Novo Doba, Stripburger 57 Times New Bold
Novo Doba platform were nagged by Bojan Albahari
You probably already know that
Stripburger’s connections reach in a tentaclesque
manner all around the world. This is even more true
for the comics scenes from the former common state of
Yugoslavia. Despite formal and other difficulties they
are still able to keep alive a vibrant shared cultural
space that transcends the borders of the closed-minded
national states. As it turns out, where there’s a lot
of different languages in one place, the language is
actually no obstacle at all. Take for example the multinational crew
of the international alter-kult festival Novo Doba
(New Era) from Belgrade. This bunch of seemingly
randomly assembled people is goofing around and
annoying the domestic snobs and purists for the third
year already. Novo Doba, the underground comics
festival that now involves many other things as well,
is an efficient insult to the common taste of the
ignorant mob and at the same time its best
representation. Who and
what is the Novo Doba? Radovan: Novo Doba is a friendly /
cooperative group, a perhaps unconsciously-deliberately
undefined ideological platform for the development of
mutual interpersonal interaction in several different
forms of active and peaceful coexistence – at this stage
it is maybe most clearly associated with comic strip
festival of the same name – but it seems like it is also
linked to other similar parts of a larger whole. In this
experimental phase, it may be useful to give it a name,
assign it an appropriate definition or use some kind of
neologism, so as to present it more clearly, at least on
a formal level, to potential colleagues and friends; but
the mere act of defining things has proven to be a great
challenge to us from the very beginning of attempts to
articulate this particular idea. This idea refers, as we
have discovered, to some kind of (perhaps undefined, but
still) feeling, as opposed to rational thinking, if you
understand what we are trying to say, even though, we
may be inclined to doubt it ... or rather it refers to a
situation in which emotion has priority over any
specific thought or idea as such in the textbook meaning
of the word, to stay on the topic. Bruno: Novo Doba is at the same time a
festival as well as an umbrella term for all other
activities that fall under Turbo Comix, Fijuk and, soon,
the Pionir magazine. These descriptions generated a
whole mess, because the groups, initiatives and projects
arose uncontrolledly; but it should be noted that when
talking about Novo Doba, we are talking mainly about the
comic strip scene, but also about one specific segment
of the alternative scene in Serbia that we are trying to
present through publications, exhibitions, concerts and
similar events. The Novo Doba website should offer a more
transparent picture of this structure; if such a
structure exists at all, which we ourselves doubt. How did you guys meet and
come to the idea of creating a comic book team? The
first mentioned is a Frenchwoman, the second comes
from Croatia, the third is a Belgrade native ... Johanna: I came to Belgrade five years ago
from the French Academy of Saint Etienne in on a student
exchange. I was already working in comics back then,
with the Gestroco club collective in Angoulême. As
for comics, I was already aware of you and Alexander
Zograf, whom I contacted when I arrived here. Through
him, I soon came into contact with other comic writers,
such as Wostok and Radovan. Then I had the idea of
publishing a book in French about comics in Serbia and
Croatia so I set up an association in France called
Turbo Comix. In the meantime I met Bruno and together we
moved Turbo Comix to Belgrade. We have been working with
Raša (Radovan) constantly – the idea to organize a
comics festival was his – and two years ago we began to
cooperate with Mileta too, so that through this
cooperation we expanded our activities to the fields of
screen printing and music. Radovan: One could say that the founders of
Novo Doba are in fact groups that, unlike individuals,
have been lurking around obscure parts of the
underground culture, in particular those within urban
areas, and especially in our fields of action, for an
undetermined period of time. These are groups dealing
with creation and with the recording of this creation,
as well as with the reproduction of art works, including
comics, books, music, posters, graphics, images,
illustrations, designs, fanzines, albums, compilations,
remixes, covers and homages, theft and copies, as well
as video works, films, radio plays and shows, guitar
solos, and almost anything except fashion. It could be
said that there are more groups than individuals, which
resists the law of history, but is not opposed to logic
– make your own sums – of course it is possible in
theory, mathematically at least, but now it is also
implemented in practice. This is our small and modest
contribution to the idea of a common goal and of
associations formed with a noble purpose. In addition to
the graphical activist Turbo Comix, the sound-landscape
Klopka za pionira and the Studiostrip group, there are
other collectives, individuals and components, heads,
hands, eyes, ears and limbs in general. Our generation,
whatever that means, did and still does consider it very
important that a kind of tacit agreement brought forth
the development of an impressive collaboration between
various collectives, such as Komikaze and Yga, Entropija
from Subotica, and of course the legendary Wostok team.
