THE ILLUSTRATORS SURVIVAL CORNER, THE STORY SO FAR...
Among the many events scheduled for 2022 are masterclasses from Serge Bloch, Otto Gabos, Lucie Felix, Beatrice Alemagna, Sarah Mazzetti, and Joanna Concejo; meetings in partnership with the Taipei Book Fair, the Sharja Book Authority (UAE), UaeBby (UAE), Imaquinario (Peru) and the Lithuanian Vaikų žemė festival; and conferences and workshops dedicated to the world of comics in collaboration with Hamelin.
Scheduled guests include Lucie Luddington of Bright Agency, the Ts’at Mon 105 association, illustrator Neil Packer, as well as David Carter, Anna Castagnoli, Martin Salisbury, Marianna Coppo, Maria Russo (former Children’s Books Editor at the New York Times), and Valentina Colombo (Phileas Fogg Agency). For this edition of the Fair, the Illustrators Survival Corner is enriched with a new meeting space to foster professional connections between foreign publishers and Italian illustrators, featuring daily “Meet the publisher” conferences, portfolio reviews and meetings (in partnership with the MEFU) dedicated to comics-related professions.
Mimaster Illustration is curating the “Villains” exhibition at Survival Corner for BCBF22. Conceived to celebrate Mimaster’s tenth anniversary, this group exhibition brings together images of “bad guys” created by more than 140 illustrators, including former alumni and major international names Noma Bar, Brad Holland, Katsumi Komagata, Libero Gozzini, William Grill, Federico Maggioni, Lorenzo Mattotti, Emiliano Ponzi, Peter Sìs and Olimpia Zagnoli – just some of the many illustrators who answered the call.
As part of this snapshot of the impact villains have on illustrators’ careers, each character is accompanied by a short text, a quote or an anecdote in which the character expresses itself through music, theatre, popular culture or poetry. Published by Edizioni della Galleria l’Affiche, with texts by Mimaster Illustrazione founders Ivan Canu and Giacomo Benelli and graphic design by Daniele Morganti, the “Cattivi” catalogue accompanies the exhibition. Like the exhibition, the catalogue is divided into sections: “Beasts’”, “He devils”, “She devils”, “Men or monsters?”, and “Nasty relatives”.
During the last edition of the Fair when people could physically attend (2019), the Illustrators Survival Corner achieved outstanding results: 105 guests including artists, authors, publishers and illustration professionals; thirty-six master classes and eight workshops by internationally-renowned illustrators; and fifty portfolio reviews. A total of approx. 6300 people visited the Illustrators Survival Corner, of whom more than 5300 participated directly in an event.