After an amazing year The Auld Acquaintance – the Scottish Cartoon Art Studio’s touring exhibition about the independence referendum and celebrating our 15th anniversary – has made the final stops on its European tour in Lleida, Catalunya and Limoges, France.
LLEIDA
The exhibition was shown at the Institut de Estudis Illerdencs under the title La Força del Dibuix. Although the smallest and briefest iteration of the exhibition it was incontestably in the most attractive venue; the IEI is a stunning Gothic building in the centre of Lleida, a former infirmary complete with courtyard now used as a multipurpose exhibition and performance venue and library.
On the opening evening Studio Co-ordinator Terry Anderson was presented with an estelada by the IEI’s Deputy Director Rosa Pujol and our main host for the event, political cartoonist Ermengol whose work appears daily in La Mañana.
Ermengol is a major figure in the local cultural scene: a key player behind the Humoralia biennale and satirical magazine La Quera he has also created many public installations of sculpture and street art and spearheaded film festivals and other initiatives highlighting his native Argentina and South America. Most recently he established his own visual arts school for children and adults in the town and we were able to pay a visit and work a little with some of the youngsters.
Later in the week we were joined by Kap, the superb political and sports cartoonist for La Vanguardia and Mundo Deportivo. Kap was the first Catalan to respond to our call for submissions and instrumental in getting so many others to send their work.
Finally, a special mention for caricaturist Matías Tolsa who was exhibiting elsewhere in Lleida at the same time. We think his work is extraordinary and look forward to seeing a lot more from this up-and-comer in the future.
LIMOGES
Last Friday the exhibition opened in the foyer of the Faculté de Droits et des Sciences Économiques, Université de Limoges. After speaking with a class at the university about the Scottish independence referendum and its impact upon European politics, Terry attended a vernissage with Christophe Bonnotte, lecturer in Public Law and Executive Vice President of the university and Gérard Vandenbroucke, newly elected president of the Limousin region. The exhibition will continue at the university until the 14th of November and is a repeat showing of the version previously seen at the Centre International de la Caricature, du Dessin de Presse et d’Humour in St. Just-le-Martel (read more about that here).
Since Terry was in the neighbourhood he took the opportunity to see the last remaining works still in place after this year’s Salon in St. Just. Of particular interest were substantial collections of work from the Australian Cartoonists Association and the Cagle.com syndicate.
Limoges is our last stop in 2014. We’re grateful to the following for their support in making this leg of The Auld Acquaintance exhibition’s European tour possible: Centre International de la Caricature du Dessin de Presse et d’Humour • Diputació de Lleida • Escola Ermengol especially Željko Pirić • Humoralia • Institut d’Estudis Illerdencs • Université de Limoges • Dr Rhiannon McGlade of the University of Sheffield and University College, London • And, one again, all the cartoonists who sent their many pieces of work…
