THE PROJECTS is a new international festival of experimental comics and narrative arts in Portland, October 19-21, 2012.
http://theprojectspdx.tumblr.com/
The Projects brings together experimental artists from Europe, North America, and Portland for three days of workshops, exhibitions, panels, performances, collaborative projects, and intensive creative mayhem! Guest artists will be creating various projects during the course of the weekend and visitors are invited to join in the fray. The Projects is designed for collaboration, connection, inspiration, experimentation and play, leaving behind the festival model of comics as commerce. Gone are the tables and the sales pitch – instead, a party!
The Projects is free and open to all (with the exception of Sunday night at Holocene, which is 21 and over).
WORKSHOPS (Fri/Sat/Sun 1-4 pm, Independent Publishing Resource Center, 1001 SE Division): Various free workshops on screenprinting, book-making, collaborative drawing, and more.
French artist collective/publishers, Le Dernier Cri, offer a rare opportunity to work with them during a 3-day screenprinting workshop.
Local printer, Eberhardt Press, will present an informative workshop on book binding/making.
PROJECTS (Sat/Sun,1-8 pm, IPRC): A number of the guest artists have designed interactive projects that all visitors are encouraged to participate in.
· The Sumi Ink Club presented by Alex Chiu – Portland hosts the legendary Los Angeles group drawing project. Grab a brush, and pour some ink in a cup!
· Igor Hofbauer – Giant paint-by-numbers mural by the Croatian avant-garde graphic artist
· Bwana Spoons – Halloween Monster Photo Op
· Anonymous – Choose Your Own Adventure writing project
· Taleen Kalenderian – Free Write Shop. Everyone brings an older work–a sentence, a picture, whatever and puts it in the communal inspiration pot. Then people draw something out and see where it takes them.
· Duskin Drum – Drum brings his Chinese street art project “sad penguins” to Portland with a sad penguin draw-in, creating hundreds of sad penguins soon to populate the Portland streets. “It might not be all about climate. Some penguins just feel sorry for the human people.”
· DIY Magic – Design your own Tarot deck with Anthony Alvarado
· DMTV – Floating World’s yearly animation fest will be presented in a slightly different form at The Projects. There will be a screening room set up with various animations scheduled at different times throughout the weekend.
PANELS (Sat/Sun 4-5:45 pm, IPRC)
Conversations with artists and discussions about topics in experimental narrative arts.
GRIDLORDS (Sat/Sun 6-7:45pm, IPRC)
Gridlords is a monthly comics club that brings together indie comics creators for readings, interviews, and multimedia presentations. They will be hosting a number of panels including readings by Chris Cilla, Matthew Thurber, Erik Nebel, Jesse McManus, Austin English, Clara Bessijele Johansson, Sean Christensen ABT with Magic Caves & Allie Hankins, Kevin Hooyman, Julia Gfrörer & Allie Hankins, Maia Bambu & Pulse Emitter, Keenan Keller and more!
EXHIBITIONS: Shows at multiple galleries and shops across the city, including a retrospective exhibition of Le Dernier Cri at Gallery Homeland, 2505 SE 11th Ave.
EVENING PROGRAMS:
Friday 6-8pm, Floating World Comics, 400 NW Couch St. – Book release and signing with Jonny Negron & Sammy Harkham, plus a group interview with Harkham, Negron, Jason T. Miles, and Chris Cilla. Followed by a house party at ‘Mike’s Basement’ with live music by Le Dernier Cri, The Tenses, and Matthew Thurber.
Saturday 9:30pm, Hollywood Theater, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd. – Plink Flojd animation screening, live music by Regular Music and Nice Nice, presented by E*rock
Sunday 9pm, Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St. – Closing party presented by Experimental Half Hour, live music by Atole, Good Night Billygoat, Apartment Fox and Wild Thing.
POP-UP SHOP:
You don’t have to sit behind a table – we’ll handle that!
There will be a pop up shop at the IPRC where artists can sell their books and zines. However space will be limited and we require that you email us in advance to reserve a spot for your book, and also to enter your information into our inventory system. We may not have room to accommodate everything, but you’re welcome to bring anything you like and trade freely with others. Plan on doing early setup on Thursday Oct. 18th or Friday Oct. 19th (before noon) at the IPRC. There may not be room for all of your books, try to limit selection to 3 or 4 of your best titles. We’ll have 3-5 copies of each title on display, feel free to bring your own overstock so we can restock as books sell out.
You get 100% of your sales (minus any credit card processing fees). But you need to email me with the following information:
TITLE, QUANTITY, PRICE, YOUR NAME
Please email: jason (at) floatingworldcomics.com with the subject line: PROJECTS POP UP SHOP.
Guest list (so far)
Aaron Kaneshiro (SF)
Alex Chiu (PDX)
Angie Wang (PDX)
Anna Ehrlemark (Sweden)
Austin English (NY)
Bwana Spoons (PDX)
Clara Bessijele Johansson (Sweden/USA)
Drippy Bone Books (LA)
Dunja Jankovic (Croatia/USA)
Duskin Drum (Pacific Rim)
Experimental Half Hour (PDX)
Frank Santoro (NY)
Gridlords (PDX)
Igor Hofbauer (Croatia)
Jason Miles (Seattle)
Jesse McManus (Portland)
Jonny Negron (NY)
Kevin Hooyman (NY/Providence)
Lale Westvind (NY)
Le Dernier Cri (France)
Maia Bambul (Germany/USA)
Matthew Thurber (NY)
Max Clotfelter (Seattle)
Panayiotis Terzis (Greece/USA)
Plink Flojd (PDX/NY/Spain)
Press Gang (Portland)
Profanity Hill (Seattle)
Sammy Harkham (LA)
Skinner (SAC)
Steven Weissman (LA)
Taleen Kalendarian (LA)
MORE INFORMATION:
The Projects is modeled on a new breed of European comics festivals that put creativity and connection at the forefront (festivals such as: Novo Doba in Belgrade, Serbia; Crack! in Rome; Škver in Mali Lošinj, Croatia; and Ligatura in Poznan, Poland). These festivals create an intimate and stimulating environment for artists from different cities, countries, and generations to work together and share ideas. Fundamentally, this is not a commercial activity and although books and objects are bought and sold, the emphasis of the event is to make art, experiment, and play.
The Projects is co-organized by Jason Leivian (owner of Floating World Comics), Dunja Jankovic (creator of Škver festival, comics author, and instructor of comics at the IPRC), and Lisa Mangum (owner of OKO and Thurman Street Studios and instructor of comics at IPRC).
Special thanks to our sponsors: IPRC, Ninkasi Brewing Company, Blossoming Louts, Sizzle Pie, Hollywood Theater, Ford Building, Floating World Comics, Eberhardt Press, and everyone who contributed to the Kickstarter.
· https://floatingworldcomics.com
· http://novodobafestival.net
· http://profanityhill.blogspot.com
· http://tripica.org
· http://skver-art.com
· http://iprc.org
· http://okogallery.com
· http://drippybonebooks.com
