Die neunte Kunst - Unwanted Stories

Die Neunte Kunst – Unwanted Stories (The Ninth Art – Unwanted Stories) is an international group exhibition of contemporary art whose starting point is the graphic novel. It concentrates on the “darker” examples of this genre, exploring works that recount stories that otherwise cannot be told in images because there are no photographs available. The exhibition not only deals with the graphic novel itself but also examines how this fascinating genre inspired a variety of artistic forms ranging from large-format wall drawings and graphic journalistic reports to animated films and the meandering narrative structures of computer games. The show occupies itself with classic themes of the graphic novel, such as stories of the inner self and science fiction, as well as political themes, often portrayed without the use of images, including contemporary forms of slavery and digital reconstructions of Auschwitz. Journalistic research and forensic reconstructions encounter interior worlds and personal obsessions in these works. In the process, the medium and its history are always reflected. The works make use of the suggestive power of popular graphic stories, which are deconstructed in the same breath by negating the glossy high-tech aesthetics of current computer animations through the deliberate use of simple techniques. Odd, never-before-seen worlds emerge with the ambition to live on in the mind of the viewer.

Unwanted Stories is a part of the cooperative project Die Neunte Kunst between the Stadtmuseum Oldenburg, the Horst-Janssen-Museum, and the Edith-Russ-Haus, each of which is devoting an exhibition to the theme of the graphic novel from very different perspectives. Each venue is also exhibiting an original drawing by Will Eisner, who is regarded as one of the genre’s founders.

Curated by Edit Molnár & Marcel Schwierin.