewska and Ola CIEŚLAK from Poland as well as Anna Desnitskaya from Russia, Zuzana Hustáková Mašková from the Czech Republic, Elena Selena from Lithuania and Christina Röckl from Germany.

5th anniversary of the Picturebook Festival and exhibition opening of «In an old house in Moscow and Müncheberg» feat. Lena Witkowska and Benjamin Schroeder, November 2017.

The illustrators from Poland, Russia, the Czech Republic and Lithuania kept up the well proved festival’s tradition of sharing insights in their work, leading workshops and showing the techniques behind their illustrations. As in the years before the books came alive in musically accompanied readings and had a pas de deus with performative arts enchanting both young and older audiences. But also here steps on a new path were taken. As a special event for the 5th anniversary of the Festival the exhibition of Anna Desnitskaya’s outstanding book „In an old house in Moscow“ brought 100 years of Russian history into the ancient walls of Müncheberg parish church – with connections to and artefacts of local history as well.

And Christina Röckl brought the illustration to the urban space: The project “Bilderbuchstadt” explored the festival theme “Truth and Lie” in the context of public space. Pictures are part of our everyday life. We encounter them on the streets and in various media. But which stories are being told and which ones are not? And how does this narration work? Which impact does this have on us? Are there clear boundaries between truth and lies in the world of images?

Christina Röckl and students from Müncheberg found their own answers to those questions. Shop windows of empty shops, showcases or house walls themselves turned into picture books. Under professional mentoring the participants developed pictures and stories that became part of the cities narration.

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Poland

some new aspects, something you didn´didn’t realize before. I mostly work on my own books, writing short texts and inspiring the void with not obious illustrations.

Iwona Chmielewska was born in 1960. She is a writer and has been honoured with the most important international awards for illustration art. Her awards include the Golden Apple at the Bratislava Illustration Biennale (2007) and the Bologna Ragazzi Award at the Bologna Children's Book Fair (2011 and 2013). Only three books of her were published in German translation, „Blumkas Tagebuch“ a book about the life in Janusz Korczak's Orphanage (2011), Ojemine! (2014) and abc.de (2015). In 2012 and 2016 she was nominated for the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis. She lives and works in Toruń.

_ Which stations and incidents in your life were meaningful in your life as an illustrator? What made you become an illustrator?

In my childhood I read a lot of books. Books were the best presents for me. I think it was in this time that my great love for them began to evolve. When I was at university I missed storytelling by pictures but in those times formalism ruled in the fine arts and narration was not valued. Maybe that was the reason why I felt driven to return to books. And I suceeded. Completely by coincidenc. But this is another, very long story.

Writing stories often is a „lonely“ working process. How do experience the process of illustrating? How do the characters, places and plots influence your illustrating? Do you choose certain working places or settings when you illustrate?

Which role does the dialog play – with the author, the characters, settings and places of the stories?

Some people need to gain a state of loneliness even in a crowd of people or in the midst of their loved ones. It does not mean that they want to alienate.

It is good to stay grounded in the surrounding environment, because everyone creating important things needs to be empathetic and needs to feel his or her characters. I´m very thankful that I couldn´t take off into artistic nirvana since I am a mother of four children. I think it´s best to combine everyday life, real people, everyday life´s objects with themes and topics of the imagination and the non-realistic world – it adds a poetic note to the created art. I like to choose the difficult path – setting up limitations and restrictions I´m not allowed to cross. I usually work with a restricted amount of elements and I do it on purpose. It turns ot that only one form can be seen in so many unlimited ways being connected to unnumerous other associations. I like to find a meaning in superficially very simple things and shapes. Working at a text I always challenge myself to not follow the obvious.The power and warmheartedness in the relation between people (and that shoul always be given in the relationship between author, illustrator and recipient) is not based on be-

ing together all the time and in doing everything in the same way. Text and illustration should meet in an unexpected way, inspiring each other. Then the recipients can discover their own views and connections and relate to their own experiences.

How does the material (the paper, canvas, chalk, pencil, paint etc....) influence your work? Is there something that you prefer? Are there topics, pictures or a certain technique or maybe a certain sensual stimulus that inspire you while illustrating?

I feel very comfortable with poetry, Poetry that doesn´t show too much. Then I can work in the space between the words. I like creating books for adults that can be also looked at by children.

Which book, story or topic have you illustrated with the most interest and pleasure? Why? I create books that „follow“ me and don´t let me rest and are important enough to fight their way into existence. I´m not interested in one-way-books. I like books that you can read over and over again, come back to them even after years and still be able to find

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Which piece of literature, story or topic would you like to illustrate in the future? What do you especially like about this one?

I don´t have a special work in mind. I read a lot of poetry and sometimes I see that it could become a great picture book. I like the expression „visual literature“. Text and illustration combined very often create a completely new space, new networks of meanings and contents. The recipients are sometimes very touched by it and it can even allow them to deal with their fears and longings. They find their own solutions in the void between word and image, it gives them the satisfaction and pleasure to be the co-creator of the book as a piece of art. They remeber their own life experiences. Books should move you – some on the there hand only bore me.

Some people say, that they coul sob looking at my books, because they feel so touched. That is one of the biggest compliments and there I find the reason of doing what I do.

