325 entries from 36 countries: exhibition of the 20 winners’ banners on the Middle Rhine Bridge

Facets of Friendship
The first Basel Comic Competition, launched by FANTASY BASEL – The Swiss Comic Con, the Cartoonmuseum Basel – Centre for Narrative Art, the Christoph Merian Foundation and Basel Tourism, focuses on a central theme: ‘Freundschaft – Friendship – Amicizia – Amitié’. The exhibition at FANTASY Basel, curated by the Cartoonmuseum Basel, showcases all the entries: the award-winning works in a large-scale installation. As diverse as the drawing styles are, so too are the approaches taken by the entries to all aspects of friendship: fragile or resilient, fleeting or lasting, enriching or draining. The comics form a multi-layered tapestry of relationships between closeness and distance, reliability and disappointment, ranging from direct interaction to digital connections. Each story tells its own version of how people interact with one another. Furthermore, friendships with or amongst animals have also been explored.