Fever in Urbicand, fragment. By François Schuiten & Benoît Peeters
On July 1, 2020 the Estonian Museum of Architecture proudly presents the new exhibition The Obscure World of the Urbatect. Architectural comics by François Schuiten & Benoît Peeters and the Estonian language publication of the graphic novel „Segadus Urbicande’is“ („La Fiévre d’Urbicande“).
Comics and architectural graphics join in this exhibition of the works of Belgian artist François Schuiten (1956) and French writer Benoît Peeters (1956). The action in the series of graphic novels titled Les Cités obscures (The Obscure Cities) takes place on Counter-Earth ― a mysterious planet that shares an orbit with Earth but which from our perspective is blocked by the Sun. The denizens of this imaginary civilization come face to face with problems familiar to us, such as restructuring urban space or heritage vs. desire for the new. The heroes and anti-heroes of this planet often get caught up in the crosswinds of architectural ideas and rigid systems.
Materials from the King Baudouin Foundation’s collection ― original drawings from La Frontiére Invisible and Brüsel and François Schuiten’s storyboards ― let us peek into the world of manual drawing. The exhibition also marks the world premiere of digitally coloured enlargements of pages from Fever in Urbicand.
The exhibition is open for visitors from June 18 in the gallery of the Rotermann Salt Storage.
Writer Benoît Peeters – the graphic novelist of the series – will give a lecture on Obscure Cities on September 9, 2020 at the Estonian Museum of Architecture
Curators: Sandra Mälk, Benoît Peeters
Art: François Schuiten
Story: Benoît Peeters
Designer: Koit Randmäe
Drawings: François Schuiten Fund of the King Baudouin Foundation collection at the Bibliotheca Wittockiana (Belgium)
Digital colourist of Fever in Urbicand: Jack Durieux
Supporters: Ministry of Culture, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, French Embassy in Estonia, French Institute in Estonia.
More information:
Sandra Mälk
Researcher/Main Collection Archivist
+372 625 7004
sandra@arhitektuurimuuseum.ee
