There are no simple solutions in the Anthropocene era. Every single person lives in a highly complex system and is connected to it by his or her actions. By focusing on the example of alimentation, this interconnectedness can be exposed and presented in a form that everyone can understand. Comics as a communication medium not only have the potential to make complex issues accessible in an appealing form; the comic-making process itself can inspire scientific work, and reveal new connections.

This proceedings volume includes contributions on alimentation and comic theory by Jaqueline Berndt, Anne-Kathrin Kuhlemann, Toni Meier, Veronika Mischitz, Stephan Packard, Lukas Plank, Nick Sousanis, Katerina Teaiwa and Arnold van Huis. It is the result of the two-day symposium Science meets Comics, held in October 2015 in the Cluster of Excellence Image Knowledge Gestaltung. An Interdisciplinary Laboratory at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, which discussed and developed these new means of communication in relation to alimentation.

Reinhold Leinfelder, Alexandra Hamann, Jens Kirstein and Marc Schleunitz (eds.)

» Christian A. Bachmann Verlag
softcover, 117 pages, illustrations
ISBN 978-3-941030-92-3
19,90€ + shipping

order book » bestellen@remove-this.christian-bachmann.de
» open access

From October 5 to 9 2015 the base project was very happy to welcome ten of the international artists participating in the comic project in Berlin. They arrived on Sunday to start a week devoted to work on the epilogue, which, true to the concept of a »Journey around the world«, will be drafted in collaboration with all artists taking part. Before the design and craft work got under way, a two-day symposium was staged to gather input on questions ranging from the ratio of text to image, through current scientific communication, to the future of nutrition. This part of the workshop was public, to encourage for a lively discussion.

» program and abstracts of the symposium english
» Programm des Symposiums und Abstracts deutsch

The remaining three days gave rise to multifarious discussions as to how this large a gathering of artists would cooperate on and manage to realise the chapter. Ideas were developed, sketched out, rejected, reprised and driven forward. Finally everyone came to an agreement on a shared concept. Reed more:

» english report on the symposium and workshop
» Bericht in der Cluster-Zeitung CZ #123 vom 26.10.15
» Photos in the Cluster-newspaper CZ #121 gives you some impressions