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Poland

Ola Cieślak was born in 1981. She studied Graphic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste in Stuttgart. She works as an illustrator, a graphic and a visual artist and lives in Poland.

_ My work starts with writing and I admit that the illustration itself becomes less and less important. I´m interested in the narration, the symbol, the myth.

The illustration is only a mean to me, that’s why I don’t cultivate a certain style or technique – these are only instruments serving the content. Word and image can function at different levels and under different conditions. Illustration is often decorative, is a form of design. I´m creating books and the difference between an illustrated book and a picture book can be huge. I´m not interested in illustrated books. I like books that are thought of as a whole – where typography, image and word have their own strength and co-create the book.

Everyone can make his or her own book...or at least a unique illustration.

Workshop with Ola in Cottbus, November 2017.

Ola drawing live at the Illu-Slam: «Which hairstyle would you wish for your biggest enemy?» [ 62 ]

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Russia

Anna Desnitskaya graduated from Moscow State Printing University in 2011. She illustrated books on 100 years of Russian history, the Moscow metro, two tramways and currently works on a new project about the Transsiberian Railway.

_ I always found it difficult to produce the final version of an illustration. A light and vivid sketch was fine, but as soon as I had to start drawing the original I was paralyzed looking at a blank sheet. I was looking for different ways to overcome this visceral reaction of mine: making collages, taking photos of pre-set 3D compositions etc. Now, I do approximately half of the work manually and another half with Photoshop. When I know that I can rearrange things on the screen as much as I like, I fear the blank sheet no more.

Sharing Cucumber-sandwiches: Anna Desnitskaya and Maria Linsmann-Dege at the exhibition opening in MĂźncheberg, November 2017.

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Czech Republic

Zuzana Hustáková Mašková was born and lives in the Czech Republic. She studied Illustration and Graphics at the Academy of Art in Prague. „Příručka pro přežití ve městě“, a book about Prague, was created as a study work and won the Arna-Sáňka-Prize in 2011.

_

I like printmaking, since it is full of surprises. I realized that I don't get satisfaction from drawing a line that stays just as it was drawn in the first place. In printmaking, everything changes. At the very least, everything gets flipped into its mirror image. In addition, usually the color and intensity change as well. Sometimes it can even disappear completely.

My biggest turn down is when my art does not evolve throughout the process. Nonetheless, in the end I believe that technique is not the most important aspect of my art. I want to convey a thought and tell a story. Art is a form of communication for me.

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Lithuania

Elena Selena was born in Vilnius in 1993. After a first training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vilnius, she arrived in Paris to join the École Estienne (ESAIG) and discovered the animated book.

Equipped with her scissors, she has been creating her own paper universes – one of them, the "Blue Garden“, became her final thesis.

_ I think that the most important inspirations were the books I read as child, because they made me dream about a magic world full of exiting and somehow unreachable happiness. (…) I still carry those bright dreams with me and I think that my creative work is an attempt to revisit my childhood worlds. (…) Most often I create the stories by myself and at least for me it is the most natural way to come to an illustration. For me text and image are two completely different and at the same time complementary fields. They do not repeat each other but bring different points of view to a final creation.

Elena with the youngest visitors of the Picturebook Festival at the opening, November 2017.

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Workshop on the «Blue Garden» and papercutting in Müncheberg.

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Germany

Christina Röckl was born and raised in the Vogtland. With „Und dann platzt der Kopf“ she completed her master's degree in illustration at ATAK/Georg Barber. The picture book won several awards, including the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis.

In addition to making books she is regularly on the road for lectures, readings and workshops at home and abroad. She lives and works in Leipzig.

_ Discoveries in everyday life, in the most curious moments, raise landmarks that influence my work. The memory of such stations begins in my kindergarten childhood: I carefully place the chair to quickly and secretly reach the well-protected treasure of the 18-volume Meyer Encyclopedia. The masterpiece of cryptic signs and images I formed into my own stories. Later, catalogues, supermarket brochures and atlases came along and made me dream, tell stories and ask questions. (…) Colour in particular is an important part of my working process. I create moods which become independent during the narration and to which one has to react. The material accompanies me, shows me new directions, tricks me and confronts me with hurdles where a constant exchange between material and me is indispensable.

Müncheberg students preparing their portraits for the illustrated walk «The city as a picturebook», mentored by Christina, November 2017.

Christina with students from lyceum of arts in Zielona Góra, November 2017. [ 70 ]

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Buckow 12 km further from Müncheberg – through the forests and hills of the ‚Märkische Schweiz’ – lies the idyllic small town of Buckow. Being the beloved refuge and leisure spot already for Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel, it also became the perfect place for the Picturebook Festival to accomodate its guests and invite the locals to delicate readings, musically accompanied illustrations and long inspirational talks.

Various venues and friends in Buckow generiusly hosted us in the last years: First of all, Hella and Teresa Schüler from the extraordinary Bed & Breakfast „Bellevue“ offered not only all of their rooms, but also cozy corners, canopy beds, coffee and wine in their welcoming house. The sanatorium „Waldfrieden“ supported us in many ways – by offering ressources, workshop facilities and even a mini van.

