Today, the 2017 Taichung Comic Arts Festival kicked off 45 days of international-scale events at the Taichung Cultural and Creative Industries Park. Renowned international comic artist Brecht Evens was invited to be the guest of honor, and European comic artists will be interacting with local artists at the event, bringing a diverse range of perspectives and styles of both the analysis and drawing of comics. Vice-Mayor Lin Yirong came out to invite the public to take part in the festival. Vice-Chief of the Legislative Yuan, Cai Qichang and Vice-Head of the Literature and Publishing Division of the Ministry of Culture Deng Meirong both showed support for the city government’s hosting of a different style of comic arts festival. They both hope that Taichung may become an important base for comic collection and exhibition in Taiwan.

On August 11, Mayor Lin, together with Information Bureau Vice-Chief Wu Chaonan, attended the opening ceremony of the Taichung International Comic Arts Festival, further formally kicking off the event together with Vice-Chief of the Legislative Yuan Cai Qichang, City Council members Qiu Suzhen, Liu Shizhou, and Zheng Gongjin, Vice-Chief of the Ministry of Culture Zheng Meirong, and guest of honor, Brecht Evens. Also present were Head Secretary of the Bureau of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture, Wu Huazong, consultant for the Angoulême International Comics Festival Jean-Pierre Mercier, Prince Magazine Founder Cai Kunlin, and a representative from Legislator Huang Guoshu.

Mayor Lin stated that the first Taichung International Comic Arts Festival sets its focus internationally, creating a unique comic event style based on popular Japanese cosplay, with an emphasis on increased interaction between Taiwan and international comic creation. Mayor Lin hopes that the event, together with the increasingly popular Taichung International Animation Festival, can connect Taichung with the rest of the world through animation and comics.

Vice-Mayor Lin stated that next year, the city government will revitalize the old location of Taichung’s Fourth Market, and turn it into a base for comic artists and illustrators, and gradually turning Taichung into a center for ACG (anime, comics, and games) industries. In the future, Taichung will work with the Ministry of Culture on its National Comic Museum program, allowing Taichung to become a marvelous city of comics.

Vice-Chief Cai of the Legislative Yuan stated that comics accompanied his most important experiences growing up, and enrich his life. The city government focused this event on European comics, fully displaying the depth and layers of a different culture, and turning Taichung into a creative city. The vice division head of the Ministry of Culture Literature and Publishing Division, Ms. Deng, thanked the Taichung City Government for hosting this unique comics event, and hopes that Taichung may become an important base for comic collection and exhibition in Taiwan.

Guest of honor Brecht Evens welcomed the public to come to his exhibition. He believes that the entrance to the venue possesses a romantic Parisian style. He hopes to see more local Taiwanese comic artist’s work, and invites everyone to take part in this grand event.

The Information Bureau stated that this event has two distinct exhibition areas: the “Vibrant Melancholy of Parian Illustrations” and the “Clamor of Lonely Elegant Characters.” The “Parisian Illustrations” exhibition contains Evens’ work, including Les Noceurs, Am Falschen Ort, Panther, and his Louis Vitton Travel Book Paris. Evens is skilled in using abundant colors to portray a layered human world, different from our everyday impression of Europe. Connecting and comparing his work to the style of Taichung will give visitors a colorful visual feast. The “Elegant Characters” exhibition displays avant-garde European comic work which participated in international seminars, as well as the seminal work of local artists, allowing visitors to enjoy the different creative styles of different countries.The international seminar held on the opening weekend is an important focus of the event. The Information Bureau specially invited well-known European comic professionals including Angoulême International Comics Festival employees, international comic curators, European old comic collectors, and representatives from Italy’s Independent Comics Magazine to attend the event and have exchanges with local comic professionals in Taichung. This allows comic professionals to run ideas past each other and encounter new perspectives. In addition to the main exhibition and wide array of seminars, the event will play international cartoons from Monday to Friday, and Saturday and Sunday will have hands-on workshops. For more information, please see our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/TaiCAF.