The Intermediality Messenger: Newsletter of the Centre for Intermediality Studies in Graz (CIMIG)

Fall 2024

Dear Subscribers:

Everyone at CIMIG hopes that your fall/winter semester has been going well and that you have had opportunities to work on issues related to intermediality. We are happy to share a few news items with you. Should you want to drop us a line, please do so at cimig@uni-graz.at.

Mastermodul Plus “Media and Their Publics”

During the summer semester, the University of Graz offered the first iteration of a new “Master Module Plus.” These modules allow students from all divisions of our university to focus their electives on specific areas of interest and to combine the acquisition of academic and practical knowledge. In the opening semester, students took a lecture course in which nine professors from seven departments introduced them to various understandings of media, mediality, and public(s). While this course incorporated ample time for discussing concepts and their application in real-life contexts, the second course familiarized students with communication practices in cultural institutions in Austria. Especially the visits of professionals from the fields of musicology, event planning, communications, audiovisual content production, theater, and film provided great insights into how knowledge of mediality – which includes the conceptualization and the production of media content, a clear understanding of communication formats, and an orientation towards specific communication outlets and their audiences – works hand in hand with creating media content in a competent manner. All instructors in the module look forward to the results of the three classes offered this semester, which will be made available at the end of the winter term. During a special event, students will present their work and offer reflections on the process and the product.

Bookshelf Offerings

Crucifix, Benoît. Drawing from the Archives: Comics Memory in the Contemporary Graphic Novel, Cambridge UP, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009250955.

This monograph offers a profound exploration of how contemporary graphic novels engage with comics history through archival practices. Crucifix presents a detailed analysis of the ways in which cartoonists interact with the medium’s past, engaging in acts of collecting, curating, reprinting, and even “undrawing”—a technique where artists deconstruct or transform classic comic styles into avant-garde forms—thus critiquing traditional approaches to comics by dismantling authorial presence and inviting readers to engage with the fragmented and reassembled history of the art form. These practices, as Crucifix argues, enable artists to preserve and reinterpret comics heritage for modern audiences.
The book breaks new ground by focusing on the material practices that drive these archival engagements. For example, Crucifix investigates “swiping,” a process through which elements from earlier comics are appropriated into new works, blending homage and transformation. This act of borrowing fosters a kind of intericonicity: artists reference their predecessors while also pushing the medium forward. Crucifix’s work is remarkable for its scholarly depth and interdisciplinary approach, drawing from pop culture studies and digital media theory to provide fresh perspectives on how comics engage with memory. However, some critiques have pointed out that the book’s analysis leans heavily on male authors, which underscores the ongoing challenges of gender inclusivity within the history of comics.
Drawing from the Archives is a valuable resource for those who study intermediality because it highlights how comics navigate and transform media boundaries by referencing and recontextualizing earlier forms of visual art, literature, and pop culture. Crucifix's exploration of practices like “swiping” and “undrawing” shows how comics interact with other media through citation, adaptation, and digital manipulation, making it a rich study for understanding the cross-pollination between different artistic mediums. Its interdisciplinary approach also provides insights into how comics, as an evolving medium, mediate memory across both analog and digital spaces. Ultimately, Drawing from the Archives is a significant contribution to comics studies, as it expands the scope of how we understand the intersection of memory, history, and artistic practice in the graphic novel form, emphasizing the complexity and richness of the medium’s evolving landscape. (MD)

Spielmann, Guy. “‘Adaptation Studies’: Steps Toward a Necessary Re-Foundation.” Word & Image, vol. 40, no.1, May 2024, pp. 5–14, https://doi.org/10.1080/02666286.2023.2278123.

Spielmann insightfully discusses the shortcomings of mainstream twenty-first-century Adaptation Studies. He delineates several developments that he deems necessary for the field of study to remain relevant and produce innovative research. Spielmann encourages readers to abandon the idea of adaptation as a linear process and, instead, to begin viewing it as the sum of a relational web of meaning that encompasses multiple heterogeneous media products beyond those officially stated as adapted sources. He argues that research on adaptation currently displays a hierarchical bias regarding which works or objects are deemed worthy of being studied. For example, he finds that numerous scholars consider novels and films as more prestigious than games or merchandise products. Likewise, Spielmann suggests that operations such as translation, a change to the reception context, or altered material presentation of a work are neglected as meaningful operations that contribute to an adaptation. He proposes that Adaptation Studies ought to conceive of adaptation as a rhizome of influential sources and operations, whose investigation is in need of a proper taxonomy that clarifies the meaning and use of the term adaptation and a myriad of related concepts. In order to be taken seriously in the future, Spielmann argues that the field must move beyond arbitrarily examining source–adaptation relations from a pre-determined angle. He urges scholars to delve more deeply by being critical of what they assume to be an adaptation’s original source and to consider the dynamic cultural context from which an adaptation has emerged. (MM)

From the Director’s Desk:

Last but not least, I am happy to share the good news that I had the honor of launching an Erasmus+ exchange with Roma Tre University. Activities during my stay at this university included mentoring, teaching PhD and MA seminars, and meeting with colleagues who would like to collaborate with CIMIG and with American and English studies at our university. It was a great pleasure to meet my colleagues Prof. Maddalena Pennacchia, Prof. Sabrina Vellucci, and Prof. Vincenzo Maggitti, and to reconnect with Dr. Stefano Franceschini who wrote part of his dissertation at CIMIG during the two months he spent in Graz with the help of an Ernst Mach Scholarship (see the interview in Newsletter No. 1). I intend to strengthen this international relationship in the years to come and hope that the exchange will yield great results. For a few impressions, see this brief video which will be available shortly.

Thank you for your interest in all things intermedial and in the CIMIG newsletter.

Sincerely,
Nassim W. Balestrini