The eighth Curitiba Comics Bienniale, the largest comics event in southern Brazil, took place from 4 to 7 September. It featured over fifty conferences, ten workshops, eight exhibitions, and a four-day fair showcasing and enhancing the work of 250 artists.
This edition was characterized by decentralized activities: in addition to various activities in public schools, the Bienniale involved the Oscar Niemeyer Museum (hosting conferences, debates, and book presentations), the Gibiteca in Curitiba (hosting the artist residency), Studio Riachuelo and Cine Passeio for workshops, and finally the MuMA (Museo Municipal de Arte), which hosted exhibitions by Brazilian and international artists.
Thanks to a collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of São Paulo, the MuMa also hosted the works of Italian artists Ivo Milazzo and Cecilia Capuana. Inextricably linked to the character of Ken Parker that he created in 1974, Ivo Milazzo came to Brazil to meet the loyal audience of his classic Western, the focus of his exhibition.
The drawings of Capuana, one of the pioneers of underground comics in Italy, were part of the exhibition that bears the title of this year’s theme, “Possible Futures.” A necessary window into a complex and extraordinarily urgent debate, linked to issues such as the climate emergency, gender diversity, migration flows, artificial intelligence, and democracy.
The artist met with the Brazilian public again on 8 September, with the presentation of the book Curiosidade (a collection of comics published by Capuana between the 1970s and early 1980s) at the Loja Monstra in São Paulo.