Sebastian Borckenhagen

Watch out.

2012-02-14T08:47:00.000-08:00

A quick update.

It has been a long while since I've written. This while coincides, coincidentally, with a rather action-packed patch of my life as a comic-artist.

September saw me take part in the Independent Publishing Project at Blank Projects in Woodstock, Cape Town. This project had me start work on an as yet unpublished series of comics called 'Devil Comi6' and complete and publish the previous post's comic, which is unfortunately titled with an image rather than text.

Later in the same month, on rather short notice, I exhibited in a group exhibition of comic-artists and poets in Bremen, Germany called 'Don't shoot! We're not armed' where my own work was put on display (surely by accident!) alongside some of South Africa's comic-artist heavyweights. The work of the other artists in the show all deal with political matters quite overtly. My own work in contrast was described by a review of the show as representing the newer a-political generation of post-Apartheid South Africa. I'm not comfortable with this connection.

Something fun that resulted from this exhibition was the translation of a few pieces of my writing into German. I'll post up the Auf Deutsch versions soon.

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Upcoming excitement, for me at least, will be a stand at the Design Indaba, Cape Town from the 1-4th of March. You can catch me here.

Then, on the 24th of March an exhibition in Hamburg, Germany (the second leg of the exhibition in Bremen, under a different title). You can also catch me here.

Then, at the end-ish of April I will be taking part in the second leg of the Independent Publishing Project at the Goethe Institute's gallery in Johannesburg. I can also be caught here.

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Am working on a bunch of stuff. Will send word when it's done.

untitled

Aha, some more comics.

2011-10-03T07:18:00.000-07:00

I recently made a new comic book made up of a string of disjointed comics. The comics were all... strange. I'm very happy with the actual content, I think. The booklet is either the best comic I've made, or the worst. Or, possibly neither.

You can check it out by clicking on the cover above.

2011-10-02T02:01:00.000-07:00

'The Man is Disappearing.'

2011-08-09T04:39:00.000-07:00

I mentioned a book that I was working on. Well, I finished it. I took a whole stack with me to Rome, where I would say that they held their own amongst very tough competition. Here are some photographs of the book.

I clearly took the photographss in such a rush that I couldn't even spare the time to clear the table of the beginnings of my next project. I suppose it is a sneak peak.

As you can see, I ended up using the drawing of birds that I did for the Polish Book Cover contest as an illustration for 'When I was a bird'. Eish, I hope that Will doesn't retroactively disqualify me.

I suppose I should also add that I am willing to sell these booklets at the overly-fair price of R30 (€3 or $5). The book is 40 pages and slightly smaller than A5.

You could contact me on [my name]@gmail.com. (Hint: You might be familiar with my name as it is the bit preceding the '.blogspot.com' in your address bar)(Further hint: it is sebastianborckenhagen)

Very cool. (Two-parter)

2011-08-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

Part 1)
I recently attended the Crack! comics festival in Rome. It was very cool. Fantastic. It has, both years that I have attended, been largely on the life-changing side of things. I will post up some photos of the festival soon. From both years. I'll also soon take some photos of my new 'zine and post those up. The 'zine is on sale in three bookstores in Berlin. Motto, Neurotitan and Bongout. These three stores are notable for being ludicrously hip. Rumours have it that Motto is so hip that copies of my booklet there are already sold out.

On a side note - 'Zine is the term I encountered most often in Europe when hustling my little book. I'm not sure why the term 'zine is used as a catch-all for lo-fi publications. The term is short for 'fanzine', which is what fans make when they make magazines about the comics/tv-shows/movies they go bonkers about. I might well be completely mistaken. I refuse to look this up. I'm not sure why.

I find the use of this term for my booklets quite fun, because as my fanzines don't have a specific object of fanaticism, they are forced into being fanatical about far more general targets, such as genres, or entire mediums. It's quite a silly idea when taken too seriously, but if you're playful enough when applying it, it has quite nice results.

* 'The Man is Disappearing' is also for sale at the Book Lounge in Cape Town. If you would like to buy or sell my stuff, my email address is the @gmail.com version of my blogspot address.

