Animate Europe

Animate Europe on tour!

2.500 EU citizens made use of the opportunity to see the Committee of the Regions from the inside during the European Institutions Open Doors Day. 8.000 students enjoyed the European Youth Event at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. 175.000 people visited this year’s Leipzig book fair. Those are only the big events. Animate Europe has toured quite a bit in the past weeks, to Antwerp, The Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Berlin, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart and other places, and has thus reached hundreds, say thousands of people. Why do we find it important that a maximum of people reads our comics – comics being an art form after all formerly looked down upon and only recently discovered as an excellent tool to transport political messages? They are about Europe and we care about Europe and would like to see young people become more passionate about it, not only in the run-up to the European Parliament elections, but also beyond. Whether you’re looking at the winning story of Erasmus of Rotterdam discussing the EU’s present-day problems with a seal in the stomach of a whale, the parable of a family trying to build a pool in their garden or two students travelling to Ceuta to see Europe from across the Mediterranean, the seven graphic short stories that we are exhibiting tell very different stories of Europe’s past and present, its opportunities and problems. They are meant as food for thought and a basis for discussion on the Europe we would like to live in. What are the problems the EU is facing? Which problems need solving first? What is my part in all this as an individual? Can I change anything at all? The exhibition can next be seen at the Comicsalon Erlangen, Germany as well as on the occasion of EU-related FNF events. The anthology assembling five of the entries is available in English and German at request or available for download here. Christina Brunnenkamp