The former wedding ballroom of the guesthouse „Linde“ was temporarilly equipped with an old oven and became the birthplace of the idea of an Illustrators’ Slam. The chords of „Halleluja“ and the thoughts of Jutta Bauer and Iwona Chmielewska were heard at the café and cultural space Lokal. Buckow. And in 2018 we finally became present in public space: Together with the local team of Chance e.V. we transformed the market in the city center into an open-air exhibition. Last, but not least, it is due to our festival bus Otto. Der Begnungsbus that all these encounters, places and festival highlights could be reached by our guests and audience.

People and places Stadtpfarrkirche (Parish church of) Müncheberg The history of the parish church in Müncheberg is also a chronicle of the city. At the beginning of the 13th century monks of the Cistercian Order built a church as the first permanent building of the city on the highest elevation of the territory. In the following centuries, the church was repeatedly rebuilt and expanded. The present tower of the church was built in 1829 according to plans by K.F. Schinkel.

At the end of World War II, the city and its church were in large parts destroyed. All efforts to rebuild in the post-war years and subsequent years failed. Only after the reunification of the two German states it became possible to rebuild the church with a new concept that included the unique usage as a lutheran church, library and city cultural centre.

Over the centuries, the church of St. Mary's in Müncheberg has become a symbol of the will to live and of the resurrection to the present day.

The church hosted a major part of workshops, readings, exhibitions, slams and encounters of the Picturebook Festival and Comic Continent since 2014. It became the festival main venue, hotspot and (cold, but still hear-warming) home – and always left a lasting impression on festival guests from near and far.

Cozy picturebook afternoon at the local «Lokal» in Buckow with Mariela Nagle and her charming pop-up book market from bookstore Mundo Azul. November 2016. [ 72 ]

Lena Witkowska

Marzena Wysocka

Sławomir Szenwald

Performing arts and music are always made and meant for the moment – illustrations remain on paper changing the readers´ view but not themselves after they have been drawn and printed. It always has been one of the aims of the International Picturebook Festival to let these different arts to interact amongst each other. Exploring the relationship between illustration and stage seems to be Lena Wikowskas second nature. Lena Witkowska – graduate of Cultural Studies at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, student of the 12th Academy of Theatre Practices in Gardzienice makes performances and cultural projects, writes lyrics and is the vocalist in the band Vespa … as a singer and performer she is indispensable for the International Picturebook Festival, which she joined in 2013 and has enriched ever since.

is the Vice-Director of the Voivodeship and City Library Z. Herberta in Gorzów Wielkopolski. As a professional and passionate librarian she was an important motor of the International Picturebook Festival to be hosted and felt heartly welcomed in Gorzów Wielkopolski.

has accompanied the International Picturebook Festival from the very first year on. The current head of the Voivodeship and Municipal Library in Gorzów Wielkopolski has not only contributed his translational skills to the festival but also his outstanding talent as a moderator.

Side by side with Oliver Spatz he led audience and illustrators through the first Illustrators´ Slam in 2015 and the second at the philharmony in Gorzów in 2016.

Sarah Wildeisen and Sławomir Szenwald chat about contemporary libraries in Berlin and Gorzów, Buckow 2018.

Lena Witkowska performing «Halleluja», Buckow 2017. [ 73 ]

2016

Poland

Jacek Ambrożewski For me illustration usually is a cyclic, repetitive process, in which I work alone for a while and then confront the result with the recipient. It is invaluable to take a close look at the project after some time has passed. The distance often enables me to gain a completely new perspective on my work and makes me aware of what I like about it and what I need to improve.

Poland (Guest of Honour 2014 and 2016)

Gabriela Cichowska

Germany

Mehrdad Zaeri The process of illustration is often intense, lonely and withdrawn. You spend entire weeks and months at your desk. I find these phases profound and beneficial. The balance comes when I do my public readings, which are connected with many journeys and a lot of communication.

As far as the influence of figures, places and plots on my illustrations is concerned, it’s always the story that matters. It´s the story that defines place and characters. In my drawings I always try to add my own narrative layer to the story, parallel to the text. Before starting my work, I like to listen to the authors’ thoughts. In most cases it widens my ideas and conceptions. But my independence and the freedom of my imagination is always very important to me.

Yes, indeed. Illustrating is a very withdrawn process.

Of course I talk with the author before I start drawing, I discuss the story listening to his thoughts, but then I sit in front of a white sheet of paper. And start to work – all by myself.

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Czech Republic

Michaela Kukovičová Before I start to work on illustrating a new book, I first try to get a feeling for the protagonists of the story. I also imagine how the places might look like – from the outside as well as from the inside. Of course there is a big difference between fictional and non-fictional literature. For non-fictional books a thorough research is indispensable.

Lithuania

Mikalojus Vilutis The illustration starts in my thoughts. And when I’ve finished the drawing in my head, I start to put it on paper. For that I need to be alone and I don’t want any influences from the outside. Of course, I am still influenced by my environment. From the illustrations of other artists for example. If I were the only person on earth, my illustrations would look different.

Germany

Nele Brönner I often write stories for both children’s books and comics myself. Not exclusively, but often. I like it that way. In addition, I often interlace text and image, write into the picture, insert speech bubbles or draw words. To construct stories, I need peace and space for an empty view over the roofs or against an unadorned wall. I feel the same about the process of illustrating itself. [ 75 ]

2015

Lithuania

Ieva Babilaitė To create a language beside the text itself, a second narrative level, you have to be alone and concentrated, but in an inspiring environment. I can draw the first sketches of a new figure anywhere. Also in a café. It is only important for me to sit near a window.