Part 2)
I'm quite fanatical about music, specifically listening to the stuff. I've recently made two compilations of some of the songs I've enjoyed over the last few years. You can listen to them here:

The Dream - http://www.mediafire.com/?b0jf6hk7d60mdtb
Part II - http://www.mediafire.com/?i6yl3c6ivocfp6c

The reason I mention it is that I'm quite excited about a third that I'm making at the moment.

What's up.

2011-06-11T11:27:00.000-07:00

50 Watts has posted the results of the Polish Book Cover Contest. My entry is on the 'Extra Entries' page, which is the second tier of runners-up. It appears I did not excel quite enough. My entry, in retrospect, does not look very much like a book cover. Ah.

This is my one:

Check out the results. There are some super-duper covers there.
If you'd like to see my entry for last year's contest, click here.

I will be at the Crack! comics festival this year. Am very excited about that. I wanted to post photos from when I went in 2009, but I was too caught up in getting my book finished for the convention before leaving Cape Town. I'm in Johannesburg at the moment. Just doing my thing.

Book came out very well, by the way.

Special Music.

2011-06-06T02:18:00.000-07:00

Songs from Nature's Valley

I've been meaning to put these up for a while (since 2009). I think they're fun.

I had just been given a tape-recorder and used it to record my first attempts at singing. These are they. All the songs are improvised and I had only been playing guitar for two months at the time, so it might be a bit different to the music you're used to hearing.

(The text above the picture is a link that if you click will allow you to download the songs!)

A page of comics.

2011-05-28T01:18:00.000-07:00

It makes perfect sense to have my comics out where people can see them.
More will come soon probably.

Comics
Comics
Comics

An update of sorts.

2011-05-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

I have just submitted my entry to 50watts' Polish book cover competition. I'll let you know when Will posts the results. I'm sure there will be some highly-good entries.

Here is a bit of an overview of the stuff I've been drawing recently (it's actually not so recent come to think about it). I'm currently working on a small book of my comics, drawing and writing. This sort of thing is similar to what will go into that.

Hmmmm.

Poems:

2011-04-13T00:12:00.000-07:00

Mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes can never quite get their fill
They are like humans in that regard
I heard a bunch of them gang up
and plot to bleed another one dry.

The lighthouse is on.
One ship passing.

The lighthouse is off.

Now it's on.

I'm surprised to have stood up.

Lion and I.
My friend the lion says to me one day,
"Why aren't you visiting anymore?"
I say, "Why're you always hassling me, Lion?
Lion says, "Because you aren't visiting anymore."

Some more drawings.

2011-02-10T09:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some more drawings that I've done since the last batch:

And here are photographs of two of the ones that I posted last week:

Some recent drawing.

2011-02-05T02:51:00.000-08:00

This is some of the drawing that I did this week. I've run out of paper now.

(Click the picture to view a higher res version.)

Keleketla!

2011-02-05T02:25:00.000-08:00

These are some photos of the comics workshop taken by Malose and Nkuli of Keleketla!

Showing the kids how to make booklets:

Drawing an example comic:

This is a poster of ANC supporters outside of the 1956 Treason Trial, which was held in the building that the Keleketla! library is now housed in.

Jan Maanda, who is an artist. He facilitated the workshop with me.

One of the rooms of the library being painted.

Frans (left) who lived on the roof with me and Nkuli (right) who organized..

Fifi, who facilitated the theater workshop.

Quaz, who documented.

I joined Maya (right), Malose (far right) and the kids for a tour of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, which is in Joubert Park, around the corner from the library.

Joubert Park.

2011-02-05T01:04:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to put this up for a while, but have been either emotionally or physically distant for most of that while. I apologise.

In December/November I spent two weeks in Joubert Park, a suburb in Johannesburg's inner city. The suburb is similar to its infamous neighbour Hillbrow. Both areas used to be wealthy whites-only suburbs during Apartheid but saw a rapid exodus of whites as (far) poorer blacks began living there. With the severe exodus of wealth, the area experienced sharp urban decay. Many of the buildings there are now squatted and controlled by 'property warlords'.

I was there to facilitate a comics workshop at the Keleketla! Library located at the historic Drill Hall, where in 1956 Nelson Mandela and 155 other ANC leaders were tried in the Treason Trial for their organized resistance to the newly introduced Apartheid laws. The library is a supercool project that provides kids living in the area with access to reading material and creative workshops. Facilitating the workshop was a wonderful experience and I'd like to do it again. Being in the inner-city was also a wonderful experience, a bit mindblowing.

