LUCCA COMICS & GAMES 2021

USPA NEWS - Lucca, October 8th 2021. Lucca Comics & Games 2021 edition ... A riveder le stelle: light - festival organized by Lucca Crea together with the Municipality of Lucca (fair from 29 October to 1 November) - starts with the inauguration of the exhibitions hosted in the rooms of Palazzo Ducale, made available by the Province of Lucca. The exhibitions pay tribute to masters from all over the world and accompany us to discover new, sometimes unpredictable, trends.

The exhibitions of Palazzo Ducale (Lucca - Piazza Napoleone) are therefore open this weekend: after the ribbon cutting in the presence of the authorities, they are accessible with free admission from 9 to 28 October (upon presentation of the Green Pass as per national legislation) and with access allowed only to ticket holders during the festival, from 29 October to 1 November. In the prestigious frescoed seat, which was the palace of Maria Luisa di Borbone, at the beginning of the 19th century, the exhibitions are the flagship of the cultural program of the event and one of the most awaited appointments by fans from all worlds celebrated at Lucca Comics & Games. From the masters of international comics to the great sagas of the fantastic, from illustration for children to studies for games and animations, up to modeling and photography: every year the protagonists are celebrated with real "personal", organized in an exhibition itinerary.

COMICS IN MUSEUMS - THE UFFIZI SELF-PORTRAITS. The exhibition, curated by Mattia Morandi and Chiara Palmieri, is dedicated to Tuono Pettinato, a recently deceased cartoonist and author for Comics in the Museums of the register set in the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence. It is the first of the initiatives envisaged by the memorandum of understanding signed by the Uffizi Galleries and Lucca Crea to encourage the development and promotion of comics in Italy and abroad and is the result of the prestigious collaboration with the Ministry of Culture. In Lucca 52 self-portraits of as many Italian cartoonists are exhibited, generously donated by the artists who participated in Comics in the Museums, the project conceived by the Ministry of Culture and created in collaboration with the Coconino Press - Fandango publishing house. After the end of the event, the works on display will enrich the collection of the Uffizi Galleries.

The agreement with the festival also provides for the participation of the Uffizi and the Ministry of Culture in the designation of the Master of Comics of Lucca Comics & Games, as part of the Lucca Comics Awards and the entry, every year, of the self-portrait of the winner in the collection of self-portraits of the Florentine museum. The agreement will last for two years and will be renewable: various types of shared initiatives may be undertaken within it: in addition to exhibitions, also events, cultural productions, creative, educational, scientific partnerships and much more.

WILL EISNER, THE GIANT - Will Eisner (1917-2005), one of the greatest comic authors of all time: he is the father of the modern graphic novel, which brought the medium to a definitive maturity. Starting from the seminal "Contract with God" (1978), Eisner, who already came from an extraordinary career in entertainment comics (in particular with his humorous detective "The Spirit"), interprets an authorial need that is together artistic and commercial positioning, that of a comic that presents itself as a “book”, a closed and autonomous work, free to explore even difficult themes. The "Contract" is followed by other extraordinary titles, such as "Towards the storm" or "Fagin the Jew". The exhibition of the master's original drawings, created in collaboration with CArt Gallery, will be enriched with unpublished materials and essays selected together with Denis Kitchen, friend and editor of Eisner.

THE THOUSAND FACES OF GIACOMO BEVILACQUA - One of the comic phenomena that emerged from the infinite vastness of the Internet, Giacomo Bevilacqua became popular with the poetic humorous strip "A Panda piace". Later he dedicated himself to increasingly ambitious projects, such as the graphic novel "Il suono del mondo a memoria" and the miniseries for Sergio Bonelli Editore "Attica", created in a style halfway between Italian and Japanese comics and winner of the award. as Best Series at the Lucca Comics Awards 2020.

RADICE & TURCONI: STORIES FROM THE HOUSE WITHOUT NORTH - Couple in work and in life, Teresa Radice (texts) and Stefano Turconi (drawings) start from the sunshine of the Disney world and arrive at novels of great emotional involvement such as "Il porto proibito" and "Non stancarti di andare”. If "Il porto proibito" earned both of them the Gran Guinigi award for Best Graphic Novel in 2015, in 2020 Teresa was awarded the Best Screenplay in the Lucca Comics Awards 2020 for the ideal follow-up to that book, “Le ragazze del Pillar".

An exhibition is dedicated to the making off of the official festival poster, which traces the creative process that took place between the artist Paolo Barbieri, the director Emanuele Vietina and the art director of the festival Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini. Barbieri, former author of Dante's Inferno illustrated, published with Mondadori and then in a new edition by Sergio Bonelli Editore, is among the selected for the Dante hypermodern exhibition, promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and curated by Prof. Giorgio Bacci.
The slogan of the Lucca Comics & Games 2021 festival, "... a riveder le stelle" - immortal verse from Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy (XXXIV Canto dell’Inferno), ideally symbolizes the passage from a dark moment to light. An event dedicated to transitions, "lighter", different but equally rich in cultural proposals.

The next appointment with Lucca Comics & Games is scheduled for October 22nd with the inauguration of the exhibitions: Pau - Art Rock Couture Volume 1 and Absolutely necessary comics: the window on the world of Walter Leoni, set up at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni of the Banca Foundation of Monte di Lucca (p.za San Martino).

Timetables:
Until October 28th
Tue-Thu-Fri: 3 pm - 7 pm
Sat-Sun: 9 am - 1 pm and 2 pm - 7 pm
During the days of the Festival (29-30-31 October, 1 November): 9 am - 7 pm

Exhibition ticket:
Free admission from 8 to 28 October; access allowed only with festival ticket from 29 October to 1 November.

Access rules:
Access to the exhibitions will be allowed only upon presentation of the Green pass, as per national legislation.