You never know what you’ll find there passing by.

Poland

Germany

Tomek Kozłowksi

Aljoscha Blau

In my case the illustrations start in my head. I think for a long time, arrange and rearrange. My latest version finds its way onto the computer screen. And there’s another decisive aspect of the working process: the fine-tuning of the composition, the proportions, sometimes radical colour changes ... the computer ... yes, it has made life extremely easier for us.

We can always return to an earlier, perhaps better version. Or look for other solutions without fearing to lose former versions of our illustrations.

Czech Republic

David Böhm

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Ukraine

Germany

Studio Agrafka

Regina Kehn Illustrating is not a lonely process, because I always have good company – the story! High concentration is very important. Sometimes I lost myself in the story and suffered so much with the character and her fate that I started to cry. I need a lot of time for the illustrating process. Time enough to let the work rest for a few days. Then I can take a fresh look at it again.

Whenever we work on a book, we think of picture and text as a unit. Sometimes the illustration is the leitmotif – and sometimes the text sets the tone. It’s a lively, dynamic process. In our projects, we are very aware of what is happening around us. What is important, what concerns the society we live in?

It is important for us to react to the current issues in our environment. We don’t want to be egocentric artists, we want to be a part of something bigger, part of the whole.

Poland

Małgorzata Gurowska For me its not a “lonely” process. I work very closely with others. In “IDEOLO” picture and text are closely intertwined. Word and illustration complement each other, intensify and interpret each other. The starting point were texts by Julian Tuwim. Excellent, strong texts. Unfortunately still frighteningly up to date. The book has a very simple framework. It is a locomotive full of wagons. Each page, one wagon.

It is a train with the most burning problems of the present. The pictures in our book form their own alphabet, their own visual language, their own sign system.

Russia

Stas Azarov The work with the text, its translation into a picture or a series of pictures, proceeds in different ways. There are texts that you recognize, see and understand immediately and which you only need to bring to life. And there are those that need to be carried around for some time. You live with them and let them rest until you find a way to make them visible and clear.

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2014

Lithuania

Kęstutis Kasparavičius

Germany

Nadia Budde

While working on illustrations, my fantasy often went wild. Out of respect for the author, I pushed my ideas aside. I believed that the most important author of the book is the author himself and the illustrator can only be his modest assistant. At the same time I was already tired of illustrating for others and ready for a change in my life. Then I got a proposal of the Chinese publishing house Grimm Press. And so I started to write myself.

Lithuania

Lina Dūdaitė To me the story is like a framework and I am the one who is supposed to find an appropriate dress for it.

In a certain way the story is the material for visual interpretation, but at the same time I like to perceive an author’s message and play along with it. When drawing, I have no particular plan. I simply do what I feel and when I’m finished, the result already belongs to others. From there on, my drawing starts a life on its own, which no longer depends on me.

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Since I usually work on text and image at the same time, they both influence each other. Rarely do I have a story in my head, I don’t actually write any stories. I rather collect. I collect drawings, which are usually accompanied by text or words. These sometimes arrange themselves into a theme, which then can become a book. I rarely get my ideas sitting at a desk. I find it very difficult to sit down with the intention of being creative. I often go out. When I’m jogging, I have the best ideas. I also appreciate the exchange with others. I travel the world a lot with my books and receive many very different reactions.

It’s fun.

Poland

Germany

Ola WoldańskaPłocińska

Nikolaus Heidelbach I always work at my desk. It´s a simple desk. For me it doesn´t matter if I illustrate my own story or another, it´s the same process. Or I can put it the other way around: When I write myself, I sometimes think: “Oh, it would be easier if I had a text”. But when I’m working on a foreign text, I think: “That’s getting on my nerves. I´d rather do something of my own.“ When an author describes twelve little ponies with twelve different blankets and twelve different saddles and and and…you can get quite angry as an illustrator thinking : “Yes, you can write it all so easily and I’m supposed to paint all your ponies now?

Forget it!”.

Cucumber, onion and radish, lemons, apples and oranges, they all end up in the bowl of children’s imagination, get properly mixed and blended. And suddenly the lemon is not all that sour any more – doesn´t it even look like Uncle Emil in his armchair?

And the radish loses its bitterness and enchants us with its extravagancy instead – and all that live and in 3D!

Czech Republic

Chrudoš Valoušek Maybe it is the places and experiences of our childhood that shape us most. Like all of us I also have such places. Woods, rocks, landscapes. I like to retreat when I’m working on a book. I never really considered myself an illustrator. I’d rather call me as the Native American might do, something like “The one who makes books“. But whatever... I became an illustrator by chance.

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2013

Poland

Agata Dudek My work doesn’t start with an image. First I read the text and then I develop a graphic idea. My first step after getting familiar with the text is the research, then I think about the motive. “The secret of a little one” is a text about feeling and being different, alienated,…I got inspired by the circus, the cabinets of curiosity...there I found many ideas and forms for my figures. But I also draw inspiration from other colleagues illustrators. And the internet is also an important source both for inspiration as well as for information.

