From October 20, the Sigmund Freud Museum is devoting itself to the diverse possibilities for the critical depiction of violence in comics. Selected works by over 30 international artists will be on display in Gewalt erzählen. A Comic Exhibition spans an arc from the Shoah and individual experiences of violence to current conflicts and the treatment of those seeking protection and the oppressed.
In the four exhibition sections "Sexualized and gender-based violence", "Coming of age", "Shoah" and "War, flight and migration", the new special exhibition provides insights into the narrative strategies of the medium and their productivity for psychoanalysis. On display are works by Alison Bechdel, Anke Feuchtenberger, Regina Hofer/Leopold Maurer, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Ulli Lust, Rutu Modan, Joe Sacco, Marjane Satrapi, Art Spiegelman, Gene Luen Yang and Barbara Yelin, among others.
Ulli Lust: Today is the last day of the rest of your life: Ulli Lust & avant-verlag, 2009
Comparable to the functions of dream work described by Freud, namely displacement and condensation, comics express emotions in an alienated and exaggerated way on the bodies depicted. In comics, bodies are always presented in their vulnerability - they embody feelings, pain and aggression.
With their diverse methods and aesthetic possibilities for depicting experiences of violence, comics are also suitable for revealing the repressed, the unspeakable and the taboo - they can serve to address traumas and open up new perspectives on them. They also offer interesting starting points for psychoanalysis, especially with regard to the topic of violence.
Rutu Modan: Exit Wounds: Drawn & Quarterly, 2007
The exhibition, which can be viewed in Freud's former living quarters, focuses on underground comics and alternative comics. It includes (auto)biographical, journalistic and fictional works that were published as independent books, in anthologies, in comic magazines or as webcomics.
October 20, 2023 to April 8, 2024
