Tinta Comics Festival 2026
EVERYTHING TAKES FOREVER
exhibition
9 October 2026—6 November 2026
Alkatraz Gallery, AKC Metelkova mesto, Ljubljana
Opening: Friday, 9 October 2026, at 8 p.m.
What happens to our sense of time when me measure it in millennia? And is it possible to feel lonely even though you are surrounded by eternity? Above all: how do we confront eternity and other existential questions, meanwhile managing to laugh sincerely? Refined and extremely witty minimalism of the German comics artist Nadine Redlich reduces life’s major pickles almost to the extreme, thus transforming them into surprisingly funny situations. Indeed, the comic book appears almost like a cartoon or something one would expect to see in children’s comics: simple lines, agreeable colours and nothing that would suggest at first glance that complex existential questions lie hidden behind it all.
Even more odd is that it is not people who most often grapple with the everyday absurdities, inner doubts, feelings of alienation and various psychological states, but rather other creatures, objects and even stones. The latter allows us to see every day human experiences from a certain distance and in a new, different light. Absurdity shatters our expectations: a simple situation becomes unusual and from it something surprisingly real can suddenly emerge.
At the exhibition at the Alkatraz Gallery, you’ll be able to view a selection of original pages from the artist’s comic books Doing the Work, Paniktotem, I Hate You, and her other comics, including the album Stones, which will also be published in Slovenian by Stripburger under the title Kamni. Moreover, other works, objects and sculptures will also be on display, extending her humorous comics world into a three-dimensional form – thus, the gallery space will be entirely filled with the artist’s playful poetics, which, by means of reduction, repetition, absurdity and almost imperceptible movements, raises questions of time, emotions, communication and modes of comics narration, for which Nadine Redlich does not need more than a few lines, a stone or two and a good measure of humour.
The exhibition is part of the Tinta 2026 comics festival: www.tinta.si.
On Saturday, 10 October 2026, at 4:30 p.m., Nadine Redlich will also present her work at a lecture at Kino Šiška, where she will be signing her comics at the fair.
NADINE REDLICH (1984) is considered one of the most original artists on the contemporary German comics scene. Her distinctive visual style combines minimalist drawing, strong and saturated colours and absurd humour, through which she explores narrative possibilities of comics and subtle shifts in the experience of the world. In her works, she tackles such topics as inner doubts, everyday absurdities and human vulnerability with her characteristic measure of irony and playfulness. Her visually refined narratives often reveal much more than meets the eye. She publishes in respected media outlets, such as The New York Times, Die Zeit and Le Monde, while her comic albums are published by the renowned German independent publisher Rotopol. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the prestigious German Sondermann Comic Award (2023).
The exhibition will be on view until 6 November. In addition to its regular hours (Monday–Friday 2 p.m.–6 p.m.), the Alkatraz Gallery will also be open on Saturdays, 10 and 17 October, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Production: Stripburger/Forum Ljubljana
Co-production: KUD Mreža Arts and Culture Association
Curators: Katerina Mirović, Tanja Skale
Text: Ana Bogataj
Gallery opening times: Monday—Friday: 2 p.m.─6 p.m.
The programme of Forum Ljubljana is co-funded by: The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, The City Municipality of Ljubljana – the Department of Culture, Slovenian Book Agency – JAK