Lithuania (Guest of Honour 2013 and 2014)

Sigutė Chlebinskaitė Usually I begin to live with the mood of the story I work on, then with its characters. I take them with me under the shower, I eat with them and when I go to bed, they accompany me into my dreams and at some point I find the key, the style of my illustration.

In the beginning it is the search for my own form, mood and technique for every particular project.

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Germany

Kat Menschik Is it a lonely process? In a way, yes: I read manuscripts, then make myself a coffee and think. I try to find a unique sound for each story, to find a new idea. If I have this idea, it can carry me through a whole book.

Of course, the content is very important: sometimes the locations have to be very exact as with some hero stories I worked on. Here I didn’t show any faces of the heroes so that the reader could make his own imagery up, but I concentrated on the landscapes that created a certain mood.There are stories from which I take fragments, individual words and illustrate them. That way my illustrations can tell stories that are not a copy of the text but tell their own story as well. Sometimes I also illustrate with echoes of past esthetical styles, such as Jugendstil. The exchange with the authors is as unique as each author itself.

Poland

Marta Ignerska

Germany

Einar Turkowski

Yes, the process is a lonely one. Whether there will be a dialogue between me and the book depends on the text and to which extent I´ll be able to filter the content. But almost all the texts I work on have this potential. You take it and release it with a part of yourself. The work of illustrators or graphic artists only makes sense if they succeed in adding something of themselves. I am not so much inspired by other illustrators, but by other artists. For example by music. When I was working on “Die Tonangeber” / “Wszystko gra”, I was totally into P.J. Harvey. The book was written under the influence of her music.

Music has the potential to guide me.

Due to the fact that I’ve mostly illustrated my own texts so far I set my own guidelines at each stage of my work. The big challenge is not to rely on the same patterns again and again but to always be anxious to question everything, in order to be able to surprise yourself. Whenever I manage to do something different from what I usually do I’m satisfied the most. [ 81 ]

Festivalteam Artistic director/Founder

Oliver Spatz is a theatre scientist and has been leading theatre and educational projects as well as festivals and cultural institutions in the German-Polish border region since 2007. Important topics for him are participation as well as cultural education and the exchange with the arts and sciences East of the river Oder. His current projects include the International Picturebook Festival and the programming of the culture train „Kulturzug Berlin-Wrocław“.

Curator/Founder

Sarah Wildeisen was a bookseller, studied Art History, wrote and writes reviews and articles. She coordinates the Children’s, Youth and School Library Work in Berlin-Mitte and conducts language and reading promotion programs with day-care centres and school classes. Together with Oliver Spatz she founded the International Picturebook Festival „The Gloomy and the Cheerful” in 2013.

Programme Director Comic Continent/ Festival Manager

Barbara Anna Bernsmeier is a cultural and project manager living in Berlin.

She studied Comparative Literature and Slavonic Studies in Munich and Orenburg. In Novosibirsk she taught German as a foreign language, in Volgograd

she initiated international cultural programs and encounters. After her return from Russia she joined the team of the Picturebook Festival in 2015 as festival manager and was the founder of the residence programme “The Comic Continent” in 2017.

Editing, moderation, educational support

Natalie Wasserman studied Theatre Sciences, Polish Literature and Educational Sciences – later also Creative Writing. She works as a freelance theatre pedagogue, dramaturge and translator in Berlin and loves cross-border projects. She has been a permanent member of the Picturebook Festival since 2013 and is also part of the conceptional team of the culture train „Kulturzug Berlin-Wrocław“.

Festival Coordination/Project Coordination “The City as a Picture Book”

Gabi Manns is a lecturer for political and cultural education. She leads seminars in the field of non-formal education – her work focuses on international encounters and team building, reminiscence and narrative pedagogical techniques as well as feminist work with girls. She is currently a master student of socio-cultural studies in Frankfurt an der Oder and Poznań. She has a Master ś degree in Social and Cultural Studies in Frankfurt (Oder) and Poznań and also works for the culture train „Kulturzug BerlinWrocław“.

Festival Coordination/Finances

Local Coordination

Dr. Irmtraut Zaspel

JULIANE GRÜTZMACHER

studied Biology and worked in plant research for 40 years. Her enthusiasm for growth and beauty, however, was never limited to nature, but also contributed fresh impulses to Müncheberg’s cultural life. As treasurer, she is an active member of the Förderverein der Stadtpfarrkirche and manages the festival’s funding.

has an M.A. in Cultural Studies and works as a cultural manager. After 8 years of living in Berlin, she returned to her home region and became the executive director of Stadtpfarrkirche Müncheberg, where she joined the festival team in 2016.

Curatorial Assistance and Coordination Comic Continent

Olesia Vitiuk studied Fine Arts and Curatorial Practice in Nuremberg and Krakow. She works as a freelance curator and cultural manager in Berlin. Her latest projects include the exhibition “Haus der Sinnsuche” in the KUNSTSÆLEN Berlin, the film project “I love you, I hate you, eat the soup” at ZK/U and the exhibition “Kashpirovskiy, bless my blow” in tuesday coworking. Olesia is our newest member and joined the team in September 2018.

