Bastien Vivès affair sows Zizanie in comic strip, at dawn of Angoulême Festival

The fiftieth anniversary of the International Comic Strip Festival is polluted by the cleavage caused by the cancellation of the “Polina” author’s exhibition, against the backdrop of apology for child pornography.

by Frédéric Potet

Title of a famous story of Asterix, would “zizania” propagate in the middle of the comic strip, the wild boars less? Unpredictable two months ago, a climate of division seems to have spread in the 9th ^{e art, at the dawn of its major event, the Angoulême International Comic Festival. Six weeks after the cancellation of the exhibition dedicated to Bastien Vivès, which is the subject of an investigation for the dissemination of child pornographic images, a deep cleavage emerged in the profession, phagocytating a number of discussions, damaging quantity of links, to the point of relegating in the background the fiftieth anniversary of the event (January 26-29).}

Two camps face each other. On the one hand, those who believe that the author of Polina had nothing to do on the poster of Angoulême, with regard to his pornographic albums and certain remarks made in the media and social networks. On the other, those who take offense at the infringement made to the freedom of artistic creation with the deprogramming of this exhibition, even for security reasons. The fracture seems generational. Rather young authors and authors mostly make up the ranks of the detractors of Bastien Vivès, according to the names of 500 signatories of a petition called “the reasons for anger”, published on Mediapart. In contrast, rather experienced professionals say their visceral hatred of censorship, in all its forms.

The latter have rarely heard their voices. Firstly because the verbal slippages of Bastien Vivès, calling in particular to the murder of a designer whom he hated, Emma, ​​and to the rape of his child, make him difficult to defend, despite his apologies. Then because the slightest speaking, in a debate that has become cacophonic, exposes the risk of stigma on the web. Broken by rare authors, like Jean-Marc Rochette or Catel, the silence of the “pro-expression live” could be more massively, soon. A platform entitled “Art is not morality, fiction is not reality” is currently circulating within the corporation. Call not to “gag” the artists, the petition should only be made public after the festival, so as not to disturb its progress.

“It is a dictatorship on”

Major figure of 9 e art, Enki Bilal is one of those who want to express themselves openly today. The Grand Prix of Angoulême 1987 does not compromise on “the freedom of creation of an artist”, as he said to the world: “If we want to do provocative, we must be able to do it. In art , it is even desirable. But you have to stay in the field of fantasy, the difference in reality. You have to demonstrate, even in the greatest delusions, of a certain nuance – word which seems to have lost all its meaning in the Binary world of today. The surge of hatred on social networks proves it, with the unpleasant impression that wokism, this maccarthyism upside down, takes its part. That this ideology comes from the left is landing. “

You have 56.38% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.