In the eyes of our fans, Wostok is a great inspiration,
moderator and father-figure; but since he has in the
meantime become a grandfather, he is now more like a
grandfather figure. One text is particularly popular in
our circles – namely an essay on the domestic
alternative comic strip scene from under the pen of one
of the most influential personalities from the world of
mainstream comics, entitled Gomila nadrogiranih manijaka teroriše
srpsku strip scenu (A bunch of drugged maniacs terrorize the
Serbian comic strip scene). The essay is excellent so we
used it as a script template for a longer comic drawn by
most of our active domestic non-commercial authors,
which was published in a special number of the Krpelj
fanzine, the most influential domestic publication. Bruno: I would not say that Novo Doba is a
collective – rather a platform. We joined forces
encouraged by the circumstances and ideas that formed
through our gatherings and which we thought attractive
and relevant. I’m not so interested in the idea of a
collective as much as I am interested in the
possibilities offered by Novo Doba for the emergence of
interesting creative personalities and groups of authors
and for the promotion and consolidation of the so-called
alternative scene. Activities: in addition to
comic books you are also involved in screen-printing,
a graphic art genre not often associated with comics
in this part of the world. How come you decided to
expand your activities in this direction? Johanna: I have already worked with
screen-printing at school in France and for me it is
quite significantly related to comic books – even more
so with alternative comics, because there are many
collectives engaging with this, such as Le Dernier Cri,
Nicomix, Mathieu Desjardins, Allemane, Bongoût ...
Even before we started hanging out together, Mileta had
already started with it, when the Le Dernier Cri and No
Style Fuckers collectives from Berlin toured Pančevo.
Then we started working together and recently we have
opened a workshop in Pančevo. Radovan: Studiostrip/Kosmoplovci,
classified as senior individuals with regard to their
age and habits, but also out of respect for the
profession, are more reliant on older generation
photocopying machines and inkjet printers; however, they
also pay their dues to a wider range of possibly
interested NN people with the printing technique of
silk-screen printing through a series of catalogues,
books and solo albums within the Studiostrip
publications by the renowned Belgrade publisher Fabrika
Knjiga, through their informative activist activity,
which has also appeared in the media, and through the
operation of the Beopolis bookstore, which was
unfortunately – due to corporatist terror assaults in
the form of constant reorganization and
ignorunderstanding of cultural instances – removed and
marginalized. Bruno: Screen-printing is a traditional DIY
technique that has always existed in the underground
scene and which allows individuals with a small budget
to print their own fanzines, posters and T-shirts, thus
naturally complementing the activity of an industrious
and creative underground enthusiast (shock-worker).
Following the occurrence of photocopiers, many are now
returning to screen-printing because it allows them
flexibility, process control, quality of print and the
possibility of simultaneous printing on paper, fabric
and other surfaces. Mileta: For a long time I have been trying
to learn screen-printing; I made enquiries with the
masters in the city, but I was always told that it is a
very difficult and expensive process. When Klopka za
pionira (Mileta’s music band, ed.) performed on the
Stubnitz barge in Amsterdam, I was lucky enough to meet
the No Style Fuckers team from Berlin. We only had four
things: adhesive tape, a screen, squeegee and paint.