Festival Coordination Poland

Iga Jagodzińska is a theatrologist based in Poznań, currently working in Poznan Boys’ Choir as an office coordinator.

Her professional and life experience is also connected with sight impaired – as a therapist, lecturer and project coordinator. She keens on Polish-German relations by taking part in international projects.

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Festivalteam Local Coordination

Juliane Grützmacher Ingrid Panse Emilia Fabiańczyk Kathrin Oerters Regina Meier Gudrun Teske Jan Springborn Marzena Wysocka Elena Sobinova Mikhail Skotnikov Olha Kruk Evgenia Nesterovich Anna Chistoserdova Otar Karalashvili Natasha Lomouri Moderation

Sławomir Szenwald Ingrid Panse Natalie Wasserman Sarah Wildeisen Oliver Spatz Barbara Anna Bernsmeier Translation

Anton Mozgunov Grzegorz Szymanowski Urszula Czerska Milda Bagdonaitė Kristina Kallert Alena Epifanova Natalie Wasserman Ewelina Wanke Sławomir Szenwald Karolina Knochenmuß

Armina Sakaviciute Claudia Sinnig Markus Roduner Magdalena Stojer-Brudnicka Curation

Otar Karalashvili Anton Valkovsky Artistic contributions

Lena Witkowska LUX:NM Sebastian Undisz Tillmann Severin Stefan Stern Michael F. Stoerzer Benjamin Schroeder Claudia Kühn Heidi Jonsson Masha Kashyna Troye Ziliya (Lviv) Rezo Kiknadze (Tbilisi) Beata Absalon Roman Hagenbrock Uwe Ballhorn Simon Blume Anna Marie Brandys Gertrud Fahr Barbara Górecka Roman Hagenbrock Tina Haseney Julius Heise Dr. Dariusz Kacprzak Ann-Mi von Löw Magdalene Loda Heike Matzer [ 83 ]

Anna Maria Roznowska Tomasz Sozanski Katja Spitzer Natalie Tornai Ewelina Wanke Beata Zagozdzon Photographers

Hubertus Blume Christian von Steffelin Robert Kummer Ksenia Les Stas Azarov Reiner Zaspel Ofa Feldman Anton Soloveychik Support

Reiner Zaspel Frank Käubler Felix Brückmann Jens Glodeck Hella and Teresa Schüler Feliks Oldewage Future Lab 2015

Nele Brönner Felix Hülpüsch Raphaela Buder Alexandra Rügler Anastasia Ulianenko Greta Sedlmayr Katja Mock

Partners The festival is organised by Stadtpfarrkirche Müncheberg in cooperation with the city library (Stadtbibliothek) and the constant support of numerous people of Müncheberg and surroundings. A big thanks to all!

Patronage 2017 Maria Linsmann-Dege Patronage 2014 and 2016: Dietmar Woidke, Prime Minister of the state of Brandenburg Patronage 2016: Elżbieta Anna Polak, Marshall of voivodship Lubuskie.

GERMANY

Stadt Müncheberg Sparkasse Märkisch Oderland Ministerium der Justiz und für Europa und Verbraucherschutz Brandenburg Staatskanzlei Brandenburg Plattform Kulturelle Bildung Brandenburg Kulturland Brandenburg Botschaft Litauen Internationale Buchhandlung für Kinder Mundo Azul Berlin Kleist-Museum Frankfurt (Oder) Rehaklinik Waldfrieden für Mutter und Kind Buckow Möbeltischlerei Geldner Müncheberg Bernhardinum Fürstenwalde Brecht Weigel Haus Buckow Chance e.V. (Buckow) CVJM Waldsieversdorf Deutsch-Polnisches Jugendwerk Gastgeberei und Kreativhaus Bellevue, Buckow Evangelisches Johanniter-Gymnasium Wriezen John Heartfield Haus Gimpel-Verlag (Adam Jaromir) Grundschule Müncheberg Heimatverein Müncheberg Integrationskita „Rappelkiste“ Müncheberg Jugendclub 2nd Home Müncheberg Kirchner Kommunikation

KITA „Grünstraße“ e.V. Müncheberg KITA „Spatzennest“ Müncheberg Kleist Forum Frankfurt (Oder) Kneipp Grundschule „Bertolt Brecht“ Buckow Kunstmuseum Dieselkraftwerk Cottbus Landhof Müncheberg Lokal. Buckow Oberschule Müncheberg Mädchentreff „Zimtzicken“ Potsdam Spotkanie-Begegnung e.V. Müncheberg Volkshochschule Frankfurt (Oder)

POLAND

Deutsches Generalkonsulat Breslau Wojewódzka i Miejska Biblioteka Publiczna im.

