Politics of communication: Drawing
They say that “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Reality has repeatedly proved us that a drawing in the media is the equivalent of an article and, sometimes, even of an entire newspaper.
The terrorist attack that took place in January this year at the premises of the Charlie Hebdo Magazine in Paris is still fresh in the collective memory, being launched as a response to the publication of a caricature of Muhammad, which Islamic fundamentalists perceived as defamatory. Almost the entire editorial staff was killed in the assault and it gave birth to a massive solidarity movement on social media. Millions of people from Europe and from all around the world declared at that time: “Je suis Charlie!”
Recently this year, the Charlie Hebdo Magazine also published two caricatures related to the death of the three-year old Syrian boy who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea while his parents were trying to get to Europe. This time, the worldwide public pressed tough charges on the Magazine and accused the French of having crossed the line.
But what is the right limit and when is it about political drawing?
The documentary Cartoonists introduces us to twelve cartoonists from all over the world and their day-to-day work, which entails a constant clash with the boundary of the affectability of the society in which they live and draw, a boundary which is often went over in their drawings. How can a few lines synthesize such complicated and serious matters? Who are those who risk their lives for a drawing? What is the role of caricatures in political communication?
Visual artist Dan Perjovschi will try to outline the possible answers to these questions, reflecting on the experience of cartoonists around the world, as well as on his own experience in the field.
The conference will be held on 6th October at Astra Film Cinema hall after the screening of 'Cartoonists - Foot Soldiers of Democracy'.
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Dan Perjovschi is a Romanian drawer, illustrator, writer, journalist and performance artist. His artworks represent a combination of drawings, cartoons, raw art and graffiti, and they are temporarily exhibited on the walls of museums and contemporary art spaces all over the world. Perjovschi approaches current social issues in his artworks and he has played an important part in the development of the civil society in Romania as an illustrator and writer for Revista 22 cultural magazine in Bucharest. His works were exhibited in the USA, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Hungary, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, Mexico, Brazil, South Korea, China, etc.
Tuesday 06.10.2015 16:00, Astra Film Cinema