Shortly after that at Fantom Fest in Pančevo I became
acquainted with the work of Le Dernier Cri. I soon
performed the first Ceger campaign in which I printed
two works with a friend; Wostok’s corn and Kiklop’s eco
comic. This is in some way the fulfilment of my boyhood
dream: to wear a T-shirt that was the way you wanted it
to be. Then I started to work with Johanna, the
production was significantly improved, we started
printing posters, stickers, books... We last met when you had a
workshop on posters for the club Menza pri koritu in
Ljubljana. Do you often put on such things? Johanna: We travel frequently and tend to
put up a stand and / or exhibition – while workshops are
rarer. The first workshop was organized two years ago,
also at Metatisk printing at Metelkova with Igor
Hofbauer, Bruno and I. We spent two days illustrating
together of the Mileta’s text Tranziciona kupoprodaja (Transitional Wholesale) with the
participants, and then three days screen-printing the
book with the help of these drawings. This time, we were
also assisted by the workshop participants in the
printing process. The aim of these workshops organized
by KUD Mreža is getting to know local artists and groups
through Metatisk workshops that Metelkova has been
hosting for several years. KUD Mreža, along with Matej
Vukovič, who also runs a workshop at the Jarše School of
Production, provided all that is needed for printing,
and the workshop was open to all. Bruno: Besides cluttering about comics,
shopping bags and music releases, which we’re dragging
about to all the events here and there if the
opportunity arises, we also conduct a workshop or two,
which can be either of the open variety, as was the case
this time, or a spontaneous jam session with various
authors, who find themselves in the area. I would like
to add that the practice of collaborative working in
Croatia and in Serbia was already present from the
nineties onwards and represents a unique specificity in
comparison to other comic strip scenes. The authors draw
comics together based on selected texts from various
sources (news articles, turbo folk songs lyrics, bad
books, comic artists’ early poetry, confessions taken
from online forums, etc.); sometimes also drawing on /
over other artists’ work. As part of the Novo Doba
festival we try to organise one single such workshop
each time, with the help of one or more of the
participants (Komikaze, Wostok). Your music section is
slightly reminiscent of the Stripcore collective,
which also had its own band (2227). How does the
Klopka za pionira place itself in your team and
concept? Mileta: Klopka za pionira belongs to an
unseen scene, which cannot be defined as musical. Our
only two guest appearances in Zagreb were connected with
the festival of theatre and literature, we had our first
concert at the comic strip festival, likewise for our
first tour. Probably the reason for this is that the
music is cheap entertainment, which is pushed out onto
the rough capitalist market. At the actual Novo Doba
festival, the connection between comic books, music and
video is most evident and our programme represents this
non-existent scene. Well, the term ‘scene’ is not
actually the best choice, because it is more about
individual cases, not included in the main streams, but
existing independently on the periphery. It turned out
that some of the bands are closer to comics than to
music and vice versa. Soon we will publish the first
musical issue for Novo Doba – Nitkov’s album Ako ne prekineš rizikuješ da ti se
pridružim (If You
Don’t Stop You Risk Me Joining You). Immediately
following that will be the compilation Šta je
bitno (What
Matters), which will present the scene that we are
creating to the public. You are
organizing your own Novo Doba underground comics
festival in Belgrade this year for the third time.
What made you decide to set up a project of such
organisational complexity? Do you perhaps think that
the underground comic scene in Serbia (Belgrade) is
somewhat underweight and in need of such events? What
are your experiences with the organization of comic
strip festivals in general? Johanna: This is Radovan’s idea. When I
came to Serbia, followed shortly by Bruno, Zograf’s
Grrr! festival was already over, but we liked the idea.
First, we find it important to have an opportunity,
which each year brings together authors from across the
region. People mostly already know each other, either
through Komikaze or Stripburger and various other
publications and events, but we were missing an event
that would bring together at least the majority of them
in the same place at the same time. Another factor is
that there are publishers and authors coming from
abroad, whose work might be interesting to local authors
and audiences who may thus become acquainted with the
local production. With regard to experience with the
festival, it seems to me that this has been a pretty
ambitious idea for us in terms of our limited previous
experiences, but one learns quickly when confronted with
such an impressive amount of responsibilities at one
time! Of course we are not professional organizers; we
are doing it because we want this to happen, and since
our guests supposedly know that, in the end everything
is OK. The first year it was Raša, Bruno and I that
organised it; the next year we were joined by Mileta –
with the musical and screen-printing parts of the
festival being thereby enriched –; while this year we
have been joined by Anna Ehrlemark and Marija Samardžić.
Now that there are more of us in the organisation
everything is much easier – and we also receive help
from other friends. Radovan: Organising an event such as a
comic strip festival, with more and more music, as well
as film, is a difficult task, but extremely rewarding,
because you have the opportunity to influence as much as
possible that ‘something’ that is very hard to define.
