CAPTION

1998

CAPTION98 Evidence Bags

CAPTION98, the UK's largest small press and alternative comics convention, is usually home to nothing more emotionally taking than light-hearted boozing, shopping an pizza anxieties and shameless superhero silliness. However, this year CAPTION will be six, which means we're quite old enough now to explore the rich and scarey topic of death. And we'd like you to be a part of it.

While the main convention discusses the grim end of the comics and zines subculture, the death of titles we have known and loved, and the sad demise of UKCAC, the Evidence Bags exhibition will be looking into the vast and inspirational area of personal extinction: the indvidual death of the artist.

I'd like you to assemble evidence from your own murder site, put it into a clear bag, and return it to me. Those of you uninterested in violent death may want instead to include or portray accoutrements you would like to be buried with, a plan for your grave, a cartoon epitath, or any other thoughts on your death. These bags will be on display at CAPTION98, where they will be hung from the ceiling, so please don't make them too heavy. Leave the bags open, so people can go through them, or opt for a sealed bag, just as you please.

All contributors will get a photo of the exhibition and CAPTION documentation provided you fill in the slip below. The eventual fate of the bags is up to you. If you're attending CAPTION, you can take it home afterwards. If you want it sent back to you, you must include your address and enough stamps or money in the package to cover return postage. Or you can let us dispose of it, either to the charity auction (in support of the Cartoon Art Trust) or to that ultimate receptacle of all dead artworks, the bin. In the absence of instructions, we'll assume you want us to deal with it.

CAPTION98 is on 25-26 July 1998 in the Oxford Union, a convenient and pleasant site in central Oxford, within easy walking distance of the bus and train stations. Membership is £7·50/£5 for the weekend, and includes a packed programme of discussion, entertainment, and workshops, the opportunity to buy the best of alternative and small-press comics and zines, and to sell your own titles, as well as a booklet, badge, and plenty of advice on local B&Bs.

As for the lasy five years, we will also be looking for pieces of artwork to auction in aid of the Cartoon Art Trust, and to appear in the convention booklet. If you would like to supply a piece for the auction, or if you have any questions about the exhibition, send mail to caption98@alleged.demon.co.uk, or use our feedback form.

Send your Evidence Bag to Jeremy Dennis, 9 Belvedere Road, Oxford OX4 2AZ. This is an open exhibition; feel free to copy this invitation to other artists.