One of the best results of the ”CAN for Balkans” European project is the ”CAN for Balkans” exibition, through which we could present the history of historical comics in Balkans, but also the new original comics that were created especially for the CAN for Balkans international contest.
After the opening in Brașov, Romania, in October 2022, and in Tirana, Albania (at the National Historical Museum of Albania) in November 2022, the exhibition toured to Belgium, at the end of December and beginning of January, at the most important comics museum in the world, Comics Art Museum Brussels, and then to Leskovac, Serbia, in February, at the Leskovac Cultural Center.
The ”CAN for Balkans” exhibition was promoted also on the national press and television in Serbia:
ОТВОРЕНА МЕЂУНАРОДНА СТРИП ИЗЛОЖБА “CAN FOR BALKANS” (OPENING OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMICS EXHIBITION “CAN FOR BALKANS”), GradLeskovac.org
O istoriji i istorijskom stripu u regionu (”About history and historical comics in the region today”), DANAS
Kulturni dnevnik (Cultural Journal, the most important cultural program on national television)
Proslava kulture Balkana (”Celebration of Balkan culture”)
About the “CAN for Balkans” exhibition:
The star is the symbol that inspired the design created by curator Nicolae Pepene for the “CAN for Balkans” exhibition. The “Red Star” is about the past of historical comics from the Balkans, with a focus on the clichés and stereotypes used by comic book authors for the Balkan world. The “Yellow Star” section, whose design was inspired by the flag of the European Union, comprises the contemporary artistic perspective on the Balkans in history in the form of 64 original comics made by 67 artists, of which 27 artists from eight countries were selected in the international competition of the European project, organized between March and July 2022.
The partners of the CAN for Balkans – Comics Alliance Networking international project are: Brașov County History Museum (project leader), National Historical Museum of Albania, Comics Art Museum Brussels – Belgian Comic Strip Center, Comic Center of Macedonia (North Macedonia), Leskovac school of comics “Nikola Mitrovic Kokan” (Serbia).
The “CAN for Balkans – Comics Alliance Networking” project is co-financed by the European Commission, through the Executive Agency for Education, Audiovisual and Culture (EACEA) in Brussels, within the Creative Europe Funding Program, the call ”Strengthening cultural cooperation and the competitiveness of cultural industries and creative in the Western Balkans” (EACEA 39/2019).