Nevertheless, the mere fact that here, at the same place
and time, between summer and autumn, for the third
consecutive year, gathers a monstrous bunch of people,
so alike in their individual differences (people - not
to use any heavier words - we all know the origin of
humans), individuals who intertwine with comic strip
characters answering the call to battle from the Dark
Forest from the north, by the candle-light of eternal
fire, says more than can be packed into any one
definition or answer to the question of how, why and why
not?! Bruno: My experience is that one does such
things because one wants them to happen; I cannot
imagine that someone would genuinely want to be dealing
with such matters. As you suggested, it seems to me that
such things, in addition to web platforms, printed
periodical publications and anthologies, are vitally
important for any one scene, and that they should happen
regularly. You
published a catalogue entitled Fijuk. What is the
purpose of this publication and what does it contain? Johanna: the Fijuk network is a project
that is currently running. So far, we have had a first
experience with it in Croatia, while we were on tour in
Zagreb, Pula, Rijeka and Split and printing the
catalogue. The aim of the network is to create a web
platform for smaller publishers (music and comics),
comic strip artists and musicians, whereby to gather as
much information about them as possible, publish news
about new releases and events related to comics and
music. This website will be available very soon at www.fijuk.net. The first edition of Fijuk that you were
able to read was a printed version of this site. We are
also starting to publish various texts there (poetry,
writings on comics, etc.), photographs and
illustrations. We intend to set up a new magazine
Pionir, which will be part of this project, as well as
screen-printing workshops at various festivals (Škver in
Mali Lošinj, Crack in Rome, Angoulême ...) Radovan: The Internet is full of beauty,
but also of dangers (to freely quote Tarzan). The fact
is that the information-activist activity almost
completely moved from print to Internet, especially in
the context of the general devaluation, privatisation
and criminalisation and association for the purpose of
criminal activity by the official print media; while we,
on the other hand, have been inspired by this joy of
separating the first grain from the weeds of information
related to the field we are engaged and interests very
few other people in the world beside us – which actually
tells us that we must be on the right path – so this joy
in combination with the pleasure that comes when we
work, tear, cut, glue, copy, print, sniff printing ink,
distribute, deliver, swap and share what the eye
fancies, inspired us to start with Fijuk as a printed
edition as well. The next step is the launch of a
multi-dimensional and trans-avant-garde meta-psychical
newspaper entitled Pionir. This is a big project, to
which we all will totally devote our energies. We use
such opportunities to transfer encrypted messages to
groups and individuals who are willing and desirous, but
also have the chance to be involved in creating a
newspaper that will cover everything in terms of music,
comics, film, therefore mainly street activities,
phenomena, myths, information, curses, messages etc. in
a completely new way. Bruno: As Johanna already said, Fijuk is
primarily a web-based project. In the future, it will
appear in an abridged form in the newspaper-format
magazine Pionir, which is in progress and for which we
already have enough material for the first three
numbers. What are your side projects?
We know, for example, of the fanzine Ceger (Mileta).
Can you tell us more about this? Radovan: All projects are ‘side’ projects.
