IGNCC and IBDS CFP 2027
“desirable future”
«Futurs désirables»
SUBMISSION DEADLINE 31st January 2027
The joint committees of the International Graphic Novels and Comics Conference (IGNCC) and the International Bande Dessinée Society (IBDS) invite you to consider the “desirable future” - «Futurs désirables» - of comics.
The conference will be held in person at the Conservatoire national des Arts et Métiers, (CNAM, https://www.arts-et-metiers.net) in Paris from Monday June 28 to Friday July 2, 2027.
There will also be an online conference on the same theme on 8th and 9th September 2027.
It can sometimes be difficult to envisage a non-pessimistic future given the seemingly converging crises of climate change, conflict politics, post-truth and late-capitalist consumerism. Indeed, science fiction, the genre of speculation, seems duty bound to estrange and catastrophise the zeitgeist it was constructed in. But what is a desirable future for comics?
Is it simply the presentation of more sanguine viewpoints about recognisable societal difficulties such as the optimistic science fiction of Owen. D. Pomery’s The Hard Switch (2023). Is it the romanticised reimaging of modernist architecture and philosophies such as those found in the “continent” building of François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters in Les Cités obscures (1983-2023)? Is it in the culmination of collective action in comics form such as the 24 hour responsive science comic envisaging sustainable futures in Dark Clouds Bright Skies (2024) by Daniel Locke, Chris Sandom and Jo Lindsay Walton? Or perhaps it is through more considered long-term cultural shifts such as found in the Afrofuturist utopia of Marvel Comics’ Wakanda or the African Futurist utopias of Nnedi Okorofor?
And, tangentially, what of a desirable future for the comics industry itself? What are the optimistic challenges to the oligopoly of the big companies? How are the small press and webcomics allowing marginalised voices to flourish? What are the hopeful signs for the artform?
We call for papers, panels and workshops on all things comics, graphic novels, Bande Dessinée and manga that deal with the idea or present us with desirable futures. We look forward to seeing you in Paris.
There are two separate submission points for the in-person and the online conferences. Please make sure you are submitting your proposal to the correct version. Transfer between online and in person conferences will not be possible after acceptance