Zbigniewa Herberta w Gorzowie Wielkopolskim Wojewódzka i Miejska Biblioteka Publiczna imienia C. Norwida w Zielonej Górze Zespół Szkół Licealnych im. Z. Herberta, Słubice Zespół Szkół Ekonomiczno-Rolniczych, Słubice Zespół Szkół Technicznych, Słubice Filharmonia Gorzówska SMOK Słubice National Museum Poznań National Museum Szczecin Ptasia 23 (Danuta Słomczyńska)

BELARUS

Ў Gallery of contemporary art

CZECH REPUBLIC

Czech Cultural Center Berlin Baobab Publishing House Publishing House Bylo Nebylo

GEORGIA

Tbilisi Book Art Center Writers’ House of Georgia

LITHUANIA

Lithuanian Culture Institute Goethe-Institut Vilnius Land of Books, Sigute Chlebinskaite Vilnius Book Fair

RUSSIA

Project Initiative, Moscow Samokat Publishing House NCCA Vladikavkas

UKRAINE

Artistic Council Dialogue Old Lion Publishing House Lviv Youth Library Dzvinka Chelepis (Municipality of Lviv)

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Otar Karalashvili preparing for the exhibition, Waldsieversdorf 2017.

Olha Kruk from partner publishing house ÂŤOld LionÂť at the Comic Continent exhibition, Lviv 2018.

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Comic Continent I – On Tour 2017-2018 Between December 2017 and May 2018 the exhibition of the first Comic Continent – consisting of analogue and digital illustrations, performative elements and a collectively developed work – travelled to all participating countries. The exhibition covered more than 12,000 km and was hosted in literature houses, libraries, museums and at book fairs. The team of the International Picturebook Festival accompanied the exhibition, and there was room for networking, exchange and new cooperations.

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Stop: Tbilisi (GE) – 4.-5.12.2017 in the Writers´ House of Georgia Partner: Book Art Centre Tbilisi, Writers‘ House of Georgia.

Stop: Lviv (UA) – 7.-8.12.2017 in the Youth Library Lviv Partner: Artist Council Dialogue Lviv, Youth Library Stop: Vilnius (LT) – 23.-24.2.2018 at the Book Fair in Vilnius Supported by Goethe-Institute Lithuania Stop: Marijampolė (LT) in the City Library Supported by Goethe-Institute Lithuania Stop: Kanuas (LT) – 1.-31.3.2018 in the District Library KaunasGarliava Supported by Goethe-Institute Lithuania Stop: Vladikavkas (RU) – 2.-3.5.2018 in the National Center for Contemporary Art Vladikavkas Supported by the Robert Bosch Cultural Managers Network

COMIC CONTINENT II – ON TOUR 2018 In 2018 the second Comic Continent – consisting of analogue and digital illustrations, performative elements and the Illustrators´ Slam reached even further – besides Ukraine and Georgia it also covered Moscow.

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Stop: Networking Meeting in Moscow, 08.12. 2018 Partner: Project Initiative Stop: Tbilisi (GE) Illustrators´ Slam and Exhibition 09.12. 2018. ScreenPrinting Workshop 3.-8.12.2018 Partners and Venue: Writers’ House of Georgia, Book Art Center Tbilisi Stop: Lviv (UA) Vernissage 14.12.2018 / Illustrators´ Slam 15.12.2018 in the Youth Librabry Partner: The Old Lion Publishing House, Youth Librabry

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Participants and team of Comic Continent vol. II with the «procrastination cigarette», Müncheberg in November 2018.

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Imprint The International Picturebook Festival presents: Comic Continent Gloomy and Cheerful Publishers: Barbara Anna Bernsmeier, Oliver Spatz info@bilderbuchfestival.de Förderverein zur Nutzung und zum Wiederaufbau der Stadtpfarrkirche St. Marien e.V., Müncheberg Chairs of the Board: Dr. Bernd Zbell, Reiner Zaspel Treasurer: Dr. Irmtraut Zaspel Ernst-Thälmann-Str. 52 15374 Müncheberg info@stadtpfarrkirche-muencheberg.de Editing/Text: Natalie Wasserman, Barbara Anna Bernsmeier Advisor: Sarah Wildeisen Layout: Maxim Neroda Proofreading: Anton Mozgunov Special thanks to Alexander Keller from the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum.

Print run: 200 copies. Published April 2019.

This catalogoe is not for sale.

ISBN: 978-3-947214-04-4 Photo credits: Christian von Steffelin (p. 5, 8, 10, 22, p.34 right, 36, 37, 40, 44, 48 left, 52, 54, 56, 58, 62, 64, 66, 69 up, 73 left, 80, 85, 88, 89) Thomas Martius (p. 38, 42, 48 right, 60, 68, 69, 70, 71 right) Ksenia Les (p. 70, 72, 76, 77) Anastasia Ivanova (p. 43, 86, 91) Bogdan Bloch (p. 34, 73) Oliver Spatz (p. 6, 12, 82, 83, 86) Olesia Vitiuk (p. 26, 85, 87)

Picture credits: If not indicated differently all rights for the illustrations are borne by the illustrators.

Cover Illustration from „Bäume“ by Piotr Socha.

Published with the kind permission of Gerstenberg Verlag.

Piotr Socha: „Bienen“ by Piotr Socha. Published with the kind permission of Wydawnictwo Dwie Siostry (Warsaw) and Gerstenberg Verlag.

Daryna Dubyk: Winning illustrations for the competition of Comic Continent vol. II 2018.

Sonia Eliashvili: Winning illustration Comic Continent vol. II (left) and part of the series „Family portrait“ from the residency, 2018.

Sasha Grach: Winning picture Comic Continent vol. II (lef) and print „Waves“ from residency, 2018.

Ernest Khoroshok: „Robot“ and „Surfgirl“ (right) and series from the Comic Continent residency, 2018.