There is only one life, which is inconsistent with the
dogmas of dominant religions, so it is a difficult and
thankless task, and perhaps even uninteresting, if one
were to enumerate all other side projects, such as the
Kosmoplovci interdisciplinary team, in the context of
which the idea of Studiostrip is maintained both in
theory and practice, as well as through activism; the
idea of a multi-purpose, multi-function group of
mutually-related projects that are at the same time also
closely connected with comics, as well as with all
production phases of the medium: drawing, writing,
deleting, falsification, journalism, comics theory in
general, censorship, psychedelic properties and the
like. You are strongly associated
with various authors and activists of the comic strip
scene from the area of former Yugoslavia, but not only
(Wostok, Igor Hofbauer, Dunja Janković, ...). What
brings you together and what do you have in common
with those above-listed personnages? Radovan: It is hard to say what it is that
connects so many different people, different authors and
schools from all over. Probably each participant
interprets this connection in his or her own way and
through a telescope, pointed in his or her own
microscope. Personally, I see the relationship with
these people as something that transcends certain
determinants such as mutual respect, friendship and
cooperation, or is just that, but in a much more
immoderate fashion. Bruno: A coalition with the aim to
monopolise the market, encourage compatible neurotic
disorders, homoerotic tensions, family practices, class
struggle, collective masochism, the Stockholm syndrome
... I (we) have noticed that
comics artists today are not just comics artists, but
at the same time also designers, illustrators etc. Is
it true also in your case? What does this mean to you
(and why)? If so, why has it come to this? Is it the
fact that one cannot live on drawing comics alone and
therefore must also engage in other projects, or is it
perhaps the case of modern identities, which are no
longer monolithic, but a collage of various things? Johanna: It is difficult to live on the
production of an original comic strip alone anywhere in
the world. Everyone else works on other stuff as well:
illustration, design, Web design, animation,
advertising, etc. I am, for example, a graphic designer,
but I only rarely work in that area. It simply seems to
me that you have to adapt, live at your parents’ or have
an additional job if you want to engage in this field. Radovan: From our Studiostrip perspective,
working with comics, as well as other related and less
related issues, reaches beyond concepts such as
survival, work, earnings, or in other words, operating
in this field alters the meaning of non-operating as
such. We are where we are, the situation is what it is,
and things can always be better and worse, in any
situation. Consequently, in regard of where we are now
and where we come from, what happened, is happening,
what things are like and what they could be like, we
experience what we do with deadly seriousness,
fanatically, while at the same time working intensively
on sabotaging this very seriousness through various
self-harming techniques, experimenting on ourselves,
playing tarot, giving each other extreme criticism, all
in the direction of further death seriousness, leading
to self-inflicted extinction and finally reaching
refinement through a catharsis, leading towards the idea
of an all-encompassing eternal ecstasy. Here the values
of morality, tradition, religion, science, etc. change
so quickly and radically that what today represents
everything, tomorrow becomes nothing; two negatives make
a positive, life-death-life, everything is incredibly
important, as well as completely irrelevant, and vice
versa, in proportion to the diametrically opposite, yet
also different, trends in the same direction. It might
sound a little complicated, but it is actually
simplified to the limits of our own understanding.
Outside experience has proved that it is extremely
difficult to work with what you love and not compromise
it in the process, while also being able to live on this
work alone. Therefore we have never even tried, which
does not mean that we believe that this is impossible.
Our guerrilla mentality keeps us here at halfway, so we
hold nothing against anything, and in principle we are
for any cause, but we are also against it. Maybe we have
overdone it a little in the sacralisation of a thing so
mundane as form, in this case, the comic strip, but at
least we have no explanation for it. This fanaticism may
be caused by very different things, psychologically
determined, de-genetic, unaesthetic, and so on;
therefore not to enumerate them all here, we copy,
invent, exaggerate, we lie, mystify... In theory, it is
possible to live on comics, but the experience in
practice is different; of course I have in mind this
particular area here, when I say this. Comics are
seriously drawn in garages, basements, children’s rooms,
parks and cafes, or go to the other extreme and are
created under logos, brands of transnational
corporations or football clubs and local parties for
five kopecks per hour, either way: the most important
factor is that everyone complains. I think, hope,
perhaps we are even working on it, that in a better
future and a balanced, synchronized and comprehensive
campaign, which implies all aspects and stages of
creating a comic strip, it will be possible to engage
with this such noble and beautiful art of the comic
strip in a dignified way. An author is a Renaissance
figure, who besides drawing the comic strip produces and
places it, while at the same time feeling part of some
