Stripdagen Haarlem 2024

Stripdagen Haarlem is the largest biannual comics festival in the Netherlands and Flanders. The first festival, organized by Joost Swarte, who lives and works in Haarlem, took place in 1992. Every other year, the center of Haarlem was filled with comics lovers who tried to score second hand comic books for their collection and went to see exhibitions in galleries and museums. The Philharmonie used to be the epicenter of the festival, with the comic book fair next to it, outside on the Grote Markt. For the first time, this year the main venue of the festival was the Koepelgevangenis, a former prison that was built as a panopticum.

Eva Hilhorst

Here one could visit the stands of comic book publishers and have their book signed by their favorite comics artists, such as Chris Ware, B.Carrot and Aimée de Jongh. They were placed in a circle in the middle of the space. In the glass rooms in the outer circle there were artist talks and workshops, like the kids’ workshops. Here children could make drawings together with comics artists in which they envisioned a more beautiful world.

Kids’ workshop

Drawing the Times opened a Newsroom in the Koepel. We wanted to connect the place to a theme and asked visitors whom they wanted to grant freedom to and write this on a flyer. In the newsroom, three (comics) artists at a time were making visual stories out of the requests. After a while al the glass walls of the newsroom were covered in drawings and comics.

Micky Dirkzwager, Merel Barends, B. Carrot and Nova de Hoo.

Micky Dirkzwager

Menah

Jeroen de Leijer

Maaike Hartjes

Delphine Frantzen, Nova de Hoo and Bob Op ‘t Land drew what was happening in the city.

Delphine Frantzen

Nova de Hoo

In a former prison cell the works of Russian artist Victoria Lomasko, who now lives in exile, were put on display. Outside the Koepel hung large works of Milan Hulsing and Floor de Goede to lure visitors to go inside.

Victoria Lomasko.

A parade of ArtEZ students entered the building, wearing protest costumes and carrying sandwich boards, on which they had painted comics expressing their concerns.

Students ArtEZ illustration Design.

Floor de Goede

Merel Barends

Menah

Everyone and if not, no one.