Between June 16 and October 16, 2011, Bucharest hosted the Comics Museum, a project initiated by a Romanian artist (Alexandru Ciubotariu), organised by the Romanian Cultural Institute in partnership with the National Museum of Contemporary Art, with the support of the Belgian Comic Strip Center, members of EUNIC in Romania cluster and Asociaţia Bedefililor din România. The project aimed to present the great diversity and richness of comic strip art and to highlight the creativity of established and young comic artists, exploring at the same time the possibility of perpetuating this kind of museum.
Located on the fourth floor of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, the Comics Museum had two exhibition spaces, a media library (library of magazines and books, and a place for film screenings), one area for creative workshops and one for conferences. The Museum hosted a permanent exhibition ("the treasury"), with original comic strip drawings depicting the history of Romanian comics, and four temporary exhibitions with contemporary works. The programme of the museum included also a series of conferences on areas related to comics (caricature, animation, book illustration), debates with comic book artists and publishers, workshops, live drawing sessions, book launches, film screenings and concerts.
Comics Museum hosted also several international events such as film screenings, in July, offered by the Austrian Cultural Forum and the Czech Centre, a retrospective of the last 17 years of British animations, in September and October (five film screenings), with the support of British Council and, also in September, an exhibition of the Portuguese artist Eugenio Silva, with the support of Instituto Camões and of the Embassy of Portugal in Romania. During the entire period of the Museum, visitors had access to an international library with titles selected by Délégation Wallonie-Brussels, Belgian Comic Strip Centre and German Book Office.
Comics Museum followed the European Comics Festival, a project organised in 2010 by EUNIC in Romania, and preceded the second edition of this festival, that was held during 3-20 November 2011. Comics Museum was, at the same time, a natural continuation of The History of Romanian Comics – exhibition and book by Alexandru Ciubotariu and Dodo Niţă, launched in autumn 2010 at the European Comics Festival.
A special publication about the Comics Museum, with more information about the project and its activities – Comics Museum catalogue – was launched on November 9, 2011, within the second edition of the European Comics Festival.
Official website: www.muzeulbd.ro
