Event Dates & Times

Tuesday 24 June - ONLINE: 09:00-17.30

Wednesday 25 June - ONLINE: 09:00-17.30

Monday 30 June - IN-PERSON: 09:00-17:00

Tuesday 1 July - IN-PERSON: 09:00-17:45

Wednesday 2 July - IN-PERSON: Daytrip

Thursday 3 July - IN-PERSON: 09:00-17:45

Friday 4 July - IN-PERSON: 09:30-16:30

In Person Event Location

Brussels, Belgium

Description

Joint Conference of the International Bande Dessinée Society and the International Graphic Novel and Comics Conference

Tues 24 June – Weds 25 June 2025: Online event

Mon 30 June – Fri 4 July 2025: In-person event, Brussels, Belgium

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The Taste of Comics

Location: Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée (Mon 30 June; Fri 4 July) and Hoek 38 (Tues 1 July, Thurs 3 July) - Brussels, Belgium

Keynote speakers: Irène Le Roy Ladurie (Wednesday 25 June), Eric Dubois (Monday 30 June) and Eszter Szep (Friday 4 July)

Taste is constructed through culture, aesthetics, and the senses. What is good taste and bad taste? In the past comics were aligned with trash culture evoking notions of good literature and bad literature, good art and bad art. How and why were these hierarchies constructed? Are they still relevant?

Speaking more literally, graphic gastronomy is filled with stories about taste and food. Bakhtinian excess is evoked in characters such as Capitaine Haddock’s drinking, Garfield’s love of Lasagne, and Scooby Doo and Shaggy who will eat anything. Eating can also be dis-tasteful - and at the opposite end of excess is the tragedy of famine and starvation.

This year’s joint conference of IBDS and IGNCC will engage with questions of taste and consumption in comics from many perspectives. It will take place online (24-25 June 2025) and in-person at Brussels, Belgium (30 June - 4 July 2025, at venues above). Please see our website www.IGNCC.com for full details of our scheduled programme and events. Please note that we are online only Tues 24 - Weds 25 June and in-person Mon 30 June - Fri 4 July. On Weds 2 July we are offering a tour of the Royal Library’s comics archive; numbers for this are limited and there are no scheduled papers that day.

As in previous years, the online strand will be held on Zoom. The one-hour time slots given in the programme are for Q&A/discussion of the papers, which will be uploaded to our Figshare repository (link available via our website) the week before the event. This will allow everyone time to view presentations and (we hope) result in lively and useful panel discussions with less zoom fatigue. In-person delegates will present live; please note that we will not be running a hybrid stream from the Belgium event.

We are delighted to announce that, thanks to the generosity of multiple institutions (Ghent University, Hoek 38, The Comic Art Museum, Routledge, Intellect and more) the 2025 conference will be a free event. We offer sincere thanks to our supporters.

Please keep an eye on our website www.IGNCC.com for updates. For any other queries please email TheIGNCC@gmail.com

For further information on this event please contact TheIGNCC@gmail.com

This online event may be recorded. For details in respect of any recording and how it will be made available, please contact the organiser. If you do not want to appear in any recording please notify the host, keep your camera and audio off throughout the event and avoid using any chat function during the event (we will do our best to respond to any questions you have through other channels). For further information, please refer to our privacy notice https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/about/governance/access-information/data-protection-privacy/general-enquiries-public-events-privacy-notice [RA1]

Please note that before placing an order, you will be asked to agree to Bournemouth University’s terms and conditions (see below). Please read these terms carefully and make sure you understand them before ordering any Products.

Bournemouth University’s Online Event Terms and Conditions

Joint International Bande Dessinée and Graphic Novel and Comics Conference