During the literature festival "STORY!" in the Berliner district Neukölln - Anna Bas Backer, assisted by U. Loge performed fake tattoos on visitors. The drawings people could choose from had been designed by comic artists in Berlin especially for the occasion.
The performance put the visitors in the position to choose a particular image that might be typical for their personal relationship with the neighborhood.
In total visitors could choose from 46 different designs. The participating artists were Anna Bas Backer, Clémentine Guichard, CX Huth, Annette Knol, Annette Köhn, U. Loge, Auge Lorenz, Magenbitter, Lilli Mousli, Nettmann, Päm, Elke R. Steiner und Flo Weiss. Below follows a selection:



The performance took place in the foyer of the Heimathafen which is housed in an old local theater building.

















(photos: © Clémentine Guichard)

Caveat Subscriptor or 'Let the signer beware' is a project that explores the icons and symbols of identity in the city Buenos Aires in the year of its bicentenary.

Anna Bas Backer bid the local comic artists to take part in a 24-hour drawing marathon to make works about the stories and history of the city. The aim was to create themes which she would later use in a performance. For this purpose she proposed to the artists that she would 'steal' the work created during the marathon.

The marathon took place in cheLA a former factory in Parque Patricios in Buenos Aires. The participants were: Anna Bas Backer, Ernan Cirianni, Delius, Gustavo Deveze , Fran López, Luis Morales Ciancio, Marcela Sinclair, Santiago Slaby, Camila Torre Notari and Otto Zaiser.




From the comics, Anna Bas Backer selected figures and texts. Over 80 themes were produced from which public could choose during the opening show an exhibition. By using so-called hectograph paper- a method used typically by tattoo artists- she created ink stencils that could be applied on to skin. In this way, the public was symbolically challenged to choose an image to wear on their skin, exploring feelings of identity.









(photo: © Betty Ras)

Invitation to comic artists in Cali and Medellín to take part in a 24 marathon drawing comics to the topic, "If this is an Artist".


To underscore the matter of the topic Anna Bas Backer presented a comic she had made previously about the subject. She split the comic in seperate panels and projected them on a wall while a local actress enacted the dialogues.
Ana Carolina Arcila Valencia in Lugar a Dudas:


Catalina Moreno Castaño in Taller 7:


The marathon in Calí took place in a so-called 'finca' or country house just outside the city.
Joining artists: María Fernanda Astaíza, Anna Bas Backer, Àngela García, Mónica París, Luto, Carolina Ruiz, Adrian Gaitan, Cindy Muñoz , Jorge Schneider, Ivan Tovar, Camilo, Juan Díaz, Lisseth Balcazar, Carlos Zúñiga, Juan Pablo Solarte and José Garcia.






The marathon in Medellín took place in Taller 7 itself, a beautiful old house in the city-center.
Joining artists: Anna Bas Backer, Pedro Alvarez, Jaime Buitrago, Alejandro Cano, José David Restrepo, Albany Henao, Néstor Herrera, Fernando Montoya, Juana Montoya, M. A. Moreña, Arturo García H. Natalia Ruiz, Tebo, Truchafrita, Seth Wulsin and Fish.





First panels of comic by marathon participant Seth Wulsin:

( © Seth Wulsin)

Simultaneously, the three artists joni b, Ernan Ciriani and Powerpaola joined from Galeria LDF in Buenos Aires, Argentina and stayed in contact online.
Detail from comic by Powerpaola:

( © Paola Gaviria)

Books were printed from the drawings and photos of both marathons, and with the help of Wilson J. Arango and Edicson Orrego video material of the Medellín marathon was compiled into a short film. The film was screened in the Casa del encuentros of the Museo de Antioquia in Medellín.

Chongqing Rocks (the comic), detail from page 3:

Chongqing Rocks (the comic), detail from page 1:


In China, Anna Bas Backer, somewhat over inspired and under experienced, single handedly goes in search of the unblemished and looks for it in the anger and sincerity of the punk scene. Beijing doesn't prove her wrong, but they're just passing though. Having arrived in Chongqing and not really finding the punk scene, she searches high and low in all of the city's longest forgotten corners. On rooftops, traintracks and in tunnels; fauna and flora furiously pogos its way through the concrete.
All of this and more summarized in a short animated projection.

The drawings research three of the country's prisons which stand empty for different reasons.
Carcel de Caseros - Buenos Aires' oldest prison- and Olimpo - one of the numerous former clandestine prisons , have a few things in common; they are situated in residential neighborhoods and have been the subject of a movie. However, their history and meaning up to today differ largely. Ushuaia's prison, 'Fin del Mundo' involuntarily ridicules its turbulent history with its present function as tourist attraction.
Anna Bas Backer drew her impressions from visiting each of the prisons inside and out, and took notes of their history. To remain 'in character' as a story teller, she was particular about only noting people's stories rather than using the fruits of her own research. During the same time she noted lingual expressions of a language which at that point, was still new to her and made drawings from her everyday life.
45 Slides juxtapose over 60 of the created drawings in various combinations.

Slide 13:

Slide 16:

Slide 18:

Slide 31:

Slide 40: