Ben Katchor, Nicolas Wild

The combination of text and image in comics, graphic novels or cartoons, provide a sophisticated device for narrating stories and for portraying the complexity of our society. While the two layers of text and image are interacting, they produce meanings that neither can achieve by itself. The summer academy offers two courses with two outstanding comic artists. While Ben Katchor focuses on worldwide traditions of illustration and comics in performance, Nicolas Wild imparts skills in creating graphic reportage.

Ben Katchor, detail from The Jew of New York

Currently, Ben Katchor is represented in the group exhibition Alt-Weekly Comics, the first museum retrospective dedicated to the comics of the alternative weekly newspaper world, running March 4 through May 2 at the Society of Illustrators in New York. Read here a recent reportage on Ben Katchor in the Jüdische Allgemeine (only in German).

Nicolas Wild, detail from Ainsi se tut Zarathoustra

Nicolas Wild currently participates in the Festival of Literature in Dubai. On March 6 he will discuss "Graphic Wonders" and on March 7 he will demonstrate "The Art of Graphic Novels". Recently, Nicolas Wild portrayed his colleague Chapatte within the series “square” on the French/German TV channel “arte”: