Japanese comics have been constantly gaining ground in Europe for the last decade and will be present this year in Angoulême through a great exhibition dedicated to one of the most singular and most attractive editorial phenomena in the manga world, namely the CLAMP studio.

CLAMP is a women's collective working both in the shôjo (feminine) and shojo (masculine) manga fields. In twenty years' activity, their impressive amount of publications and their tremendous success have made them a real reference of today's Japanese comics. Their history started by the end of the 80s. They were twelve young female cartoonists and they decided to join their talent to produce their first collective amateur stories. Months went by. There were only seven of them left when the first professional series RG Veda got to be published in 1989. The following year, after three new starts, CLAMP took its final shape as a quartet who developed an original experience in division of labour and collective work : Satsuki Igarashi (screens and drawings), Mokona (main cartoonist), Tsubaki Nekoi (drawings and super deformed, which are the humorous drawings Japanese authors address to their readers as veiled messages), Ageha Ohkawa (script-writer and spokeswoman of the group).

The productions of the group soon became abundant. Duklyon, Tokyo Babylon, x, Cardcaptor Sakura, Chobits, xxxHOLIC, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle : they published series after series, covering a wide range of themes from romance to sci-fi to thriller to fantasy. Playing on the moral ambivalence of characters and the moving boundaries of imaginary worlds, the CLAMP stories, whose characters come across each others from one series to another in subtle crossovers to the delight of the fans, explore the themes of destiny and thwarted love as well as the turmoil of teenage years.

The group's works are intended for both female and male readership of various ages depending n the case, but they all share a sense of characterization, a predilection for dreamy atmospheres and the epitome of a certain manga aesthetics (angelical faces, brilliant muse of screens, unstructured layout) that have become year after year the labels of the « CLAMP style ». The fame, success and influence of the group has widely overwhelmed the Japanese borders and spread to the whole world. CLAMP's works have inspired several screen adaptations (xxxHOLIC was awarded a prize at the Annecy Festival) and a number of by-products. In French-speaking countries, CLAMP is one of the most often translated author (mainly by Tonkam and Pika).

The exhibition displayed in the Espace Franquin within the framework of the Manga Building is an unprecedented event. Richly comprised of numerous original plates and other unpublished preparatory works, it also offers a special documentary film shot in the studio of the four artists. Conceived as a real journey behind the scenes, the exhibition s open to all and divides into a number of distinct areas over a 200sqm surface, thus allowing an in-depth exploration of their world.

The first section of the exhibition is an introduction to the major works of the studio. The visitors then proceed to a fake studio, recreated for the occasion, in which workshops and shows will take place. The original pieces are displayed in a mysterious gothic crypt... In addition, a retrospective of the animation series and films inspired by the CLAMP mangas (x 1999, Chobits, xxxHOLIC, etc.) will be shown to the public in the Manga uilding.

EXHIBITION CLAMP

Salle Iribe, Espace Franquin,

from Thursday 24 to Sunday 27 January 2008

10am-8pm 

Curated by:

Julien Bastide and Nathalie Bougon

Conceived by:

Isabelle Poinot

Producted by:

The International Comics Festival