While I was in Joubert Park I bought a disposable camera and took photos of the area:
(clicking these images will lead you to the higher res versions on Flickr)

My bedroom window looked onto an informal taxi rank. The building diagonally opposite mine was squatted.

This is Jon. He was the only white person I saw in Joubert Park. He has been homeless for a while and pushed a trolley around with the refuse that he collects and modifies.

These are some of the kids making comics.

This is the courtyard of the Drill Hall, the historic site of the 1956 Treason Trial that now is the site of the Keleketla! library. The strange building on the left used to be a cinema. It is now under the control of a 'property warlord' that 3rd Degree did a profile of.

The CBD.

Police raiding a squatted building.

The ANC headquarters. COSATU had just marched by.

The kids from the library outside the Johannesburg Art Gallery.

Intersection of Twist and Plein street. The building on the right is part of the Drill Hall. Park Central (Noord?) taxi rank is center.

Hanging out on the rooftop, with my laundry. Where I stayed is the bit on the right.

This is taken on the balcony of a restaurant in the Ethiopian section. Every time I sat there I saw police harassing hawkers. They (largely unpaid reservists) confiscate merchandise and demand bribes for it to be returned.

Possibly unrelated is this car that pulled up. Three men exited the car and entered an Ethiopian national's trading shop. One of them wore a police uniform and was armed with a shotgun.

The man with shotgun is standing between the stalls.

He returned to the street to disperse the crowd that was gathering. He waved his shotgun around aggressively then fired a round into the air. The crowd dispersed.

A police car drove up. A few policemen got out and entered the store. They exited with a sound system which they put into their car. They all left.

Around the corner from the Drill Hall. Hillbrow is on the left.

Hillbrow.

On my last day in Joubert Park the police raided the taxi rank that my bedroom looked onto.

They confiscated many minibuses.

This is Jan. We ran the comics workshop together.

I spent the last day of my time in Johannesburg in Sandton, which is one of South Africa's wealthiest suburbs.

Dry and Meaningless.

2010-11-26T04:54:00.000-08:00

I'm currently giving comics workshops to the kids at the Keleketla library in JHB. One of the kids copied a panel from a comic of mine that was lying around. The result is pretty surreal.

EDIT:

Here is the original comic:

Insects.

2010-11-16T01:26:00.000-08:00

A scientist friend of mine tells me that very soon in the evolutionary trajectory of insects they will notice, as we have long ago, that in the sky there is a giant ball of fire. They will one by one give up their daily routines of digging and eating dirt and they will begin moving towards it. The ones with wings will carry those without. Some of these combinations will move very quickly, traversing large portions of the distance between them and the sun.

by Sebastian

Here are some drawings that I did in August/September.

2010-11-15T11:32:00.000-08:00

Clicking on the images takes you to the higher resolution versions.

Evolution - Birds.

2010-11-13T01:53:00.000-08:00

We have a handful of strategies that we use to understand the evolution of humans. It is a difficult art in which we can easily make mistakes. Because of this we tread cautiously: only a tiny fraction more of the steps that are taken aren’t steps backwards. So far we’ve found that the structure of our mind is outward-layered with newer developments built on top of older ones.

In the same way that the newer physical components of our brain rely on the infrastructure of the older ones, so it could be true of our personal experience. It could be that our everyday interactions with each other have as their far far removed base ancient survival mechanisms wholly irrelevant to our modern lives (the terror of birds, our once-predators, comes to mind). Perhaps our decisions in dealing with those we love are secretly influenced by an ancient fear of being swooped up while exposed. Perhaps the strange ability to dwell on a moment and expand from it an overwhelming sense of inspiration, perhaps this is caused by some still extant older infrastructure trying to connect to a now extinct cousin and attempting to use the newer machinery to perform the same function.

When I was a bird I was once, while attempting to court a particularly beautiful female, overwhelmed by the memory of a bizarre and terrifying sound. I had heard it in the human camp: a powerfully loud sound with very little melodic complexity. I flew away terrified, in a state of shock.

On my return I relived the excitement of the original terror by mimicking the sound. I and the particularly beautiful female and a few of the other males who were also attempting to court her flew around up and down and around each other. I cried out the sound and the others tried to mimic me, but could not generate the excitement that my cries did.

by sebastian

Two compilations.

