Illustration of History
Comics from the Arab World
7 to 10 June 2012
Opening hours: Thu noon–7 p.m., Fri/Sat 10 a.m.–7 p.m., Sun 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
Kongresszentrum Heinrich-Lades-Halle, Großer Saal

The main exhibition of this year’s 15th Erlangen International Comic Salon will showcase graphic literature from Arab countries. In cooperation with the Goethe-Institute Cairo, two curators have travelled throughout North Africa and the Middle East during the last few months and invited around twenty artists from Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, Jordan and the Palestinian territories to Erlangen. Magdy El-Shafee created a graphic novel about corruption and organized crime in pre-revolutionary Cairo and he had to go to court because of it. “Metro” is still prohibited in Egypt today. A German edition will be released at the 15th Erlangen International Comic Salon. The Goethe-Institute Cairo supports the Egyptian comics scene and invited the artist Barbara Yelin from Berlin to come to Cairo for a workshop with Egyptian artists that lasted several weeks. The participants experienced the events on nearby Tahrir Square at first hand. And since last year, two comic magazines are being published in Egypt, “Tok Tok” by Mohammed Shennawy and “El Doshma” by Magdy El-Shafee. These publications, like the Lebanese magazine “Samandal”, appeal to a young, enlightened audience and enjoy much attention throughout the entire Arab world. Algerian artists introduce their everyday life and prove to be a diverse community. Abdelaziz Mouride already recounted his experiences as a political prisoner in Morocco back in the 1980s. In the meantime, war raged in Lebanon and the artist collective “Jad Workshop” processed these experiences. While Moroccan artists address the topic of migration to Europe, “Zan Studio” from the Palestinian territories tell us about life under occupation.