After visiting Ljubljana, our
editorial board decided to do a special introduction to the life and
works of the group Requins
Marteaux.
In search of a suitable thread, we decided to ask the authors to do
what the French do best: say NO! In the following pages you will find
some of the most distinguished authors of the Requins Marteaux and
their force of negation. Let me introduce to you some of the projects
by this comic group.
Les Requins Marteaux is a
group of artists that promote and create modern comics. Their starts
date in the year 1990 and they belong to the independent labels that
succeeded to return comics into bookstores and media. But their
publishing is not as well known as their individual exhibits and other
projects they use to take the best out of the comics’ potentials and
introduce the medium to the audience who usually doesn’t read comics.
With more than 150 titles, Les
Requins Marteaux actively helped to transform comics into an
independent artistic form of expression. Their adventures in publishing
range from small BW booklets to collections of color albums of large
format. Contents and genres vary from satire to serious political
issues, from caricatures to artistic books. The guideline is not a
standardized production, but publishing and creating books that are
faithful to their author’s original idea.
The Ferraille Illustré
magazine was established in 1996 and it is published quarterly
in 25.000 issues. At the moment it is the single most important
magazine for the modern alternative comics in France, as well as the
only magazine of its kind published in such a large circulation that
can be bought at newsstands. It features young authors as well as
experienced artists who enjoy creative ventures and artistic
exploration. Issue 27 of the magazine Ferraille was released recently.
Today, Ferraille is an extensive magazine that has overgrown its black
and white fanzine beginnings long time ago.
Publishing is but a
part of group’s numerous projects. How to turn the
reader into a visitor or an observer? How to turn the visitor and the
observer into a reader? It was these questions that have brought them
to the conclusion, comics need to be torn out of its only medium –
printed paper – and expose it in other ways, take it from the cozy
armchair and take it for a walk through the city streets, the galleries
and the countryside. With their creative energies, Requins Marteaux succeeded to create
spectacles for children, cabarets, animated features and even short
films – accompanied by numerous exhibitions that attract spectators in
large festivals in France and Europe.
From their beginnings
on, Requins Marteaux are situated in Albi, a town
near Toulouse. They have been investing into their local environment
since the beginning. They have taken part in many different projects
involving local institutions of culture (libraries, the Crois Blanche
theatre, the cultural centre of Albi, with Espace Appollo from Mazamet,
with the Colomier municipality, etc.). 1998 saw the opening of the
Aquarium gallery which features comic exhibitions and other happenings
in the field of visual arts. In the year 2005, the group opened a new,
more spacious gallery with the same name (Aquarium) with the intent to
eventually transform it into a regional comic center. Since its
introduction, the gallery has organized over fifty exhibitions that
were realized on its own exhibition grounds or elsewhere as a part of
their partner projects.
Disappointed by comic
exhibitions, Les
Requins Marteaux decides to organize their own festival in Albi
in 1998. Their intent is to put comic creation into the focus of the
festival, instead of selling comics with various dedications. The
Retine festival became a kind of artistic showcase where spectators
observe different views by authors on this form of artistic expression.
Retine is a demanding festival that constantly seeks creative works and
is imbued with a strong and unique cultural identity. It introduces
modern artists and puts them side by side to other art forms, such as
theatre, cinematography, photography and literature.
Beside the 8th festival Retine,
scheduled for October 2006, the publishing of new albums and the
organization of celebration of 10th anniversary of the magazine
Ferraille, Les Requins Marteaux plan to organize a comic promenade in
the Tarn department: Les Caravanes Feraille or The Feraille Caravans.
This project is focused on pushing the way to the cultural diffusion
with the emphasis on nomadic creativity. This way, they seek to
approach the public that doesn’t necessarily have the access to this
kind of cultural production.
The events were
planned as a stroll through the Tarn department, with
the help of a network of libraries. That’s why this project combines
different actions: an exhibition of the three caravans with scenery and
a theme of travel and nomadism, a grocery truck Supermarché
Ferraille, which will be visiting Ljubljana in the next year, a
traveling library in a truck, animations and children’s studios, a
Goûter Ferraille spectacle, Cabaret Ferraille, concerts and
projections of short films.
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