2010-11-13T01:38:00.000-08:00

A while ago I made a compilation of South African music. Some links: http://electricjive.blogspot.com/; http://freedomblues.blogspot.com/; http://soulsafari.wordpress.com/; http://matsuli.blogspot.com/

The last song is a sample that I took from a documentary called 'The Hunters' by John Marshall. 'The Hunters' is an amazing documentary. Marshall was only 21 when he filmed it.

You can download the compilation here.

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I also made this one a while ago, for a friend's birthday. It is a compilation made from the tape compilations that Mississippi Records has been putting out.

Download it here.

Comics about comics.

2010-07-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

I've made a new booklet of comics. This one is titled Comics about People and Things. Here is one of the comics from the booklet. I made it in time to sell at Grahamstown Arts Festival. I approached festivalgoers and read them the following comic. Most people bought it and I ended up selling-out the batch. Thank you.

I am a dog.

2010-06-01T14:28:00.000-07:00

I am a dog and can hear most things.
I walked into the room and was convinced that you had gotten things wrong.

I sat next to you and thought about how it is that I know things are wrong, but I became tired and fell asleep. When I woke up you had lit a fire in the fireplace and were putting out some food for me.
I tried again later, but this time I sat close to the fire. The warmth made me drowsy and I fell asleep again.

The next day you went for a walk to the forest and took me with you. It was cold so you wore a large coat. I do not need clothes because I have a coat of fur. I ran ahead of you many times to look out for other things. In the forest we stopped briefly and you peed. I peed too.

When we got back home I remembered that I was trying to work out what was wrong. You lit a fire earlier in the day than the last time, which is good because it was a colder than the day before. I fell asleep again and woke up later. You were putting food into a bowl. I ate it.

The next day you went to the forest and I went with you. We came back and you lit a fire. It's good because it is cold outside. I ate food from a bowl and I was warm from the fire. It made me happy. It is good.

Some comics.

2010-03-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

I drew a small batch of comics in November 2009 I think it was. I'm a big fan of them, especially these two:

Bertha, The Child-Flower (also: Jakob Von Gunten)

2010-03-29T03:08:00.000-07:00

I entered the illustration contest at Journey Round My Skull. This was my entry:

The Journey Round My Skull site is really quite excellent. Will scans in illustrations and book covers from back when things were well designed. I read Robert Walser's Jakob Von Gunten after reading about Robert Walser on the site. It's a pretty gosh damn brilliant book. Sticking to tradition, I'm posting the cover of my university's copy:

Beatboxing.

2010-03-11T05:13:00.000-08:00

I spent a month in Berlin in 2009, which is when the two comics that I've posted were drawn. Some people that I met there ran a weekly open mic night at a club called Madame Claude in Kreuzberg. On my last night night in Berlin I revealed to them my secret ability to beatbox. It was an "Open Mike Tyson" on that particular Sunday, which meant that there were three judges who critiqued your stuff. It was all quite friendly except for one musician from New Zealand to whom Tory, one of the organizers, seemed to have a lot to say.

On my trip I had with me a Talkgirl (the female version of the talkboy from Home Alone) that a friend of mine, Michaela, lent to me so that I would capture what exactly it is that is going on over there. I used it to record my 'set'. The recording clips at times when my sounds become too intense. Also, I think I sound helluva smug when I talked, but it's just that I was quite nervous.

Beatboxing.mp3

Circles Are Lines: a series of bland comics

2010-03-04T14:05:00.000-08:00

PAGE 1
PAGE 2
PAGE 3
PAGE 4
PAGE 5
PAGE 6
PAGE 7
THE END

Professor Stevens gave me a ... to write.

2010-02-18T01:42:00.000-08:00

I drew this comic in July last year. It was based on a dream that I had soon after writing some university exams. I forgot to care for it and it got rained on, which resulted in a psychedelic purple seeping out of the ink towards that bottom of the page. I've uploaded them in black and white to make it easier to read.

Also, welcome to my weblog!

a note on the sky and birds

2010-02-16T12:28:00.000-08:00

In Xhosa the phrase "Izulu limathumb' antaka" means that it is overcast and will soon rain. The literal translation of the phrase is "The sky is the entrails of birds."