MARTA CARTU, PAULINE LECERF & COLE DEGENSTEIN. “RUNNING ON EMPTY”
COMIC
, EXHIBITION
DATE
From March 17th to September 14th 2025
TIME
From Monday to Saturday: 10:00am-8:00pm // Sundays and public holidays: 10:00am-2:00pm
SPACE
BBK Mediateka Gallery
TICKET
Free admission
"The Running on empty. Comics as visual poetry" exhibition illustrates International Comic Residency 2025 artists Marta Cartu, Pauline Lecerf and Cole Degenstein’s creative process. This initiative is sponsored by Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao with Maison de la Littérature, Quebec and Cité Internationale de la Bande Dessinée et de l’image, Angoûleme.
As part of this cross-Residency, the artists are developing both individually and collectively three diverse projects in terms of their techniques, although with the same starting point: everyday life. They propose converting the mundane into poetry using different visual metaphors and narrative resources from their respective graphic imaginaria.
Likewise, the exhibition spotlights the personal experience of artistic creation, not always born from inspiration. “Running on empty is like when you have run out of petrol, but you keep moving forward. Because despite having nothing, you continue ahead, creating. Running on empty is like making a comic”, as descried by the artists.
Marta Cartu, Pauline Lecerf and Cole Degenstein started their residency in Angoûleme, from 20 January to 20 February. They will carry on at Azkuna Zentroa from 21 February to 24 March, and they will subsequently travel to Quebec, where they will work through the last month of this residency.
The three stays coincide with a festive period at each of the venues: International Comic Festival in Angoûleme, Gutun Zuria Bilbao – International Literature Festival, and Festival Quebec BD in Quebec.
Likewise, in addition to continuing with the creative process they are developing within the framework of this programme in Bilbao, they have also taken part in different activities as part of the Gutun Zuria Bilbao, International Literature Festival. They have furthermore intervened in the main façade of the Alhóndiga with three illustrations created for this space.
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COLE DEGENSTEIN. "DEAR KENNETH"
Chosen for the International Comic Residency by Maison de la Littérature in Quebec.
“Dear Kenneth”
Dear Kenneth is an auto-fiction comic Cole Degenstein created as a reflection on low periods in life being tied to great periods of artistic output- artists often describe being able to make their best work when they’re not doing well or are emotionally devastated. The narrative is told through a series of stream-of-consciousness letters written to a poet called Kenneth, emulating a series of walks in first-person view through Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan. The project is ultimately about projection, about selfishness, and about how we take things and make them into what we need them to be rather than trying to actually connect with them in a genuine way- it is a body of work about feeling and observing in an insular, self-centred way rather than trying to genuinely connect, to be observed, to see others.
PAULINE LECERF. "UNE CONNEXION FILAIRE AVEC LE MONDE"
Chosen for the International Comic Residency by Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao.
“Une connexion filaire avec le monde” (Una conexión por cable con el mundo)
This comic strip establishes a metaphorical link between writing and hair… Life lines, expression of our individuality… Hair and writing are the footprints of our time in this world. The comic is a tribute to the haircuts, graffiti, plaits, signatures… In short, to all those lines with which we maintain a very intimate and personal relationship.
The concluding sentence states the following:
What will be left of our time in this world?
A few lines, some written words,
A few arabesques in life’s basin,
A few hairs stuck in the drain.
MARTA CARTU. "BUGS"
Chosen for the International Comic Residency by Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao.
“Bugs”
If stories have historically given sense to both individual and collective identity, this project questions the construction of narratives in the contemporary context, crossed by the very volatility of a gaseous society.
Technologically speaking, a bug is a computer system error. This term was coined in 1947 when a moth was found to have caused an error in a computer relay. Taking this concept as a starting point, this project articulates an essay-fiction comic story that transits from the personal to the collective exploring the construction of bugged stories: personal empty spaces felt by the narrator on going through a bereavement, contemporary bugs affecting the construction of narratives generated by AI, likewise systemic failures about our own society revealed by these errors.
