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Conversational Euro-Comics: Bart Beaty On The Angouleme 2012 Program Sent Out This Week
posted November 30, 2011
 

By Bart Beaty

The 39th edition of the Festival International de la Bande Dessinée will take place from January 26 to 29 in the medieval French town of Angouleme. Today, the FIBD released its preliminary program, outlining a number of the exhibitions that will be held during the event:

A large retrospective honoring this year's president, Art Spiegelman, will be held featuring more than 200 pieces of original art. This exhibition will also focus on the great anthology, RAW.

L'Europe se dessine (Europe Draws Itself). Featuring new work by 50 leading comics authors -- Bilal, Manara, Swarte, Prado -- will be held in Place St. Martial. The show will feature comics celebrating the past, present and future of a unified Europe.

Fred, The Enchanter will be a comprehensive look at the work of the 1980 FIBD president some three decades later. As Fred is a genius, this should be awesome.

Di Rosa Magazine, the influential Italian comics magazine from the 1970s, will be the subject of a retrospective.

Three nations will have exhibitions featuring their cartoonists: Taiwan, Spain, and Sweden.

Sardon will have an exhibition of his stamps (not for postage, the other kind). I've seen these works in the past, and they're exciting and impressive,

In addition, the Rencontres Internationles (panel and single author interviews) is a veritable who's who, including Chris Ware, Francoise Mouly, Charles Burns, Javier Mariscal, Joanna Helllgren and the proverbial others.

Finally, the French composer-arranger Jean-Claude Vannier will be in residence at the Festival, creating a new symphony that will be performed live, with artist Aude Picault.

Two months away, but it is already sounding like a very promising year at the world's premiere comics event.

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cover to RAW Vol. 1 #1
sample of work from Fred (below)

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