The annual Artistic Creation Chair at the Collège de France is dedicated to all forms of artistic creation. For one academic year, it hosts a leading figure in contemporary artistic creation.

In 2022-2023, this chair will be held by Benoît Peeters, in partnership with the Centre national du livre.

Poetics of the comic strip

Born in 1830 at the same time as photography, and flourishing around 1900 at the same time as cinema, the comic strip has survived the advent of television, video games and the Internet with ease. From print literature to graphic novels, from comics to manga, it has never ceased to renew itself.

Far from being the poor relation of literature and the graphic arts, it has its own creative possibilities : the box, the strip, the plate, the constant interaction of text and drawing, scenario and implementation, black and white and color.

The aim is to explore the specific features of the comic strip, its historical and geographical diversity, its aesthetic and narrative richness, and its media, techniques and audiences. The " poétique ", i.e. the creative process, willbe approached in such a way as tonever separate reflection on comics from the concrete work of those who make them.

Rather than isolating the " ninth art ", we'll be looking at its links with caricature, press cartoons, painting, photography, cinema and cartooning. Emphasis will be placed on its place in the world of books and printed matter, highlighting everything that makes it a form of reading in its own right.