kind of anthropomorphic global whole; (s)he reviews his
/ her work and that of others in a broader theoretical
context, as well as in practice, with his / her own
example, and with his/her unwavering focus on
researching the unknown, re-understanding and redefining
the familiar and unlimited faith in the ‘better
tomorrow’ affects this ‘better tomorrow’. Bruno: Through the work of organising the
festival and various issuing projects, I began to notice
that comic strip authors who interest me, have stronger
bonds (aesthetic and of political attitudes, humour and
general cultural characteristics) with the music and,
for example, fanzine scenes than with the comic strip
scene itself. I think we don’t share the same audience
or the same market with the mainstream. Due to the
nature of things, the festival must focus on the
audience and mark the direction in which it is going to
develop. Novo Doba has directed itself towards people
who follow the underground scene, but also towards
people who do not necessarily follow comics in general
or, but tend to favour alternative, avant-garde and
experimental art, regardless of whether it takes the
form of film, music or paintings. This orientation has
occurred both spontaneously, as well as being the result
of practical situations and considerations. As we know,
the reactions of the regular comic strip audience that
is not favourable to underground comics, can be rather
negative and aggressive (although sometimes quite
funny), so I think our work should not be pushed to
where there isn’t any interest for it or where there is
even resistance to it; conversely, it is necessary to
expand the network within the framework of a common
cultural field. I think it’s only natural that a graphic
artist, illustrator or writer decides to test his/her
skills in comics. That may sound simplistic, but the
comic strip is a narrative medium, just as illustration,
film and to a large extent even music. On the other
hand, it also has an important visual component; again,
as do illustration, graphic art and painting. All these
disciplines overlap with comics to a larger extent than
this might be obvious. It is these overlaps that often
hint at exciting new possibilities, generate new ideas
and procedures, and this interaction is something I am
personally very interested in. Of course, on the other
hand, I also like an ‘honest’ classical comic. Experimental, avant-garde and underground
comics are very important for the vitality of comics in
general, although this is not so obvious on the surface.
What
are your future plans? Johanna: We are now preparing the third
edition of the Novo Doba festival, which will be held
from 5th to 10th June. As far as new guests are
concerned, we are expecting the Belgian publishers
Fremok, Aurélie Levaux and Moolinex, Léo
Quiévreux, Mathieu Desjardins, the No Style
Fuckers screen-printing mobile workshop from Berlin,
Miro Župa, Valerio and Chantal from the Crack festival
in Rome, Nataša Serec from KUD Mreža, Neven Korda... As for new releases, a book about the band
Klopka za pionira entitled Nervni gas iz zvučnika (Nerve Gas From Speakers) will be
published soon, then the first issue of Pionir magazine
and a catalogue of the Novo Doba festival. Regarding
workshops: we will organise one at this festival, then
another one at the Škver festival in Mali Lošinj (this
year Škver takes place from 11th to 18th June) and then
at the Crack Festival in Rome (between 21st and 24th
June). In September, the workshop will return to
Metelkova, then we are going to take it to Pula, in
cooperation with the Croatian association Otompotom. Radovan: The Spring-Summer season brings a
series of fine premonitions towards a kind of universal
connectivity and a perhaps undefined, yet common goal.
Festivals follow each other tightly, from Novo Doba to
Škver, Crack, Angoulême, Altcomics etc. There are
some holes in this timeline, of which I am sure that
authors will take advantage for their non-festival
activity, whatever that means. A new issue of Turbo
Comix ... and some more inarticulate as well as
organised events from the world of comics, audio,
images, tone ... They couldn’t pay us as much as we are
working, but there is no compromise or middle ground or
a line of least resistance, so that working with comics
is beyond earthly relations and problems. Thus, it
belongs to the fictional world, in the hope of
scientific self-admission that would coincide with the
next new age, the big global evolution, which, as the
word itself suggests, evolves, i.e. is gradually going
on and yet leads to a current realization of This
Moment, which we are all expecting, whether we are aware
of it or not, and that is, as each succeeding moment,
all the closer and more inevitable. Bruno: I want to emphasize the issuing of
the Pionir magazine, which will include comics, music,
prose, poetry, essays, critique and related disciplines.
It is an attempt to give the scene, or more precisely,
one aspect of the underground scene, its own periodical
magazine, in which to publish and through which to
develop. There will be room for journalism, criticism,
ads, horoscopes, weather forecasts and the like. From my
own experience I know that such a project is the best
kind of stimulant for a limping scene, and the Serbian
scene can be defined as such, when compared with its
state of some years ago. When a periodical publication
appears that regularly follows and publishes comics,
people who have already given up the scene return to it
and new agents appear. I personally think that this is
perhaps the most important and most exciting future
project, with which we are concerned. |