PAFF! (Palazzo Arti Fumetto Friuli) expands its horizon and becomes the International Museum of Comic Art.
The innovative cultural container in Pordenone, under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture, will open on March 10, 2023.The permanent exhibition, whose curatorship has been entrusted by Artistic Director Luca Raffaelli, offers through a multimedia and interactive layout the opportunity to admire some 200 original plates by the most famous comic book artists of all time and more than 500 sketches, script sheets, historical and rare publications, stage costumes used in films based on comics, set designs and films from all over the world through purchases, loans and donations.
Placed within the 2,200 square meters of exhibition space at PAFF!, the collection is divided into 9 different sections and includes original plates by numerous extraordinary masters and cartoonists such as Carl Barks, Milton Caniff, Giorgio Cavazzano, Will Eisner, Floyd Gottfredson, Chester Gould, Benito Jacovitti, Magnus, Milo Manara, George McManus, Andrea Pazienza, Hugo Pratt, Alex Raymond, Charles M. Schulz, and Art Spiegelman. A sculpture by Ivan Tranquilli will also be on display, while Davide Toffolo for the Museum has created the introductory panel on proto-comics, or those illustrated stories that anticipate the birth of the comics industry and success.
Under the artistic direction of its founder, Giulio De Vita, PAFF! thus connotes itself as the only museum in the world dedicated to comics that focuses on the comparison between original plates and reproductions, newspapers, albums, and books on which comics live.
In the permanent exhibition, the original board is shown throughout its editorial journey, clarifying as never before the relationship between comics and the communication industry, allowing different audiences in terms of culture, age and background to open a new look at this art also in its relationship with other artistic disciplines and their languages.
Finally, the multimedia component of the Museum is particularly rich and well cared for, including 56 touch screens, wi-fi connection with dedicated server for the interactive monitors, neckbands and tablets of the latest generation to allow visitors to have a unique interactive experience on comic arts.
By the end of 2023, the International Museum of Comic Art will also be enriched with an archive with climate-controlled storage for the preservation of the boards, drawings and publications that are part of the Museum’s collection.
For more information, visit www.paff.it.
CREDITS
– Kurt Caesar, Le strade del futuro, 1963, inv. 12
– Il Vittorioso n.8, 1963, Ed. A.V.E.
– George McManus, Bringing Up Father, 17 maggio 1923/May 17 1923, inv. 125
– Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts, 1990, inv. 124
– The Sunday Star, 14 maggio 1933/May 14, 1933
– Corriere dei Piccoli, 21 maggio 1937/ May 21, 1937
– Elzie Crisler Segar, Popeye, 1938, inv. 121