Vlada Myakonkina: „Happy new year“ (left) and winning illustration of Comic Continent vol. II, 2018.

Olga Ptashnik: From the series „Lucy“ (right) and winning illustration of Comic Continent, 2018.

Anna Sarvia: „Comic Continent and sausages“ (left) and winning illustrations of Comic Continent vol. II, 2018.

Marie Schwab: Series Comic Continent residency. Print from Tbilisi Silk Print workshop, 2018.

Daria Tsesarskaia: Series Comic Continent residency and Tbilisi silk screen workshop, 2018.

Safiya Vardevanyan: Series from Comic Continent residency, 2018.

Tetiana Zahachevska: Series „Warm memories“ from Comic Continent residency (right) and winning illustration, 2018.

Marie Geissler: „Kirsten Reinhardt, Karl und Knäcke lernen räubern. Mit Illustrationen von Maria Geißler“ © Carlsen Verlag GmbH, Hamburg 2018.

Jutta Bauer: p. 3 from the book „Armut“ © Carlsen Verlag GmbH, Hamburg 2018. Illustrations from the private archive.

Valeria Beloborodova: Series from Comic Continent residency, 2017.

Greta Duobienė: „Come, play with me“ from Comic Continent residency, 2017 and print from Tbilisi Silk Printing workshop, 2018.

Sonia Eliashvili: Series from Comic Continent residency, 2017.

Ieva Gvazdaitytė: Winning illustration (left) from Comic Continent residency, 2017 and print from Tbilisi Silk Print workshop, 2018.

Eter Gzirishvili: Winning illustration (left) and series „My most cheerful moment“ from Comic Continent residency, 2017.

Marika Haustein: Winning illustration from Comic Continent residency, 2017.

Marie Muravski: Winning illustration from Comic Continent residency, 2017. Print from Tbilisi Silk Print workshop, 2018.

Lilya Niauri: Winning illustration from Comic Continent residency, 2017.

Oleksandra Promska: Winning illustration (right) and series from Comic Continent residency, 2017.

Margarita Winkler: Winning illustration from Comic Continent residency, 2017.

Iwona Chmielewska: „Obie“ by Iwona Chmielewska, published with the kind permission of Wydawnictwo Wolno.

Ola Cieślak: Książka do zrobienia“, published with the kind permission of Wydawnictwo Dwie Siostry (Warsaw) Anna Desnitskaya: „In einem alten Haus in Moskau“ («История старой картиры»). Published with the kind permission of Samokat Publishing House, Moscow, and Gerstenberg Verlag, 2017.

Zuzana Hustáková Mašková: Illustrations from the book „Příručka pro přežití ve městě“, published with the kind permission of Bylo nebylo (Praha).

Christina Röckl: „Und dann platzt der Kopf“ by Christina Röckl. Published with the kind permission of Kunstanstifter Verlag.

Nele Brönner: „Affenfalle“ © luftschacht Verlag, 2015.

Jacek Ambrożewski: „Szkice z przyszłości“, Warszawa, 2012.

Mikalojus Vilutis: from private archive, published with the kind permission of the illustrator.

Michalea Kukovičová: from private archive, published with the kind permission of the illustrator.

Mehrdad Zaeri: Illustration from private archive, published with the kind permission of the illustrator.

Ieva Babilaitė: Illustration from private archive, published with the kind permission of the illustrator.

David Böhm: Illustration from „Hlava v hlavě“. Labyrint/ Raketa, Prag 2013.

Małgorzata Gurowska: „Lokomotywa / IDEOLO“ Centrala, 2015.

Tomek Kozlowski: Grzegorz Kasdepke, Tomek Kozlowski, Das Tier in meinem Bauch © 2015 Beltz & Gelberg in der Verlagsgruppe Beltz, Weinheim/Basel.

Regina Kehn: Anna Woltz, Meine wunderbar seltsame Woche mit Tess. Mit Illustrationen von Regina Kehn © Carlsen Verlag GmbH, Hamburg 2015.

Stas Azarov: Illustration from series „Abandoned Lands“, 2015.

Kęstutis Kasparavičius: From private archive, published with the kind permission of the illustrator.

Chrudoš Valoušek: „Chrudošův mix přísloví“, Baobab, 2008.

Gabriela Cichowska: Adam Jaromir, Gabriela Cichowska: „Fräulein Esthers letzte Vorstellung“. Gimpel Verlag, Langenhagen 2013.

Nadia Budde: From private archive, published with the kind permission of the illustrator.

Marta Ignerska: „Wszystko gra“, Wydawnictwo: Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina.

Agata Dudek: “Tajemnica Malutkiej”, Anna Onichimowska; ilustracje: Agata Dudek, Ezop, 2012.

Einar Turkowski: Der Rauhe Berg, published with the kind permission of Atlantis, Imprint of Orell Füssli Verlag, www.atlantis-verlag.ch © 2012 Orell Füssli Sicherheitsdruck AG, Zürich, Switzerland Kat Menschik: «Die unheimliche Bibliothek», Haruki Murakami, DuMont, Köln 2013.

Two grandmasters of illustration say goodbye after their visit to the Comic Continent exhibition in Lviv, December 2017.

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